After doing a few minor tweaks to the equipment this morning, Ian and the crew headed off north at around 1325hrs in about 8-10 knots of sou’wester;.
Landed safely in Port Gregory at 1540hrs. 70km –Wow, that’s macking along!
Nautical distance from Perth: About 480 km — You can probably add about another 50% to that number to get the total distance travelled if you include the tacks!
Dave Whettingsteel took these photos of Ian passing Horrocks this afternoon.
GERO! He’s landed! Tried to shadow him from Sunset to Drummonds but not even a chance on my 11m!. Gave up after about 500m and drove the rest of the way. Ian even manged to beat the car to Drummond Cove on the 17m foil! Beers and BBQ done, Ian’s already in the sack catching ZZZzzzzs in preparation for another go tomorrow. 440km in 4 days! Sensational mission so far! Great to see you in such great spirits and great shape!
After a day of nearly no wind and some well-deserved rest, Ian is back on the water again today — despite some unseasonal weather for this part of the world — thunderstorms for the past few hours and even about 2.0 mm of rain here in Drummond Cove.
At last check-in on the GPS tracker, Ian had made it about 35km — more than halfway to Geraldton from Dongara– and was beached–probably waiting for the storm to pass. At this rate, he’s likely to rock into Geraldton before 5pm today if the wind continues to blow as it has for the past few hours.
Updates as we receive them.
Ian has spent the day in Dongara today, resting up for the big trip ahead. Wind has hovered around 6 knot for most of the day, making any type of kiting near-impossible. Condition check in the morning and hoping to have a shot at reaching Geraldton. Updates to follow tomorrow.
Ian’s made it to Dongara. Roughly 400 km in two days. Incredible. Forecast for tomorrow is for light winds — hopefully an opportunity for a well-deserved rest!
Just spoke with Ian at 10:30am. He’s in Jurien, finishing a coffee.
A bit sore and battered from nearly 9 hours on the water battling some pretty beefy swell of nearly 4m for most of yesterday but, as expected (if you know Ian) he’s as fresh in attitude and motivation as ever and ready to hit the water again. His goal is to reach somewhere around Dongara by evening, but there probably won’t be enough time and wind to reach Geraldton today.
Kites and other equipment, with the exception of a couple of hours unexplained outage on the GPS tracker have been all good.
Ian passes along his thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement. If you haven’t already done so, head over to the “Soldier-On” site and make a donation to help out our Australian veterans!
https://soldieron.giveeasy.org/campaigns/kitesurfing-perth-to-the-north-west-cape/
Cheers, Rob
Kitesurfer Ian Young has left Perth Western Australia today on an epic downwinder of more than 1,300km — From Perth to Exmouth in Western Australia, across some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible coastline in the world.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/25453081/epic-surf-aimed-at-brothers-in-arms/
You can follow Ian’s progress in real time at http://nano.sjy.id.au
Here’s information from Ian and his team in Perth:
Ian Young is a veteran of more than 22 years service in the Australian Army and has set himself a personal goal of kitesurfing from Perth to the North-West Cape, more than 1300km.
There are many veterans who suffer a variety of health issues and we would like to use this adventure to increase the awareness of these problems.
Many of us suffer from “donor fatigue” these days with so many “good” causes that need to be tackled, however can I please ask you to consider donating to help those veterans who put their lives on the line to serve their country and now need your help. Once you have donated you will receive a tax receipt straight away to your email address. All donations made from this link will go straight to Soldier On.
So, please help me help Soldier On by giving what you can to this great cause. https://soldieron.giveeasy.org/campaigns/kitesurfing-perth-to-the-north-west-cape/
You can also “share” my page with your friends or leave a comment or “like it”. It all helps!
https://www.facebook.com/iay60?fref=ts
We plan to connect with Ian as he approaches Geraldton in the next few days and ride with him on at least part of the journey–hopefully on Saturday — Contact me if you’re interested in joining us!
More information about Ian and the project:
Thanks for the opportunity to help raise awareness of the good work http://Soldieron.org.au do to help service men and women that are suffering as a result of their duty for their country.
Some of the background links you might find useful:
Wish Ian well for a safe and successful journey!
UPDATE:
Ian leaving Perth on Friday morning (below)
We’ve finally got around to getting the shop open! WooHoo. I hope to have some more things to sell soon. Show your support and buy a sticker..
Beautiful, sunny day in the West today. Wind has been building steadily for a few hours now and looking like it’s probably going to crack 20 knots soon. Great day to be out on the water!
(elow) This beach too crowded for you? No worries, Just around the corner there’s another one that you can have all to yourself… 
Hey all,
If you hadn’t noticed summer is nearly here and the sea breezes are already starting apparently (no-one has looked up what a sea breeze actually is I think) but there is wind none the less. This opens the floor to the first kitesurfing.com.au video competition!!
For this video comp you must submit a video (via youtube or something) of you or a mate kitesurfing on the most obscure board imaginable! I once used a plastic toy guitar with some degree of success. To qualify the video must contain a kiter, actually riding on the object for some distance lets say 20m or more and hopefully end in a large stack (will gain you points!)
Get creative, planks of wood are simply shit and isn’t going to win you anything, attaching a hydrofoil to something also doesn’t really count but I like it so enter it anyway!
There will be a prizes when I can find a willing sponsor / donor but worst case you’ll get the kudos of the kitesurfing community.
OK, Any other questions drop us an email pete@kitesurfing.com.au
Have fun.. Wish I could enter…
