I'll probably make myself really popular with this post (red thumbs at the ready) but I've got to do it.
Yesterday we had a bit of an issue down on our speed course at Novara where we had some Kiters turn up and start kiting across the paths of the crew speed sailing resultant in a near miss with yours truly
.
Normally when we see some kiting crew come down to Novara we go and have a chat with them explain the area and then tell them about the North side of the cut and the go there and have a ball (it is a vastly superior kiting location)
Novara is the prime speed sailing spot in the Mandurah region, this however does not make it a good Kitesurfing spot as there are quite a lot of hazards which exist in the area which we have found which based on what you guys do makes the area quite dangerous for kiting.
Rigging and launching area
There is a grassed area but there are regular trees, the waters edge is only 30m from the road and there is generally less than 30m between tress so rigging and launching is a pain. This is not to mention the power lines on the other side of the road just in case you miss the trees when you have trouble launching.
Wind direction
Most of the time it blows southerly, ie pretty much straight onshore give or take 15-20º, the shore line is tree'd and reeded so if you have any prob's you know whats going to catch your kit.
Water hazards
**Water Depth
This is a shallow water area! we know how shallow by the amount of fins we have written of. It is very surprising to some how far you can be offshore and only be in less than knee deep water.
**Rocks
This area is full of hidden rock's! not little flat ones but ones which lay nicely on the bottom, these are jagged limestone rocks which stand upright some over a foot and quite a lot about 8-10" below the surface of the water dependent on the tides,(If you want to scare the sh1t out of your self walk out there on a low tide)
**Posts
There are a lot of posts out in the water, most of them you can see however there are a couple of submerged ones which we know vaguely where they are, One windsurfer hit one recently and tore a hole in the bottom of his board, I personally wouldn't want to land on one.
Sailing around speed sailors
This is just my own personal comment here as I got brown trousered by my near miss yesterday.
If you see a stack of people speed sailing DO NOT sail across their path doing jumps and turns, it's f'ken dangerous.
With speed sailing we are on the edge of control, sometimes exceeding the edge, we can not react, turn, slow or stop quickly, we travel very fast and when we stop unexpectedly(crash) it f'ken hurts, if we hit someone something it's going to be bad for all concerned.
Please be aware of us.
If you want to have a chat about it in Mandurah look us up (just ask for Elmo)
Good winds to you all
Listen to Elmo. Dont go there. Its a scary place guarded by a big green rocky seaweed monster. Stay away.
hell the place is a swamp why would you want to go there ?
only kidden spent my young days there would be ok & just fine listen to the local knowledge ,,,good call
Just to back up Elmo, this is a serious safety issue, and prevention is better than cure.
So Guyz, in the interests of safety, It would be really helpful and Windsurfers of WA would be eternally grateful if you guyz could help us out on this one, and we would go out of our way to help you guyz out, if you guyz ever needed our support on a Kiting issue in Mandurah. Good opportunity for us to co-operate on something and create good will amongst us.
No red thumbs woo hoo thats cool! thanks Guys and Gals
It is a concern the area, we know there area and we know the risks although even we have to be reminded about the risks we are taking
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=47182
At a recent GPS teams challenge day we had no less than 15 fins destroyed because of rock impacts.
These fins for speed sailing are short at around 24cm, some of the came back with chunks missing half way up which means the rocks were very close to the surface.
Fortunately most of our fins are raked so we don't stop when we hit something (although some people have) we just generally cry at another $200 fin on the scrap heap, but if you jump and land on them then you are in a whole world of hurt.
The point of my post is that this is seriously not a good kiting spot.
Where we used to speed sail at the Nth side of the cut is as good a spot for speed but as a kiting spot it's got vastly superior.
Have fun peoples, Look me up if you're in the area
Here's a challenge for the crew who like down winders, which we've looked at but for windsurfing it's a bit of a logistical issue
It's 20km in a straight line from the southern end to the cut and only 2km wide chop is generally less than knee high.
On a good seabreeze it would be an awesome run, you would have to suss out a launch spot as it's been a few years since we've had a close look down there.
horrid little feckers they are
Hey,
not sure who you are, elmo? If you are the young fellow, then I appologise and I do not come back, but the other guy I would still ignore! The way how this guy went off on me was just sick and I do not have any sympathie. That is just wrong! No one wants to take him his fun but before having a normal conversation straight away crying and yelling like a litte 5 year old as you have taken his personal toy is just sick! If you want your freedom of us kiters then you shouldn't try to get rid of us with violent screaming!!!
Enjoy your surfing,
Cheers
And just to show I'm not just crapping on about the rocks,
One of our crew today hit one which ripped up the bottom of his board (so the rock was at the surface) and stopped him at 36knots.
Even we are reassessing where and when we sail bits of this place.
If I was racing at 39knots and someone who should have seen what was going on around him before he even got into the water got in my way I would be f`n and blinding! If you see poleys doing fast runs why get in their way or even close to them? You are on a kite, you can do your jumps and tricks anywhere. For poleys to do speed runs they pretty much need to stay on a course.
All elmo is saying is that is where they do their speed runs and it would be nice if they are given a bit of space and that he doesn`t think it`s an ideal spot for kiting. What`s wrong with that? Trust me, you do not want to play chicken with a big windsurf board and sail.
I can't see any marked course??
Is that yellow line floating on top or along the bottom??
Or is it just in some grumpy old windsurfers head??
Why is it that SOME poleys all seem to think they own the ocean??
Surely these speed runs must getting boring after a while, try to have some fun instead!
What if a boat deciced to anchor over YOUR course? Are you ganna abuse them to?
Go have some fun, and learn to get along with the other kids elmo, if not I think they are doing a new episode of Grumpy Old Women soon, you should get ya self on that show.
Ken
The thicker line is the kiting dude and the thinner line is my track from my GPS.
The grumpiness comes from me not wanting to put myself or someone else in hospital.
No I don't own the water, never thought I did.
Speed runs are only ever boring when underpowered, it's all about exceeding your limitations, you should try it sometime, it's not just going as fast as you possibly can but using that level as a starting point and pushing yourself even faster.
And finally I'm quite happy to sail with kites, I quite often help launch and catch them when needed and generally give a wave as I go past. I just don't tolerate D'heads of any discipline especially when one puts me in danger.
enjoy the breeze today
[:D
Wow! A poley tries to explain a situation that happenned and give advice on an area and he gets snapped at. Must be some seriously insecure kiters out there. Give the pole dancers their space. What is the big deal?
We`ve pretty much taken over every other good spot.
Don`t worry elmo karma (in this case the hidden rocks) will prevail.
I wish all the toolhead full of attitude kiters, polleys, jet skiers, could find their own little spot somewhere. It`ll only have to be a small area, cause these head cases love to be close in order to stroke each others egos.
We`ve pretty much taken over every other good spot. and would not mind meeting you one day and shake hands 
.) because this is going out of control and we have to work together to get somewhere. It is not going to be easy out there as a big majority does not seem to realise what's going on and where we heading!
Yep ok now I see where you poleys are coming from...Had the same problem myself a while back..
I was doin this speed run up this road and some IDIOTS tried to merge!!!! WTF were they thinking???
Put both our lives in danger!!! Bloody idiots,,, it was so obvious I was doing a speed run..... Idiots!!
No wonder I went off like a raging fool and abused them and stuff
