Cape Town diary

[Tucker266]

Thanks Hugh. Brilliant session yesterday equipped with bus pass. Began at Sunset again and down- winded. Was aiming for Holbaai but bailed at Kreefte. Realised there was no bus stop and then had a fairly hefty walk down to Holbaai anyway - but the buss arrived immediately and I was home 20mins later. Brilliant.

All the quietest bits of the coast actually have the best waves! Strange.

Out again this evening on an 8M Rally in case you’re around. Cheers.

[Hugh2]

Excellent Tucker, pity you did not scope out the busstops, but now you know. Only one bus stop between Big Bay and Holbaai, and it is just north of BigBay at the wooden fence. I had a good day yesterday, did a downwinder from KiteBeach to Holbaai on 7m and directional. I'm not that good in big waves, so the smaller ones were perfect for working on turns. Then a TT session back at KiteBeach, but by then it was pretty choppy and blown out. Too tired to write it up last night. No wind today unless you were willing to drive 1.5 hours to Platboom at Cape Point, or three hours east to Hermanus, or 4 hours to Struisbaai or Witsand/Breede River. I'm not willing to do the latter for one day. Rain tomorrow, but Monday might have enough NW for a downwinder the other way, or go down to Platboom for some stronger wind, or Noordhoek might work, or inland to a lake for very strong wind.

[Hugh2]

Today did not look promising, with light NW wind and possible rain forecast. I spent the morning down at Simonstown visiting with some kitesurfers I met at Cape St Francis who are sailing a 34 ft boat clockwise around Africa from Europe. Very cool young couple and their friends. Then a short snorkeling session at Miller Point further south, but the tide was too high and the wind surprisingly strong, so not good visibility. So instead headed over to Kommetjie and Long Beach where some locals were riding, but it was light and they were on 14 and 17m kites. So drove south to Witsand where it was blowing reasonably hard, but seemed gusty coming through from the NW, so went a little further south to Misty Cliffs, for the first time, where the waves were superb and the wind was reasonably strong. Unfortunately it was low tide by then so the various rocks were either exposed or barely submerged. Nevertheless, encouraged by four others kiting there, I launched 10m on surfboard and instead of riding waves there, went far out to steady good wind and upwind to Witsand, where despite the gustiness the waves were pretty good, one just had to avoid all the surfers. A good 2 hours on the water, and when it seemed the wind was dying as gentle rain started, I headed back to Misty Cliffs. Very pleasant and surprisingly good day. Tomorrow should be NW again and a little stronger, so I'm hoping to do a Noordhoek beach downwinder, something I've long wanted to do and might have some takers for it.

[Hugh2]

Forecast for today was for a reasonably strong NW wind, more than yesterday. I coordinated a downwinder with a group of European sailors/kiters who are sailing their 34ft boat clockwise around Africa. They are currently in Simonstown and I got to visit them yesterday morning for a chat and look around their boat. We met up at the parking lot at Noordhoek where it was already blowing pretty hard. I only had my 10m with me, so that was the kite. They were on 9 and 10m too, except two women who tried on 8m, but found the conditions too tough. We probably pumped up too close to the mountain there as the wind was very gusty. Once we got outside a bit it evened out and I went downwind and rode for a while waiting for them, with decent sized waves to ride. Eventually we all set off, five of us, and had a good downwinder. The wind in the middle of the bay was particularly strong and I had to trim my kite all the way down to avoid getting ripped off my strapless surfboard. Two others were also on strapless and two on TT. Along the way I saw three molamolas or sunfish, one of which was the biggest I've ever seen in Cape Town. Plus finally a scraggly looking penguin. That spectacular beach, photo below, ends in a rocky point which two of us managed to clear, only to run into large kelp beds. Being low tide it was impossible to slalom through them, and we both had to body drag across. The wind in the next bay, Long Beach, was lighter so we just headed in to land at Kommetjie, while the other three had to walk along the beach from the rocks. The ladies kindly drove the cars around to pick us up, thank you ladies! I've always wanted to kite this beach, so mission accomplished. This crew will sail around Cape Point tomorrow, and the weather window is amazing, NW in the morning to sail down to the cape, turning southerly for the run back up to Hout Bay or Cape Town, awesome, I hope they have a great sail.

[Hugh2]

[Hugh2]

Forecast today was for late SEaster at Bloubergstrand, but meanwhile my new sailing friends indeed managed to use a light NW in the morning to sail down to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, and then the building southerly to come all the way up to Cape Town, to the Royal Cape Yacht Club in the harbor. What an awesome day they must have had, six of them on the boat as they have friends visiting. On passages they normally have four, two guests and the main couple. I'm envious, hopefully in a few years I will have a similarly comfortable rounding of this iconic cape on my own boat. Instead I had work done on my car and watched the India vs South Africa test 3 cricket. The wind finally filled in late and I got on the water around 6 for a pretty good 9m session on TT. The waves were medium sized and I got some good kickers, although it was very gusty and I got dropped hard a few times. Again top jump was 10m, I seem stuck at that altitude. I seldom kite that late in the afternoon, but with prescription sunglasses it is now feasible, although it's a bit dodgy sussing out incoming kites when you are headed out and the sun is in your eyes. And kite beach was pretty busy as was the length of Bloubergstrand. Beautiful sunset to end the day, pic below from our apartment.

[Hugh2]

[Hugh2]

Yet another late afternoon SEaster, this is getting a little old. Kited 9m at Dolphin on TT from 5:30 to 7, but I really need to do downwinders. I wear myself out staying upwind and it does my knees no good either. Tomorrow I will make a point of it.

[dracop]

I am curious, what was your expectation for visiting CPT?

CPT is known for the Cape Doctor wind, basically thermal wind that builds up all day long and is strongest as you approach sunset (usually the Cape Dr hits full power about an hour before Sunset). If you ask around the local kite schools, they try to do lessons in the late AM around 10-11am so as to avoid too much wind in the later PM sessions. This is the famous wind in CPT that people go there aiming to find, so why is it upsetting if its behaving that way? I think the lighter version of the Cape Dr has been helping you - would you really want to be on a strapless out in 40+ kts (typical wind speed while Ive been there) ? You won't be on a 9m then! lol

If "I" go there and start praying for 50+ kts the way I got in Jan 2016 and Jan 2020 at Dolphin/Kite Beach, I do not think you would enjoy it. That super strong wind is what CPT is known for. My friends used to do downwinders from Sunset Beach to Haakgat because upwinding in that kind of wind was too much of a chore for them Z(we'd setupa car at each end of the trip).

What type of wind/conditions would you be happy with?

[Hugh2]

Hi Dracop, you are correct that I should not be unhappy, and indeed I am very happy to have kited almost every day for the past 40 days. But I am changing, I am older, and old knee injuries (from snowboarding) are starting to act up. The difference for me this year, and perhaps it will change in February once I am gone, is that we have not had the big wind, big swell days I recall. Perhaps it is just selective memory, but we had at least some days in the past where the SEaster was in the 25-30 knot range and swells were 2-3m and long period. I can handle those on 7m, my preferred kite size here. That allowed for fast runs on smooth water in-between broken waves leading to a beautifully cresting ramp to launch off. I get only one or two such perfect launches each session these days. Otherwise it is mostly very choppy and short period waves. Anyway, the solution is to do downwinders, preferably on directional to ease the knee strain. I also used to do a lot of my kiting in the early afternoon, now it is usually late afternoon, which also compresses the number of kiters on the water, both visiting and locals who have just knocked off work. In the past I would be quitting as the latter arrived. Another sign of differences is that in the past almost every day would see a procession of SUP riders doing downwinders from Milnerton to Big Bay using the swells far out in the bay. Yesterday is the first time I saw them this entire season, and of course many of them now are foiling wingers. And we have a rather unusual forecast coming up for a week, light westerlies with massive swell forecast for middle of next week, the combination of which is not much good for kiting, see pic below. And of course this is when the wave period grows far above 10 seconds, when it has been below 10 seconds most of the past month. I will have no trouble finding other things to do, or go other places to kite, but a week of westerlies is not common in the summer here, a couple of days yes, a week no.