Been in Coral Bay for a week now and have had a session every day that has had wind, which has been 5 out of 7 days.
Some things I have learned about kiting here:
1. There is no beginners place. There's just too much shallow coral around. Maud's Landing tends to have a bit of "off" in the wind direction making it a bit risky for beginners, and it tends to be choppy. That said, when there's more westerly than southerly in the wind it's an alright place, not a much coral as elsewhere, or at least not as shallow.
2. It's difficult to get good advice from locals. Don't know why, perhaps they don't kite. The best area (in my opinion) I've found so far was by chance.
3. Be prepared to trek with your gear. Getting to the kiting spots requires some effort, and a 4x4 helps too.
4. A trip to Exmouth, particularly the Cape Range NP, is a good idea - Sandy Bay is wicked!
5. A nice spot is just north of the marine park around the bay, and just south of the shark sanctuary, launch and landing area aplenty. Walk along the right across the rocks from the main beach until you get to the information board just before the shark sanctuary - 15-20 minute walk.
Will be doing Sand Bar and 5 Fingers in the next few days and will update this post after those..
Dave
Nice one. I think the locals don't like kiters much because they seem stuck in their very protective ways. I got a few people pissed off kiting in the shark nursery. Off season, w/o anything in it. My mate ripped his kite going upwind of it and then crashing the kite onto the rocks/coral.
I did a downwinder from the beach next to the first turtle cliffs - five fingers. Superdodgy at low tide snagging my board on more than a few corals. Batemans bay is also very dodgy. If you lose your board there while you get your kite down its likely to be gone forever. The leeward side of the dunes will make it so hard to get your kite back up as the current takes your board. And as a bonus Batemans bay is the local tigerlake. Yes, where they do the manta swims. But they have the skipper on the tunadeck to get the swimmers out if they spot another one.
The sand bar is the best spot. Shallow, sandy, and flat.
Select to expand quotepigfarmer said..
Nice one. I think the locals don't like kiters much because they seem stuck in their very protective ways. I got a few people pissed off kiting in the shark nursery. Off season, w/o anything in it. My mate ripped his kite going upwind of it and then crashing the kite onto the rocks/coral.
I did a downwinder from the beach next to the first turtle cliffs - five fingers. Superdodgy at low tide snagging my board on more than a few corals. Batemans bay is also very dodgy. If you lose your board there while you get your kite down its likely to be gone forever. The leeward side of the dunes will make it so hard to get your kite back up as the current takes your board. And as a bonus Batemans bay is the local tigerlake. Yes, where they do the manta swims. But they have the skipper on the tunadeck to get the swimmers out if they spot another one.
The sand bar is the best spot. Shallow, sandy, and flat.
Thanks for this. I will head to Sand Bar first...
Hi lost dog
i kited 5 Fingers on a sb and had a grat time make sure the tides is at least half way.
did a down winder from about 5 km past there and dropped the kite just in behind the hill at the pub on the sand spit just make sure you have a good tide, you are right about the locals if they not winging about the tourists they are pretending to be greenies.
Thanks for the input Ugly.
Only got to 5 Fingers for some fishing and the wind wasn't great when I got to Sand Bar. Sand Bar looks wicked for kiting on a SB. The sand bar flattens the water on the leeward side and there is not a hell of a lot of coral, hope to get there again before I head back to Perth. Definately need 4x4 for both 5 Fingers and Sand Bar.
What Ugly said about tides is spot on. Try to get high tide or at least mid-tide (???), because the coral is likely to cause some serious damage to a dragging body.
Although Coral Bay is a great family holiday destination, next time I will head up to Exmouth...
