Sandy Point, 8/1/26

[nigel]

Heading down to Sandy Point tomorrow.

Low tide at 10:17am

A South West change is expected to hit the state early morning, so it should be a nice on shore.

I intend to arrive around 9am, and should finish up some time after 1pm.

Any takers??

[nigel]

Not a bad run.

 

Got up early, made the journey down to Sandy Point, and poked our heads on the beach at 9:10am

To be greeted by no wind, and sea fog.

"Well, the wind is ment to turn." I said to Junior.

 

So, we decided that at least we could assemble the buggyies and use them as chairs, while we waited for the wind to arrive.

A big "Hi" to forum lurker Ross, who had seen my post about going down, and decided to join us.

Rocking up not long into our buggy assembly.

Got junior to go back and see if the wind had arrived, and it was blowing with white caps he said.

Put back the 5knot kites, and got the 10knot kites out.

Off to the beach we all go!!

 

On the beach the wind was almost straight down the beach from the South East, not quite what we wanted.

But it was wind, and use it, we did.

Decided to head to the point, so we started tacking back and forth to get there.

The wind slowly started to swing more to the South, and more onshore, but also varied in strength as well over the next few hours.

I shadowed Junior and Ross, while we headed to the point. Passing backwards and forwards through them throughout the day.

Making sure that help wasn't too far away if they needed it.

But the only person to need help was me.

 

About 45 minutes into the session, I was coming back through the two of them, when, Bang!

One handle went limp, and the line was winding it'self around my wheel.

Did I snap a line?

Did I catch the line on the rear wheel?

Once out of the buggy and able to have a look at the 4.5m Century Soulfly, the bridal had decided to let go! 

I now had no connection to the left side of the kite, even the brake line bridal had joined in.

The lines we in one piece, so I had to take the wheel off to remove the lines around the axle.

So in the buggy bag, size up 5.6m, or size down 3m?

Size up, silly question.

 

Out with the 5.6m PL Twister.

Not the quickest kite, but a solid performer.

I have a new 5.5m HQ Prodigy kite that I would like to try, but it was back in the car.

Well, I don't have to work the kite as hard now, just hold on. 

 

No more tacking for us all by now, and we started to get some inroads towards the point (about 10km from our starting point).

We got the standard wind increase (+1-2 knots) when we passed the dunes and hit the spit.

And then with the end of the point in sight, the wind lulled off a bit. 

But we got there!!

 

Congrats to Ross for making it that far without a harness, and fighting a kite that just didn't seem to want to perform.

After a little break, we turned around and headed back.

With the wind behind us, it was a much faster run home.

I clocked 56kph, and Junior got a new PB!!

Only 0.1km quicker than last time, but quicker none the less.

 

So his new PB stands at 45.8kph

A big thanks to John  for the 3.5m Long Star, Junior loves it!!

 

Got back to the Life Saving club at Sandy Point, and called it a day.

It was just after 1pm, and the tide was coming in fast.

Might have got in another half an hour, but Junior was tired, and lunch called.

So we all headed off the beach after a testing run, but quite happy with the results.

 

Hey Ross, if you want to catch up some time, I'd be happy to give you some lessons on the use and setup of your ARC.

Or even come and have a go with a harness and pully for your fixed bridal kites.

Photos.

First 3 are when we arrived

1. Left of the beach, with Wilson's Prom in the background (sea fog around the Prom).

2. Out front on the main beach (notice, the flat sea).

3. Right, down towards Waratah. 

4. At the Point. With Ross to the left about to get to us.

5. 180 degrees from the last one, the Prom and last of the sand at the spit.

6. Some of the the damage on the 4.5m Century, they all snapped at the very end of the sewing point.

The 4.5m Century is second hand, and has been in storage in not so perfect conditions for 10 years. So I suspect the lines might have "rotted".

Will have to see if PKD are still in business, and can get a new bridal. Or even the measurements?

Could fix it by using the other side as a template?

But the other side would go "pop" if I only re-bridaled one side.

A new bridal required........... 

[RedSky]

Good read Nigel. I enjoyed that. Shame about your bridles. Most unusual. Like you say they could have been weakened by long term storage or perhaps too much grip from those disc wheels in soft sand? Love those pictures. The perfect post, and congrats on Juniors PB. 👍

[nigel]

Thanks @RedSky glad you enjoyed it.

While the discs do provide grip, I wasn't overloading them at the time the bridals went twang.

I was on hard sand too. So no really high loads went through the kite at the time.

More akin to me just winding the kite up a bit.

I was turning the kite back against my travels to keep me from overflying the kite as I went down wind.

But rating the load I put through it at the time, I would give it a 4 or 5 out of 10.

I mean I wasn't even over powered, in fact I had to work the kite as it was a little under powered. That's why I could use the 5.6m Twister after it blew up.

Would love to write some more about our trips to the beach, but finding a free day and matching tides, work, school, Nippers, and the weather, is rather hard.

But fingers crossed, there's a long weekend next weekend........

[RedSky]

That would do it. I blew the bridles off two blades, an 8.5 and I think a 6.5 simply by air-braking, swinging the kite behind the direction of travel in an attempt to slow down before the bushes in my park. lol. I'm waiting for spring to arrive before I venture out. March-April time. So keep us up to date with your adventures down there and those unspoiled views. I need my fix one way or another.