Some of the local lads have been thinking of having a session at night.
Hire one or two of those roadworks super lights, the ones with their own power source and an extendable telescopic arm with the lights on top. Share the cost of light hire between the total number of kiters on the night. Provide your own glo sticks fixed to kites or harness. Constructive criticism invited.
You can't see the glow sticks from any distance and the floodlights will kill your night vision. Wait for a cloudless night and full moon. It's insane :)
I,ve done a fair bit of night windsurfing over the years, you,ll need a few reference lights on the beach just to give you a direction or bearing. Small 5w leds are perfect. Large spotlights/worklights are useless as they just blind you comming back into shore. Cars arn,t much good either for the same reason. I found these worked the best www.ayup-lights.com/ on a helmet. Waterproof and good for at least 6hrs of sailing. Had a kitter use them at the Pit with no problems. A moonlit night is also pretty good too. Please note that i am sponsored by Ay-Up.
From having been out on the boat at night, I would say that the full moon night with no cloud will be your best bet. It is amazing how much you can pickup out there but do make sure you have some sort of light on yourself so you can see your equipment and people can see you from the beach. Maybe a waterproof torch with a red light if you get into trouble?
Just got back from a night sesh. Was hoping the full moon would help but it was lost behind clouds. We kited the city beach. Plenty of light to see the state of the water as you ride in. On the tack out was a different story complete blackness. had to feel your way out. Hitting chop was ok to deal with it was falling into a dip that was hard to adjust too, invisible black holes.
Only two of us went out. The others chickened out. You know who you are. Pussies!
We used some glow sticks one each wing tip one on harness and one on board. I could spot the other rider quite easily with the glow sticks even against all the lights from the city. Glow stick on the board was good if you loose it. I fell a few times and was able to spot my board quickly and body drag back to it. A rent a light will not be much use aside from the rigging zone. Clear night with full moon is plenty of light or like my sesh tonight. Lots of ambient light from the city.
One issue i did have was untwisting my lines after a back roll. or double spin. A few times I untwisted the wrong way by mistake.. Took a while to get them sorted. As you could not see if they were untwisted had to steer the kite to feel if the lines were free
Great fun I will do it again.
Gear in the car ready for a dawn kite tomorrow before work!
I've had a couple of seshuns during the rare northerlies that came through mid to late june. Was easily the 2 most funs seshes in my short kiting career. There was absolutely no moon and plenty cloud but the whitewater was easy to note from the towns park and infrastructure lighting. I am chicken **** when it comes to approaching waves but as I couldn't clearly make them out and was kiting easily as much by feel as by anticipation, I subsequently made it out the back for the first time, which I found hairy as, it's dark out there. I didn't realize how bumpy it can get out there also, outta there, I was soon shooting back through the waves again in no time, an do it again. Sick seshun, no one out, ...kn glorious. I recommend a head torch for the pack up/unpack bit 
- those glo sticks sound good for the board an kite an group sesh but my black an white rev was easy to see.
I reckon most any where on the Goldie would be sick for it this summer.
Can't vouch for how your kiting session will turn out, but you should end up with a bumper haul of squid!
There you go guys.. last year at Kite Surfari.. in croc country 
No glowsticks.. Just glad I didn't can it. No one else was even getting in the water to photograph [}:)], the rush was worth it though. Every outide tack was taken very carefully eheheh
This year I'll try The Alley.. bound to be much safer
i love night kiting. Its more zenn like. you feel the kite rather than seeing it. its amaizing how much you can see on a full moon.
Why not ! just strap a couple of big juicy "T" bones on your harness ready for the sharks and crocs
Hey,
Saw your post about night kiting, also saw on your profile that your from Caloundra, i normally kite around Maroochydore but am really keen to try night kiting, were you planing to do it?
Definitely! It is a matter of timing. The channel here in Caloundra (Happy Valley) would be ideal for a night session. The variables are tide (must be out going), wind direction and strength (must be E or SE), full moon (if we do not use artificial lighting).
A friday night would be perfect to get a few of us together. Gauging by the comments it seems using a floodlight is not recommended. Not using a floodlight and relying on a full moon, greatly narrows the opportunity to do a night session.
What is your opinion?
Kind regards, Robert
The above post is for those who know
The below is unrelated to the above.
A tip on orientating yourself (learnt from shore based night spear fishing).
Place two lights a reasonable distance apart (20m or so), forming a line 90deg from the shore line (hope that makes sense). Make sure one light is a different colour (or set at a different height), the idea is that when you are directly offshore (90 deg) from the lights they will be in a line. When you are left or right of this position you can tell which side by the relative position of the lights. The further apart the lights appear, the further you are from the 90 degree line.
This can be a big help when out from the shore and trying to work out where you are. Helps the most when the shoreline is reasonably low on features you can see in moonlight.
Who are these locals you speak of? They must be shredders and have huge balls. I hit a huge mammal out there today so beware of the lockness monster. Night kite for life.
SWAG
The night session was had last night. Im not sure who the local lads are but we were talking about hiring lighting the arvo this was posted.
We used solar power Christmas lights and glow sticks. About 10pm last night before a rain storm at shearwater. Was soo much fun.
Will post pics soon
some pics, was heaps fun glad i did it. probably not the best conditions to test out the new chaos for the first time haha.
Imagine, if you may,these two topics occurring simultaneously, in reality. "night kiting" + "fifth line breaking"
this unfortunate event happened to my rattled friend who is now deeply suspicious of North. The breakage occurred in a place that had him super overpowered and his safety system ineffective. hitting his safety would have meant losing his kite into the night.
I thought it was funny myself... but he is obviously unimpressed
^^^
with our ol' mate Sandy Groper taking the snapshot, ready to report you no doubt?
Do you know what comes in from the deep to feed at night in the shallows....Tiger sharks :) In saying that if someone had all the lights set up and the wind was cranking. It would be hard not to!
