The greatest story in the world

[Kite Mag]

Hello everyone,

I'm on the hunt for the greatest story in the world for the next edition of Kite Mag.

The topic is open for discussion on this forum, so tell us what it is.

Is it adventure, romance, horror or action?

Does it involve the use of animals?

Is it on snow, water, ice or dirt?

Post, go sick, this is the only place worthy for discussion

[plummet]

the greatest stories in the world for kite mags are those about epic kiting trips to far off locations.

about guys (and gals) that have just been kiting for the love of kiting and want to share.

and or stories of guys pushing the limits of the sport. for many its about who can get the biggest mega kite loop. for others its about there distance or speed or technique.

For me. my stories are about distance and speed. concuring my own boundries of what i think is possible.

Also theres lots of kiters that make their own equipment. boards, buggies etc they tinker away in their garages and create some truely sublime stuff. i think stories about those mad bastards are also cool.

so i spose to inspirational stories. it could be the guy who has struggled for years to build up a kite business and now lives his own dream or to the mad buggers that kite to the north pole and back just because they can.......

[SoutherlyBuster]

The behind the scenes story can also be interesting. For instance the two kiters that crossed the tasman. We've all seen the 30 second clips on the news and the brief outline on their blog, but what about the build up that lead to them doing the trip, the preparation, what support crew they had along the way. What went through their minds as they couldn't see the mainland any more.

Every once in a while the National Geographic has stories of explorers that head to the North Pole. Facinating reads. Actually the last one I read was a reinactment of the Norwegian explorer's trip, Amundsen, this time round they had the help of traction kites.

Regards,

Norman

[happypants44]

nuff said!

[Kite Mag]

Great idea....

Combine kitesurfing with paintball and play shoot em ups on the water.

We could have battle of brands.

ha ha

[Kite Mag]

The behind the scenes story can also be interesting. For instance the two kiters that crossed the tasman. We've all seen the 30 second clips on the news and the brief outline on their blog, but what about the build up that lead to them doing the trip, the preparation, what support crew they had along the way. What went through their minds as they couldn't see the mainland any more.

Every once in a while the National Geographic has stories of explorers that head to the North Pole. Facinating reads. Actually the last one I read was a reinactment of the Norwegian explorer's trip, Amundsen, this time round they had the help of traction kites.

Regards,

Norman

the greatest stories in the world for kite mags are those about epic kiting trips to far off locations.

about guys (and gals) that have just been kiting for the love of kiting and want to share.

and or stories of guys pushing the limits of the sport. for many its about who can get the biggest mega kite loop. for others its about there distance or speed or technique.

For me. my stories are about distance and speed. concuring my own boundries of what i think is possible.

Also theres lots of kiters that make their own equipment. boards, buggies etc they tinker away in their garages and create some truely sublime stuff. i think stories about those mad bastards are also cool.

so i spose to inspirational stories. it could be the guy who has struggled for years to build up a kite business and now lives his own dream or to the mad buggers that kite to the north pole and back just because they can.......

Adventure is the key.

Who in Victoria is up for an adventure?

I'm thinking the coldest day in the coldest possible water?

Maybe lake Corangamite, near Colac with the leaches and carp.

who's in?

[Dundee]

The behind the scenes story can also be interesting. For instance the two kiters that crossed the tasman. We've all seen the 30 second clips on the news and the brief outline on their blog, but what about the build up that lead to them doing the trip, the preparation, what support crew they had along the way. What went through their minds as they couldn't see the mainland any more../quote]

Regards,

Norman

this was in the Magazine Kite Boarder a while back had about 3 Pages on it. had it from 6 months before they did it to the ordeal across the Tasman.

[Kite Mag]

Hey Norman,

Done and dusted. No need to do it again.

Why dont you tell us a little bit about you.

[plummet]

you want to talk about cold.

i went for a kitesurf in the wellington harbour last week. 8 degrees with water about the same. 20knot southerly with a wind chill of lots..... brrrrr. lasted an hour and a half until i couldn't feel my head, feet, hands...... good fun tho. had to call it quits when the icecream head ache got too much and i kept crashing the kite because my arms weren't working that well....

[SoutherlyBuster]

Adventure is the key.

Who in Victoria is up for an adventure?

I'm thinking the coldest day in the coldest possible water?

Maybe lake Corangamite, near Colac with the leaches and carp.

who's in?

Don't get me started, I've been itching to give that lake a go for a while now. I'm sure my family would be interested in a bit of a road trip to see another corner of Victoria we have not seen yet. I've got my plank sitting in the garage just calling out for another session. Leaches don't bother me, I grew up with them in Bulli back in NSW. Carp no worries, every Christmas in Chilldowla in the Murrumbidgee, canoeing and shooting the rapids with a big tractor tire. Now that brings back memories. Hmmm that has some hills, landboarding .... but a bit of a drive from VIC.

I've been thinking about some combined down hill run on the landboard, grab a kite and keep going, then if there is a lake head out on the water. Trouble is finding spot that links all these together. That is one of the reason I started heading out to the You Yangs --- the down hill section.

Ok so back to lake Corangamite, when did you have in mind? Oh I don't have one of those fancy wet suits, but I have tried putting on two at the same time and that did nicely.

Regards,

Norman.

[Kite Mag]

It would have to be on a northerly.

I'm pretty flexible, so can go when the wind is up and sun is shining.

Give me a call or send me an email and i will organise.

Dont worry about fancy wetsuits.

Speak soon

George

P.S If we cant cross it, we can just go and muck around for a few hours there. From my understanding no one has ever kited there.

Everyone is welcome.

[plummet]

sounds like you need to build a folding twin tip southerly and do some land/water downwinders. have the folded twin tip on you back, landboard along come to a lake/river slap down TT strap the lanbdboard to the top and carry on going.

i have a mission like that planned.

Wanganui to Paraparaumu. 150km with about 6 stream/estury crossings.

just need to find time to build the folding Twin tip. and money for more resin etc.

[Kamikuza]

Come to our beach - on the water you can dodge floating trees, dead birds, bamboo trunks and the "No jetski-ing in this area" signs, while on the shore you can skip around shards of broken health drink bottles, anal douches, hypodermic needles, baseballs, dead fish in various stages of decay and little sticks the fucking local kids have jammed into the sand like VietCong spike death-pits ...

[SoutherlyBuster]

Kite Mag,

Fancy wet suits --- no I did not have in mind to get any of these, I will have to make do with what gear I have. Ok, a Northly it is then.

I have not been there, but the main worry that crossed my mind were submerged tree stumps --- is that a worry?

Plummet,

Folding kiteboard, hmm nice idea. Keep it simple. If I and others can do it with available equipment, then the trip will be a reality, if we need to build speciallized equipment it will remain a pipe dream and keyboard kiting. For a once off (or to get the ball rolling) we can always call upon our lovely spouces to help will carrying gear.

Kamikuza,

Your story sounds way too depressing of city living gone way too wrong.

All,

Ok, I'll start google mapping to become familiar with the lake and keep an eye on the weather and try and get my family interested in a day trip out there.

So who else is up for the adventure? George (Spartan), Jason (Koma), Pils, .... others?

Regards,

Norman.

[plummet]

oh dear. anal douches and veitcong spikes. i do think you have a worse beach than me! goodness. i'll stop complaining. my beach is soggy and sometimes smells of fish and sea weed. but to this date i haven't seen any anal tooling what so ever.

Southerly.

for me to do the hydrid land/water i need a specialist board to fit my monster landboard on. i have the fly all i need is time and more resin. it will happen. maybe not this year but definatly by the end of next year.

[Kite Mag]

Cant wait now. I'll keep an eye on the forecast and hopefully we will nail this mission soon.

[pils]

hi George

i can take you on a small half day adventure in our bay,it involes running a 3k gauntlet past the local bull shark to get to our kiting mecca.

once you get there you will find a long group of islands surrounded by small lagoons and some of the flatest ever waters found in vic.

remember that at the end of the day you still have to run the gauntlet back home.

[plummet]

pils that sounds like a sweet mission.

what do you do if you have a breaKAge over at the logoons? Die?

what about the 3km journey back? is it death if your kite randomly deflates?

either way i like it.

[Kamikuza]

Actually ... we live in what is considered the "countryside" - that is, the population density falls below 10,000 families per square meter and there are more paddy fields than houses - and so we get laughed at by the big city folk who live in steaming shit-holes like Osaka.

The hell with them, I like it out here.

The problem is, people drop litter like it's a hot potato ... and somehow it all seems to end up in my lake ...

[pils]

hi plummet

there is a one hour walking track but iv never had to use it luckerly

[SoutherlyBuster]

George (Kite Mag),

Here is a pic of Lake Corangamite. So if there is a Northerly blowing W to E run sounds like the go .... just in case it swings to a Westerly half way across. Where did you have in mind, she's a big lake.

Norman.

[SoutherlyBuster]

The beach at Dreeite South looks interesting, nice and wide, kite friendly. Looks like there are roads that lead there as well. Perhaps it's a case of just turn up and look see.

Ok, found some more. Some info from The Age, 2007:

Quote:

April 16, 2007

THE drought has reduced Australia's biggest permanent saltwater lake, Lake Corangamite, to its lowest level in more than 60 years.

Water has receded several hundred metres from its normal shoreline, and sections of the northern end resemble a dust bowl. The southern end is rapidly declining.

End Quote.

Hmm so perhaps the northern end might not be so good for kiteboarding, but could be good for landboarding. Again I think it's a case of heading out there and see. Perhaps recent rains have improved the situation.

Just looking to see if we would have permission to kiteboard on the lake. So far found nothing on this front.

Norman.

[pils]

had alook at the latest mag at kp yesterday ,good read with daves snow adven... think ill go to hothem now .good job keep em coming

[SoutherlyBuster]

My family and I visited Lake Corangamite yesterday. Wind was virtually non-existent (I knew that), but that was OK, it was a first looks exploratory trip to see what kiting sports it would be suitable for and access points.

Well I'm all exited. The surrounding country side immediately around the lake is flat, so this means the wind should be nice and clean when it comes. The middle Eastern side has a hill about 1 to 2 km inland from the lake, Red Rock, don't expect any turbulence from this hill to be a problem. Would make a great spot for glider slope soring.

The best access point is on the SE bottom corner, easy car access. No trees to worry about for kite killers and mostly sandy shore line. There are some rocks which are very abrasive, the sort you don't want to land your kite on. Since the water level has dropped so much in recent years, there is a nice expanse of hard packed sand which makes it suitable for launch and land ready for the water action. Might also be suitable for some landbboarding and/or buggy action. Sand was a bit spongy in places, would just have to give it a burl when the wind is up. Same for the landboarding, would have to try it weather it's hard enough and not too sticky. First looks indicate, bring your land gear along as well.

Could not see any tree stumps in the water, so I'd say it would be suitable for kiteboarding.

Further towards the middle and North Eastern sides of the lake there are plenty of roads criss crossing the country side for the farmers. Really need a detailed map and or GPS to navigate this. Not all roads give direct access to the lake as they stop at a dead end at some farmer's gate with no lake in sight. Others pass by the lake and the shore is 100 to 200m away, don't think the farmers would mind if you jumped the fence. Did not try all the possible access points.

Would make a nice tour for push bike riding as well.

The North Eastern shore had some interesting wide and deep sandy shores which might be suitable for some land action. By the time we reached this spot at 4pm or so, my family was getting annoyed with me stopping all the time and taking GPS readings, so I did not get a chance to step out and examine the hardness of the sand. The water was shallow here, but really you don't need that much water to kiteboard, so I could imagine a mega kiteboard tour from the NE shore to the SE shore could be a goer, though you would need a pickup car at the other end, unless you want to kite it back. The access at the NE shore is 100m from the road and requires climbing over the barbed wire fence.

If you had in mind to kite it back, and say get be calmed half way back, there was mobile coverage but dodgy. You would have to have some meeting spots pre-arranged for pick up points in case the wind drops to un-kitable. Red Rock gives a good vantage point to spot the kiter's progress.

Did not get a chance to vist the Western shores, leave that for another day, but I suspect for kiting the Eastern shores would be better, ie more likely the wind direction has a Westerly component if at all rather than an Easterly component, so the Eastern shores would make it better to get back to once out on the middle of the lake.

The scenery is quite nice, mostly dairy farms. There was a nice Winery at Red Rock as well, sampled some and took two bottles home with us.

So the next step is to get some people together that are interested in kiting there, both water and land action is on the agenda. Some more detailed maps with key GPS markings will also be generated.

If we are to plan a long lake crossing, I'd say strap a small back pack with dry clothes in a sealed bag in case we have to wait or walk a long way for a winter trip. The temperature was 10 degC and that was with no wind, so I could imagine with wind chill could drop to apparent temperature of 5 degC.

The sign at the lake said it had water salinity 3 to 4 times greater than the ocean, so this would make the water even more boyant for kiteboarding.

Did not see any carp, nor any leaches.

That's all for the moment.

Regards,

Norman.

[SoutherlyBuster]

Here are some teaser pictures of Lake Corangamite and surrounds I took whilst we are out there.

This was at the South Eastern corner, a wide panarama shot.

A short walk from where the road ends brings you to the shore line.

and just to show that there are some possibilities for some land action as well (landboarding / buggying).

Regards,

Norman.