VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Heading to Tofino for the weekend with the missus, looks like friday may be a good wind day.....but I haven't even been to the spot before.
Any advice, previous experiences welcome.

Cheers
Len

Usually NW wind is best for LB and the more northern beaches. SE winds are sketchier. Don't know if you are kiting or windsurfing, but best to be at least advanced intermediate level in waves and be comfy landing/launching your kite yourself. It's a fickle area so bring all the gear you can and be pleasantly surprised if a forecast actually matches reality (not often). Lennard Island is the lighthouse to get wind readings from. You may have to drive around to a few beaches before seeing the right conditions but the wind changes quickly. It can be one of the most frustrating places to kite/windsurf or it can be...good. Forecast seems not ideal for Fri and this weekend?

Wdoc- New landed Squish kiting immigrant....

Beware of offshore winds /current....not the first time people have trouble there, NW off S Chesterman, SE off N Chesterman, currents/shadow near LB's Lovekin Rock....others can chime in I'm sure

And the Coast Guard is unsympathetic to rescuing your kite as a result of a tangle that had a RIB beached a few years ago. It is either you or your kite if things go sideways:

http://www.theprovince.com/Gallery+Cana ... story.html

Thanks all of you for replying.

Actually more of an English export than a Squamish immigrant

Im a competent kiter and most of my kiting (Caribbean trade winds, and two winters in the phillipines) hasn't been in stormy wind conditions so im just trying to get all the info I can.
I certainly dont want to lose a kite, make a fool out of myself or worse endanger anyone including myself.

Ill do my homework and make sensible decisions before pumping up a kite.

I actually tended to stay away from Kiting in Squamish the majority of the time because of the lack of sense displayed there, it took a lot of the fun out of going out.


Thanks again for your input guys, look forward to seeing many of you out on the water someday.

abetanzo wrote:http://wtfbc.ca/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2769&p=30697

very good thx Abe

Can't speak about the wind where your kite is but the wind is really up and down when you're windsurfing at a lot of the beaches around tofino, but i suspect it's still an issue, for kites. The trees and cliffs around the beaches are tall and can create pretty fluky winds.

Who was that kiter? Insane mullet!

Grey Robinson is the guy. Infamous legend in Vancouver island kiteboarding. Took out the power on saltspring kiting in the harbour, broke both his arms slamming into the beach at cook st, cooked a chunk of halibut in the sauna at Nitinat while people were in it, taught a lesson at JR with a 4m swell filling in, 40kn offshore slowly filling in and just made sewers as they washed in, also had a large group of people suggest to him he does not return to Nitinat. I only knew of him for a few years. I can only wonder what other amazing things this guy has done.

The coast guard story is great because he refused to ditch his kite when they tried to rescue him. It got all tangled up and when he saw things going bad he jumped off and left the crew to deal with it. Stand up guy!

nanmoo wrote:Who was that kiter? Insane mullet!

http://www.graykite.surf/about/

Still alive! Still instructing! Not sure about his fish cooking methods these days however. Infrared sauna maybe?

Last I heard he was pulling his same old tricks in Tarifa. I have several more great stories regarding him for the campfire sometime. Sorta wish there was a "Truman show" following him and we could see it all!

abetanzo wrote:http://wtfbc.ca/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2769&p=30697

Thanks for that, great resource!