UDPATE: Had a quick catch-up with Ian this morning.
With the forecast showing strong winds for the majority of the day, the decision to ride the 6m foil was taken and the launch from about 10km SE of Steep Point went without incident at 0907hrs.
The crossings were a big challenge but he made it safely to Carnarvon with no major dramas, landing at Carnarvon at 1634hrs. If you followed him yesterday, you’d have noticed that he slowed down dramatically for about half an hour off the end of the point at Peron National Park.
If you’ve been out there on the end of the Point yourself, you’ll be aware that it’s a humbling and majestic part of the world, but it’s unlike anywhere else I’ve ever seen. A dramatic meeting of red sand, bright blue/green water, blue skies and jagged cliffs makes for a majestic sight, but the combination of the cliffs, the point, the deep channel just off the point and the sections of reef rising further out does crazy things to the wind and the currents. You can toss a 50gram sinker in the water off the point on the end of your fishing line and it’ll get dragged along like a cork. The wind swirls around all over the shop and often changes direction from moment to moment.
Despite there being consistent 20+ knot winds for most of the mission earlier-on, he actually got becalmed for about half an hour after making the decision to head across to Carnarvon. A few km off the point the kite fell out of the sky twice and started blowing towards him, but he managed to get it relaunched and got on his way again. So much for the claims that you can’t relaunch a foil from the water! I’m sure Ian will elaborate later but he said the crossing to Carnarvon was extremely rough water, causing him to ride much slower than he could have done on flat water.
No dramas to speak of getting across to the mainland coastline. Along the way to Carnarvon he had to dodge quite a few sticks poking out of the sea floor but other than that, no other impediments or obstacles. He was hoofing off to get a coffee earlier this morning when I spoke with him.
We’d organised for GWN7 to interview him shortly afterwards. All going to plan, there should be a story on the GWN7 news about the mission tonight, so keep an eye out!
They had offshore winds in Carnarvon this morning, but the forecast was indicating it might swing around by afternoon.
The plan is to make a call based on what the condition look like and if possible, make a run to Blowholes or Quobba Station, then wait it out until the conditions improve. As of midday, it was still blowing a gusty ESE so still watching and waiting.
Stay tuned for more… The mission has nearly reached it fundraising goal — if you haven’t donated yet, please consider putting some $$s towards this worthy cause to help our Australian soldiers who’ve given so much! https://soldieron.giveeasy.org/campaigns/kitesurfing-perth-to-the-north-west-cape/
Below: For scale, note the guys standing on the clifftop on the upper right 
Kalbarri Coastline
