Butch news >> 50km downwinder
Hey Guys,
Just writing to tell you about the wee downwinder I’ve just been on.
When you mention downwinders to most kiters you’re more likely to conjure up thoughts of Kite surfing idyllic south American coastlines with perfect peeling waves and crystal clear waters, warm like a bath, riding down the line epic missions in constant 20 knot trade winds.
How about Land boarding the rugged New Zealand West Coast’s hard packed beaches littered with bloated puffer fish carcasses and pipi shells, drawing lines on the earth and slashing up sand drifts in 30 knot blustery Northwesters? That sounds more like my kinda Downwinder!
I set off from Tangimoana, 20km north of my home in Foxton Beach at 1pm low tide and proceeded to see how far I could get southward towards the capital Wellington. I had my GPS strapped to one side of my manta bag, and my SPOT Satellite tracker to the other. I was off!
I was averaging a cruisy 40-45km/hr on my Ground Industries 2010 Conflict up till the first estuary crossing at the Manawatu River Mouth at the 21km mark. This was not an issue as strapped to my back was my Custom Decay 112x38 Estuary board, designed and constructed specifically for the purpose it was about to fulfill. Swapping Mountainboard for Kiteboard I hit the 200m crossing on my Decay Custom, perfectly powered by the 8m Instinct Light XC I had chosen for the mission, mainly for its massive de-power range, simple yet effective flag out system and its awesome gust munching easy handling characteristics. It didn’t let me down.
After changing back to the Conflict on the other side of the estuary I carried on my way. The coastline is pretty barren and rugged with driftwood scattered everywhere among the blue bottles and empty shellfish but the sand is perfect for boarding and the km passed by effortlessly as I jammed out to The Black Seeds on my Mp3.
The next crossing at the Ohau river wasn’t as wide or deep as the Manawatu river so I waded across bout 60m in waist deep fast flowing water, forgetting about the Mp3 in my pocket…. Doh, and keeping my Conflict dry on my shoulders.
The rest of the mission was done in silence blasting the beach in the gale force winds. Waikawa estuary was the next hurdle but was only bout 40m in thigh deep water. Then it was plain sailing again. The wind smoothed out a bit and I started to throw the kite around a bit more.
At around 47 km I hit Otaki beach. The sand became a bit more gravelly and soft and the beach ramped up a fair bit limiting my options and creating the hardest challenge of the mission so far. I persevered with keeping the kite high and dodging the waves that were crashing over the now 1m wide strip of rideable sand I had left….. but I was still riding.
At 49.5 km I hit the Otaki River mouth which was deep and pretty rough with the 30 knot winds, although only about 50m wide. A few fishermen fishing off the point and a couple of motorbike riders gave me some strange looks as I once again swapped Mountainboard for Kiteboard and hit the raging water of the Otaki estuary. Again the Decay board performed a treat and once on the other side I proceeded to change back to my Conflict. The waves were crashing pretty hard on the nearly non existent beach and I nearly lost the mountainboard into the jaws of a particularly rogue one whilst on the change over.
By now there was next to no rideable beach left. I could have walked the next 5km or so till the beach flattened out again on the approach to Waikanae but this would have defeated the point of my mission so I bit the bullet, kited back across to the Otaki side of the mouth and pushed the OK button on my SPOT Satellite tracker, signaling my lovely wife to check my location on the Wind Warriors Website and bring the Wagon to pick me up.
I checked my GPS, a total of 50km traveled from my departure point at Tangimoana.
Id landboarded the whole way, bar the 4 estuary crossings and had I have attempted the mission on Spring tides I’m sure I would have made it further south down the coast.
Next Time eh….. Watch this space.
Butch
Photo Credit - Rochele Butcher
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