Forums > Kitesurfing General

kitesurfers missing Albany

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Created by dalestanton > 9 months ago, 5 Feb 2008
KiteDevil
TAS, 778 posts
7 Feb 2008 6:12PM
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Great downwinder guys hats off to you, glad you survived!

One point I'd like to throw in here is that solely relying on Google earth for this sort of adventure should not be advised.

I always check out other maps (1:25000 and marine charts) before attempting a bigger downwinder.

Reefs, heights of headlands, rocky beaches, no beaches are not always accurately represented or even visible on Google, well especially down here anyway.


Surfer62
1357 posts
7 Feb 2008 9:20PM
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Thanks for the tips

greenleader
QLD, 5283 posts
7 Feb 2008 11:54PM
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i'm busy preparing my sabot for a trip across bass straight!

firiebob
WA, 3145 posts
7 Feb 2008 10:58PM
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Great effort guys, great story and an even better ending

Don't let the wife put you off, give it another go, and don't take a boat, it'd spoil it

Bertus
QLD, 50 posts
8 Feb 2008 12:58AM
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Hi KitingPaul,

Great adventure. It was amazing how many people at work asked me if I knew who the missing kiters was.

Most people were just concerned with your safety.

It sounds like a great experience and you were well prepared. A Sat phone or similar would be good.

It sounds like you carried a bit of weight with you. Did you tow something or was it in back packs? And did you have extra flotation to compensate for that?

Enjoy,
Bertus

GreenPat
QLD, 4083 posts
8 Feb 2008 1:20AM
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Bertus said...

Great adventure. It was amazing how many people at work asked me if I knew who the missing kiters was.


Aye, I got an email from an interstate office asking the same, how does it feel to be famous?

Poida
WA, 1916 posts
8 Feb 2008 10:17AM
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I can only add, maybe a 4wd on the beach to carry the esky would add that extra bit of comfort, and a change of kites for the wind change. looked like an epic downwinder. black point would have been a highlight if the wind held out.

Kitingpaul
WA, 36 posts
8 Feb 2008 5:31PM
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Hi Bertus,

We were carrying everything in 30L backpacks. We used a waterproof bag inside which will hold air so the entire backpack is quite bouyant. Some items that don't need to be dry are kept outside the w/p bad like the baked beans and water containers.

It is a problem if the pack is in the water too long as the space outside the waterproof bag fills with water and when you try to stand up the 15Kg pack weighs more like 25Kg. We cut holes in the bottom of the pack to allow this extra water to drain out.

I learnt this technique from canyoning in the Blue Mountains when I lived in Sydney.



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"kitesurfers missing Albany" started by dalestanton