I am camping at rainbow beach on oct 24 with mates and want to know where i can kite around there.
And what conditions are needed.

lotofwind said...

Just take heaps of shark repelant

Bah! Sharks can only get you if you stack it! ;)

Mate, I was at Noosa Northshore about 3 weeks ago, not too far away from rainbow. Good northerly seabreezes in the arvo until I busted my leading edge bladder in the surf! Just stay clear of fishermen and families if you kite, as I remember Rainbow being a lot busier than down Teewah way. Otherwise you can pretty much kite anywhere... Have fun!

ADEN,I use to fish Inskip heaps when I lived up that way.
I have never seen so many sharks while fishing.
It never stoped me surfing around the area though when the waves were on but would hate to be kiteing the Inskip passage and lose my board 50m away and have to spend alot of time body dragging for the toothie critters.
If ya chat to a few of the old hard core fishos in the Rainbow pub they can tell ya a few stories.
Wouldnt stop me getting in the water but would keep an eye out more than other places thats for sure.

Inskip is awesome to kite as long as u are sensible eg. safe and fair to other users and cautious of loosing your board and spending time body dragging. Pretty fair to describe the waters as shark infested if you ask me. seen heaps. especially angry scary Bull sharks sometimes in packs. the bay between Inskip and tin can (tin can bay) often has nowhere to launch and land eg all the time except dead low tide. But it often has awesome flat water and depending on wind direction is often not too gusty even though the wind will be coming over the point or frazer Is or where ever. The surf beach sometimes has limmited to no space to launch or land as tides rises so make sure you got a plan and know what's happening around you. While there you should check out calos sand blow as a cool tourist thing to do. I had a ball riding body boards down the dunes with my nephew, haha. check it out on google earth. its a very short drive (1min) and very short (10 min about) walk from rainbow township. I'm possibly up there next weekend camping. hopefully a local will read this thread and pm you and kite with you. It really is a cool spot. almost always got good wind strengths. Have a blast. just found a few pics of the water on some guys blog. they are at the bottom of the page.

mikeandcarol.skovron.com/ blog/2006_09_01_arch...

Hi there, I live at Tin Can Bay. The main beach at Rainbow is fine, just go a bit north of the patrolled area (not patrolled at the moment I don't think, maybe they have started again now) till you get some free area. Don't go south of it as you will be playing frogger with 4wd's.

Scope out the tides before you do anything, not sure how much room you would have to land at high tide. A lot of the beach got washed away 10 months ago or whenever that cyclone was off the coast, I can't remember.

If you have a 4wd check out Double Island lagoon like aden said. It's just on the northerly side of it. Nice flatwater, and exposed to the N/NE seabreeze. If you go south of it you get surf, but will only work if S/SE.

I personally wouldn't kite at Inskip near the bar, but I'm a wuss when it comes to bars. Unless you are pro, you will end up having your board taken out to sea I reckon :p on an outgoing tide.

If you want some flatwater come to Tin Can, best with a northerly seabreeze as it isn't too gusty. Southerlys are normally strong and gusty. Gusting up to 40/45kts yesterday .

Haven't had any experience with Carlo Point or the inside of Inskip, so can't really comment. Not sure how sheltered it is from the seabreeze. You will then have the long walks to the little bit of water left at low tide, like we do here at Tin Can. Can't really do much unless it's at least 3/4 full.

Hope some of this helps.

TheChad said...

I've been wondering about that lagoon at DI. I can't remember seeing it last time I was there (I didn't kite then), but I've seen it on Google Earth and it looks sweet!

How much does the point itself effect the wind there?

When you're almost at the point there will be a cutting that you gotta take to get thru to the Lagoon!

It's GREAT in a NW'erly, So the point isn't in the way.
When I went up there, there was no wind, but was FLATWATER with VERRY TINY smooth kickers every now and then ROLLING(not breaking) in.
Someone once told me that it was a LITTLE gusty but I DISAGREE.
IMHO D.I Lagoon is the best FLATWATER location around(kinda like Egypt lagoons that Hadlow goes to, but its shoulder deep(im 165cm tall, and it is CLEAR blue water).
I think there's a fair few Turtles and Dugongs and other creatures, it's such a great kiting spot, and there will hardly ever be another kiter out there unless someone decides to get a crew together and go out there, so don't worry about being crowded.
And time it with the tides,(LOW tide at 12).

I'll try post a pic later,(when I can find it!)

ADEN.

ADEN said...

TheChad said...

I've been wondering about that lagoon at DI. I can't remember seeing it last time I was there (I didn't kite then), but I've seen it on Google Earth and it looks sweet!

How much does the point itself effect the wind there?

When you're almost at the point there will be a cutting that you gotta take to get thru to the Lagoon!

It's GREAT in a NW'erly, So the point isn't in the way.
When I went up there, there was no wind, but was FLATWATER with VERRY TINY smooth kickers every now and then ROLLING(not breaking) in.
Someone once told me that it was a LITTLE gusty but I DISAGREE.
IMHO D.I Lagoon is the best FLATWATER location around(kinda like Egypt lakes that Hadlow goes to, but its shoulder deep(im 165cm tall, and it is CLEAR blue water).
I think there's a fair few Turtles and Dugongs and other creatures, it's such a great kiting spot, and there will hardly ever be another kiter out there unless someone decides to get a crew together and go out there, so don't worry about being crowded.
And time it with the tides,(LOW tide at 12).

I'll try post a pic later,(when I can find it!)

ADEN.

Aden, how does the tide affect the Lagoon? Do waves come over the sandbar at high tide? Is there still 4WD access at high tide?

I dont know about kiting there in the NE. pretty sure it comes over the headland in a NEer

S Carver said...

ADEN said...

TheChad said...

I've been wondering about that lagoon at DI. I can't remember seeing it last time I was there (I didn't kite then), but I've seen it on Google Earth and it looks sweet!

How much does the point itself effect the wind there?

When you're almost at the point there will be a cutting that you gotta take to get thru to the Lagoon!

It's GREAT in a NW'erly, So the point isn't in the way.
When I went up there, there was no wind, but was FLATWATER with VERRY TINY smooth kickers every now and then ROLLING(not breaking) in.
Someone once told me that it was a LITTLE gusty but I DISAGREE.
IMHO D.I Lagoon is the best FLATWATER location around(kinda like Egypt lakes that Hadlow goes to, but its shoulder deep(im 165cm tall, and it is CLEAR blue water).
I think there's a fair few Turtles and Dugongs and other creatures, it's such a great kiting spot, and there will hardly ever be another kiter out there unless someone decides to get a crew together and go out there, so don't worry about being crowded.
And time it with the tides,(LOW tide at 12).

I'll try post a pic later,(when I can find it!)

ADEN.

Aden, how does the tide affect the Lagoon? Do waves come over the sandbar at high tide? Is there still 4WD access at high tide?

I just realised that it doesnt matter if it's low or high tide,(BUT IT HAS TO BE AT MIDDAY.) That is so you can get there and back.

I dont think the tide affects any kiting, I dont know of anyone who has complained about the tide affecting any kiting.

If the low/high tide is at midday, then you'll be able to get there mid morning(10ish), kite all day and if you want stay the night, then kite the next day and leave mid arvo or late arvo depending on tide.

Say you're standing on the sandbar, the wind will be blowing in some sort of onshore direction, then you can kite around that sandbar to this little lagoon which would be sick for filming, because it will be some sort of offshore direction.

If there is no wind then there is these massive sandunes that you can go down on your kiteboard, kinda like snow/sandboarding(they are steep so you dont have to worry about friction between your board and the sand).
And if you got the balls(best in N/NE i think, because it will be crossonshore to the dunes,) you can glide off it with your kite and will float out accross where the vehicles drive(beach/sand road) and out into the water.(BTW dunes are ****off huge! and then, and then you try again )

ADEN.

Allkind said...

Looks really good there, think i might head down there for the day if the right conditions are on.

How often is it kiteable there?

What do you mean how often is it kiteable?

Whenever its between NW - N/NE!

ADEN.

ADEN said...

Allkind said...

Looks really good there, think i might head down there for the day if the right conditions are on.

How often is it kiteable there?

What do you mean how often is it kiteable?

Whenever its between NW - N/NE!

ADEN.

Does the wind mainly come from north or is usually southerly?

Keahi said...

I dont know about kiting there in the NE. pretty sure it comes over the headland in a NEer

Oh well, NNE then, it's been a while since I was there. It was getting channelled though.

It was a memorable session even if just for the fact that I had no cool drinks in the car, just a water bottle in the cab slowly heating up in the afternoon sun. The lagoon was so shallow the water in it was getting warm, and it was a hot day. I can remember getting really, really warm out there kiting, and being unable to cool down by any means except going out into the deep water (with the sharks?) and dropping into it. I was still dehydrating faster than I should have and the first cool bottle of water back at Rainbow was like all my Christmases come at once. Tip: take an esky with ice for your drinks.

The other guy is wearing a full body sky blue lycra suit

He is flying two kites, if you zoom in you can faintly see two sets of lines coming from his harness.

did someone say updraft...

Thats awesome man. Just was out at Tin Can Bay then. Wasnt enough wind today as forecasted, but in summer the wind in the bay is pretty decent for it.

Suprisingly not too gusty, and its awesome flat water to learn in. Plus, not too deep water for those nasty bloody sharks to get ya.

Kited between Fraser and Inskip before. Id take my hat off t anyone who does that more then once. My board headed straight for the bar. Was trolling right out into the middle of the channel. Reading those other posts, I can only imagine....