Aug 25, 20222 min read

Kitesurfing the Whitsundays

Updated: Oct 10

As soon as we saw the amazing photos of the Whitsundays we knew we had to kite there.

Unfortunately, all the information we could find online didn't give them a great review.

Most of the reviews centred around Hamilton Island (the easiest island to get to and the most avidly touristed.) The reports were wind was weak and gusty. This didn't add up to us as every boat operator we spoke to complained of nearly constant tradewinds from April til August.

Not to be deterred, we researched the weather patterns surrounding the islands and spoke with numerous local operators. Countless hours were spent pouring over maps to figure out local wind effects and where the best potential places to kitesurf would be.

Finally we felt like we knew enough and we were at the time when the trade winds should be starting to become consistent and the stingers had left to go up North.

The first of many recon missions were planned and we made our way up.

After several days, many self-rescues, getting stuck in wind shadows and hours of travelling around on a boat we'd ruled out the majority of the islands we thought would work.

After narrowly escaping getting stuck on an island we nicknamed "Graveyards" at the end of a 5-hour downwinder we found the first of The Spots. A gorgeous offshore sand spit, a lagoon ringed by reef and an insanely beautiful rugged island, with no one else in sight... this felt like kiting in Jurassic Park.

Inspired, we kept exploring and the more we explored the more amazing spots we found.

We immediately wanted to share these spots with our kitesurfing crew down south so we partnered with a couple of local boat operators who had vessels large enough to deal with the huge wind chop and currents and we put together our first beta test of the Whitsundays tour.