Hi everyone
I'm really keen to try to get over to parham at some point next week, but I've never been before.
Can you give me some tips on the best wind direction and tide? Also, is it fairly easy to find - where is the best spot to kite?
Thanks!
Hi,
Wind direction goes from south to west to north, Tide must be higher than 1m.
dont go in the restricted area and you will be fine.
cheers Tim
Thanks Tim
So I just head to Parham and its fairly straight forward to find it, right? I take it theres signs up for the restricted area?
Cheers
hi Superfly
Dont worry about the tide!
Low tide and the seagrass is only just under the water, I am only new to this and the scope to learn on really flat water is just fantastic, the people that turn up are really great.
The only thing is at low tide you may have a walk of (100M) but it is worth it.
At high tide or you can just go straight off the beach.
Just a great spot!
Nice one - I'll keep that in mind. My girlfriend is learning at the moment, and I really want her to experience the joys of flat water - it can really accelerate your learning curve if done correctly...
Also, I can't wait for a really good flat water sesh myself!..and 100m sounds bearable - I dont mind the walk :)
Think I may be heading down there on wed or thursday if anyone else is keen?
Great spot for learning, pretty safe and flat and shallow at low tide for miles, so you don't have to body drag back to your board - if you fall off just walk back and get it.
I kited there in tides as low as 0.2m and the flat water is unbelievable, but as Tim already mentioned above, it gets a bit tricky to get to kiteable water if the tide is lower then 1m.
The picture below was taken at 1m low tide:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/South-Australia/Fun-session-at-Parham-yesterdaySun-1403-video/?SearchTerms=parham
Someone had an awesome pic from the kite down showing the weed underneath. Can't remember who posted it :)
Pity i'm working :( if only it was next week i'd be there :)
Will be cold though 9 degrees and potential rain brrrrr :)
Here's a couple of Parham pics, some from kitecam when it was like glass over the shallow weed.
Superfly,
If you enjoy flat water kiting then this would prabably be one of the most accessable spots in SA.
Just a minor item to be aware of.
The tide can carry a large amount of floating weed with it.
Tends to happen closer to the beach on an incoming tide.
If you have your kite down, (Happens a lot when you are learning), you should relaunch as quickly (and safely) as possible as the lines can get caked with weed clumps very quickly.
The weed clumps get to the point that you can't dislodge them and the kite will not lift off with the extra weight.
It doesn't happen often but it is something to watch for.
sorting a weed - line tangle can slow your session immensly.
Cheers
Fossil
P.S. stay clear of the "Girraffes" that are often parked out by the channel markers.
You look like you have a fair bit of pace on in that photo Chaps, might need to reproduce that form at Goolwa
Not sure about the one glove.
Nice photo of your home made board.
Lang, one glove keeps the sharks away. Looks like you need one from your profile pic.
Cheers for all the info (and sick photos guys)...
Does parham work on a NE by any chance? ( I only ask as Im desperate to go now and it looks like its turning that way tomorrow!!)
Hmm...tomorrow Parham is almost OK in the afternoon, but maybe not for learning. If your girlfriend is still trying to learn you should probably try and spare her from a leading edge of the incoming front...If I was you I'd save your energy for Wednesday and Thursday as both of them look good.
Hi Sbray
Chaps doesn't appear to be on line at the moment, but I have ridden the board you are enquiring about a few times. Thought I would reply so you weren't left waiting for a response.
Initially without rienforcement and it was quite flexable which effected its performance.
Chaps added the stiffners vertical lengths of marine ply, as seen in the photos. Then it was super rigid but didn't like the chop.
Last time I had a go on that board he had modified it further reducing the size of the vertical stifners, cutting them back to half size. This gave it a small about of flex and I thought it was a sweet as light wind board. It has inspired me to start my board wich is now under way.
Select to expand quoteHey Fossil,
The stiffener or strengthening strut was merely trial and error for my plywood board. I copied the board outline from a Flyboards Flydoor (M) as I wanted a light wind board.
Board was a simple construct, 2 layers of 4mm marine ply for most of the board, tapering off to 1 - 4mm layer around the ends. I put an additional layer (4mm) underneath the footpads, mainly to enable insert of threaded sleeves for the footpad screws but this also adds a little bit of strength here I suppose also. It's only coated in a timber floor decking hardener (didn't know what else to use and it sounded ok at the time), which is waterproof but probably wears off from rubbing in the back of the ute during transport (only in small areas).
The typical 8mm thickness of the ply board seemed OK for strength but was really flexy and basically "stuck" to the water if you tried to produce any pop or when jumping. I thought about fibreglassing but with no experience in this area I thought I'd glue on some stiffeners to the toe and heelside edge to stiffen up the board without adding too much weight.
I started out with 40mm high stiffeners made from two pieces of 4mm ply glued together, just because that's what I had lying around. I was skeptical about whether the glue would hold under load but have had no issues with it so far (mind you the board only gets used in lightish wind). The stiffeners added significantly more strength and since then I have planed/sanded them down a bit (to between 20-30mm high). The good thing about this is you can control the flex along the length of the board by taking off more or less stiffener height where you want it (e.g. to give more flex at the tips).
I am happy with the board but there are a couple of cons: (1) The heelside (or toeside if you're riding toeside) stiffener tends to affect the water flowing over the board at the front tip - not dramatically but enough to be noticeable. This could lead to the board diving (scooping under) a little in choppy conditions and also when jumping (water gets on top of the board adding to weight and suction to the surface when trying to lift off); (2) A skinnier board might not have enough space to fit the footpads in between the toeside and heelside stiffeners.
If I was to make another one I'd probably do it a bit differently, but it was an interesting experiment nonetheless. I think and ply/foam sandwich construction would have merit with vertical ply stiffeners along the heel and toeside edge forming the boundary of the inner foam sandich section. These would both stiffen the board as well as provide formwork for the foam inner section (provding enough thickness for steel thread inserts for footpads).
Chaps.
Hi Chaps,
At first I thought that it was a shadow on the board (toe side).
Is that a strengthening strut?
How did that work out?........I'm not being a smartass, I am very curious as to how it affected the flex pattern of the board.
Fossil
Hi Choco,
Many windsurfers have tried to sail at paza but it has never worked out for them, the only way it would work is if you could sail in the channel with the correct wind direction then I believe it would be a awesome spot for a windy.
The weed is the biggest problem for you guys as it is everywhere but I never see much in the channel .
If your keen to have a look at the place let me know.
