Cairns and Port Douglas in July

kia ora

I'm coming over from NZ for 12 days of holiday in lateJuly.
wondering hat is the realistic chances of wind ? And what spots are worth checking out ?
Would i be best off to bring my foil board at that time of year ?
I kite in Wellington so am not generally keen on flying kites larger than an 8m, but i could put my 10 in if it would help.
normally ride a mixture of Surfboard, TT or Foil depending on the conditions, but i guess waves won't be firing at that time of year

any info gladly appreciated

Ng? mihi Aidy

Can be hit and miss around cairns and PD....last trip up we booked 2 weeks in PD, got wind for first 2 days then it dropped off (has done this every trip) so we checked forecast at Cooktown and it was blowing 20-25knts for next 3-5 days...we blew off pre-booked accommodation and managed to get $60 a night twin share room at Top Pub in cooktown....its about 4hr one way trip up the back road or if u have 4wd its a bit less up the coast road through the Daintree....Archers Point is about 15mins out of town






No waves, just flat water and chop....
Tip: we found a reasonable wave doing a short DW from 4mile beach to PD....

Be Aware....you are coming from cold punchy wind to hot weaker wind....its very noticeable...

Have fun bro!!!

If no wind, cairns has a wake park....

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listery said..
That's peak season. I take 7/9/12 and a Whip and use them all

Coming from Wellington, I wonder if OP will consider July winds in Cairns /PD to be "peak season".
Link attached below for July data over 5 years at Cooktown, showing less than 2% of the time had winds classified as "Fresh" in SE or ESE.
Data from Cairns airport and from Low Isles actually looks worse; wondering where you've been going to, to get decent winds?

www.willyweather.com.au/climate/weather-stations/qld/far-north/cooktown-airport.html?superGraph=plots:wind-speed,grain:hourly,graphRange:5days&climateRecords=period:all-time&longTermGraph=plots:temperature,period:all-time,month:all&windRose=period:5-year,month:july

Maybe the airports are in sheltered places, and its better somewhere on the coast, but I'd have expected better numbers from Low Isles.

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FormulaNova said..
wind.willyweather.com.au/qld/far-north/elim-beach-campground.html

This is just another link to Cooktown Airport's observations.

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Aidymakeando said..
thanks all for the info.....
as somebody said when it blows here it really does so I'm not used to lighter winds.. I'm currently nursing an injury from a wild and wintry 5m kite big wave session at my local lyall bay during the week.
Its a family trip so i guess i'll see how much kiting i'm getting in between now and then, before i finally decide what to bring.
seems like it may be a good excuse to make a new smaller and lighter foilboard at least......
worst case I get shown around the area by my wife and swim all day with my daughter.

aidy

If you must stay around Cairns and/or Port Douglas during your holiday, make sure you bring your foil and be prepared to kite in very low winds like 8-12 knots. As others mentioned above, it can be very hit and miss as the SE ''trade wind'' often struggles to reach the coast in Cairns and Port Douglas regardless how awesome the forecast is looking. You will quickly learn that an awesome forecast does not necessarly mean you will have kite-able wind on the coast of Cairns or Port Douglas, but a few KM off-shore or a few hundred km North (Archer Point, Cooktown, Kite surfari) and it's a very different story where you'll often have reliable winds between 15-25+ knots that is blowing almost 24/7.

In the past few years we have been unlucky and have had next to zero wind when we stopped in Cairns and Port Douglas in July or August, but always cranking at the kite surfari north of Cooktown.

It's not uncommon for Cairns and Port Douglas to have next to zero wind for 1 to 2 weeks in a row, even during peak season. That being said, there can be some good days with 15-20 knots and when this happens, there are usually a few in a row.

There are plenty of great things to see and do around Cairns and Port Douglas so it's definitely the better place to be to spend some good family time compared to Cooktown or kite surfari.

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Sandee said..

listery said..
That's peak season. I take 7/9/12 and a Whip and use them all

Coming from Wellington, I wonder if OP will consider July winds in Cairns /PD to be "peak season".
Link attached below for July data over 5 years at Cooktown, showing less than 2% of the time had winds classified as "Fresh" in SE or ESE.
Data from Cairns airport and from Low Isles actually looks worse; wondering where you've been going to, to get decent winds?

www.willyweather.com.au/climate/weather-stations/qld/far-north/cooktown-airport.html?superGraph=plots:wind-speed,grain:hourly,graphRange:5days&climateRecords=period:all-time&longTermGraph=plots:temperature,period:all-time,month:all&windRose=period:5-year,month:july

Maybe the airports are in sheltered places, and its better somewhere on the coast, but I'd have expected better numbers from Low Isles.

Lucked in on the last visit to Mission Beach about 4 years ago. It honked the whole week. Can recommend the hot chips from here

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Gilly3 said..

listery said..

Sandee said..

listery said..
That's peak season. I take 7/9/12 and a Whip and use them all

Coming from Wellington, I wonder if OP will consider July winds in Cairns /PD to be "peak season".
Link attached below for July data over 5 years at Cooktown, showing less than 2% of the time had winds classified as "Fresh" in SE or ESE.
Data from Cairns airport and from Low Isles actually looks worse; wondering where you've been going to, to get decent winds?

www.willyweather.com.au/climate/weather-stations/qld/far-north/cooktown-airport.html?superGraph=plots:wind-speed,grain:hourly,graphRange:5days&climateRecords=period:all-time&longTermGraph=plots:temperature,period:all-time,month:all&windRose=period:5-year,month:july

Maybe the airports are in sheltered places, and its better somewhere on the coast, but I'd have expected better numbers from Low Isles.

Lucked in on the last visit to Mission Beach about 4 years ago. It honked the whole week. Can recommend the hot chips from here

Mission Beach is underrated IMO....it is far prettier than the Daintree....same shi!dt but at least u can see the ocean, not just glimpses....didn't get to kite there, no wind when we called in....where do u kite there? Just along the foreshore or round in Bingil Bay? Looks like u could kite to Dunk pretty easily?

Nearly stopped at that cafe but it was a bit crowded....good sign!

Yeah it's not the sharks or crocs you need to watch out for but this guy in the carpark with the attitude problem