Had Monday off up here in windless SE QLD and flew down Sunday night, staying with a friend to kite the big winds and swell at Cronulla. I selected Cronulla as closer to the airport for the return journey Monday evening!
I was at the beach around 9:30am and the swell was very manageable for me in the head to head and a half size and wind was gusty but again manageable on my Drifter 7m. I kited for more than two hours but had a few moments of madness getting ripped off the board (strapless) and getting that full waterslide effect of a high speed body drag...I depowered/repowered a few times but is it me or does the kite really feel that sluggish depowered???!!!
I was conscious of no one on the beach but the sandy bottom and plenty of beach downwind didn't really spook me until I really felt the Drifter was simply too big with some sea-bound tacks having me letting go of the bar and being unable to hold my Trigger's edge... and the force of the spray droplets hitting/stinging my face (I had clear Seaspecs on) really gave me that feeling of shutting things down and not risking an equipment failure or worse of course hurting my good self.
Anyway I slowly re-packed my gear, had some late lunch and was killing time at Northies and decided to head to the airport and hope for an earlier flight and thought I would have one last look at the ocean malestrom that was Cronulla that afternon.
I pulled up at the carpark just North of the man-made seawall and a fellow had just pumped up his 2012 Reo 6m and his tethering gear and was setting off down the grassy slope for the sand and the surf.
I launched him , (Pete was his name) and off he went in what was the craziest conditons I had ever felt...earlier my board and bar were almost completely buried by sand in the time it took to self-land my own kite (by pulling the safety) get to the kite, remove the four lines, muck about a little with the loose safety line to aid re-winding around the bar and get back to the bar itself...freakin' wild!
I fired off a few images from my phone and thought everyone might enjoy them...I watched Pete through binoculars and saw his best wave a larger than double-overhead (judged from him standing tall after taking the drop) right-hander and connecting a couple of top turns really arching his turns against the now 40-knot conditions and relying on his strapped in feet for sure!