Noosa Kitesurfing Location Guide

Kitesurfing in Noosa River Mouth

This is the one everyone is always asking about, it’s probably why you’re here right now! The Noosa River Mouth is an amazing kiting location, world class (in our somewhat biased opinion). With shallow flat water, small waves out the front, clear and clean wind and easy setup location the Noosa River Mouth has everything you could want!

Noosa River Mouth at a Glance

• Intermediate skill level
• NE wind
• Outgoing tide
• Give way to everyone, boats, swimmers etc.
• Don't kite south of the rock wall

Skill Level for Kiting the Noosa River Mouth

Intermediate skill level is recommended for the rivermouth. Kiting here requires you to avoid hazards such as boats, swimmers and beach goers, and can often be a little crowded. If you can kite both ways consistently, get up wind and nail your turns every time, you’re probably ready for the rivermouth.

Tide flow separating you from your board is a common occurrence in the rivermouth, so make sure you’ve got your upwind body dragging nailed and if you’re at the stage where you’re still losing your board regularly, maybe give the rivermouth a miss for now.

Kitesurfing Hazards in the Noosa River Mouth

There are a few hazards present in the rivermouth, the main one is boats and other traffic. Noosa is a popular tourist destination and in the middle of summer you’ll find yourself surrounded by boats, swimmers, jetskis, kids and dogs and just about anything else you can think of. As an agile surf craft not under duress in shallow water we are required to give way to everything in this location, so keep your wits about you and make sure you’re skilled enough to handle the conditions on the day.

Tide flow creates a minor hazard in the rivermouth, if you’re still at the stage where you regularly lose your board it can be quite challenging. If you drop your kite, it’s best not to stand up even if the water is shallow as your kite may end up trying to drift upwind of you.

Additionally, shallow water can be a hazard when jumping. Sandbars move around regularly and the tide will drop rapidly at times, so always make sure you’re jumping somewhere safe with plenty of water down wind.

Kitesurfing on Noosa Main Beach is prohibited. If you are kiting at the rivermouth, do not kite south of the main rock wall at the inlet.

Kitesurfing Conditions for Noosa River Mouth

Optimal wind conditions for the rivermouth are North to East, ideally a bit of both, NE or NNE. Wind funnels down the North shore and into the rivermouth ensuring smooth and consistent wind that is often stronger than other nearby locations. As the wind swings to the East this funneling effect is diminished and by the time it’s ENE it will often start to get a bit gusty as wind effect from the headlands begins to kick in.

Tide is also important at the Noosa River Mouth, you want to kite on an outgoing tide. The tide flow here can be as much as 7 knots, in an outgoing tide this will work against the wind and create additional boardspeed making it easy to get up wind and maintain power, as well as flattening the water out to be butter smooth. If it’s heading in however, you’ll lose this speed and likely find yourself drastically underpowered and floating up the river with your kite in the water. Best avoided!

There is a local code of conduct sign posted at the river, and you can see a photo of it here below. Please give this a good read and ensure you follow any local guidelines, our team along with our local community have spent many years working with council to keep the kitesurfing access to the rivermouth open for all without the need for a permit or any special permissions, following these simple rules will ensure it stays that way.

Kitesurfing at Lake Weyba | Sunshine Coast

Lake Weyba is an excellent location for kiting and suits a wide variety of skill levels and riding styles. We do most of our teaching here and you’ll often find George here on location on a windy day.

Flat water that is knee to waist deep all over, perfect for learning, practicing new tricks or just general riding. The Lake is quiet and free of other vessels, and has ample space with acres of flat water to enjoy.

Lake Weyba at a Glance

• Beginner friendly
• Easy flat shallow water
• E-SE wind
• Not tidal

Skill Level for Kitesurfing in Lake Weyba

Lake Weyba is the ideal place to kite as a beginner. The water is quite flat and you can stand up almost anywhere to retrieve your board, relaunch your kite or walk upwind if necessary. Very minimal experience is required, though ideally you want to be able to perform a drift launch to setup here successfully as the lake is surrounded by trees without a clear beach to launch on. If you’re not experienced doing a drift launch, bring a friend to give you a launch or get one of the locals to give you a hand.

For more info on Drift Launching, check out our article and video on performing a Drift Launch at Lake Weyba

Kitesurfing Hazards in Lake Weyba

Lake Weyba is relatively free of hazards when it comes to kiting. There are a few rocky sections marked with buoys, but the rest of the lake is a sandy or muddy bottom that won’t give you any trouble. Aside from that, the only major hazard is putting your kite in the trees, give yourself plenty of space. Always kite at least 50m (~2x line length) out from the treeline. The further you go, the cleaner the wind.

The Lake is largely free of any swimmers and paddlers, boats and other things to watch out for. Regardless, always keep an eye out for bystanders and keep their safety in mind.

Kitesurfing Conditions for Lake Weyba

The Lake works well with anything Easterly in it. The more East in it the better with ideal directions being E - SSE. As the wind swings to the North it tends to become less consistent, but will still work no problems even in a full NNE or Northerly.

The further the wind swings from the East, the further you will want to walk out to get consistent wind. In a NE it can be a bit of a trek to get out to good wind, but it’s still quite good kiting once you get out there.

The Lake isn’t heavily affected by tide due to a very narrow inlet, but will fluctuate a lot in depth based on recent rainfall.

Kitesurfing the Beaches | Sunshine Beach to Coolum Beach

Some of the best surf kiting you’ll find is on our open beaches here, with around 15 kilometers of uninterrupted surf kiting downwinders are one of the most popular amongst the local kiters. Wave conditions ranging from small and mild to massive and intimidating, and an almost limitless amount of space to enjoy a wave or two all on your own.

Open Beaches at a Glance

• Variable skill level & conditions
• NE-SE wind
• Be mindful of tide and surf conditions
• Avoid SLSC red & yellow flags

Skill Level for Kitesurfing the Open Beaches

Our surf conditions here can vary a lot, so it really depends on when you’re kiting, however the basic requirements to kite in the surf are good kite control so that you’re not regularly dropping your kite, as well as being able to stop and turn on demand to avoid waves or others in the water. You don’t need to be an expert to kite in the surf, but you do need to pick your conditions.

Kitesurfing Hazards on the Open Beaches

All the regular beach hazards are present when kiting in the surf here, keep your wits about you and ensure your setting up in a place relatively safe and free of beach goers. Avoid the most populated areas such as Sunshine and Peregian. Most locals setup on the quieter areas like Sunrise, Castaways, Victory Park, Stumers Creek

Waves can range from small and easily manageable to large, fast and extremely dangerous. Always assess beach conditions on the day, even a few hours can make a huge difference in how easy the conditions are to handle.

Beach goers, swimmers and other surf craft are often present along this stretch, so keep a keen eye out for bystanders and make sure you give people plenty of space.

There are several sets of red & yellow SLSC flags out along this stretch. Kiting between the flags is prohibited, keep well clear of them and if you need to pass either kite far out the back and around them (Behind the back break at least, give ample clearance) or if you can’t make it out, come into the beach, put your kite up and walk through.

Kitesurfing Conditions for the Open Beaches

The open beaches will work in a wide variety of conditions. Anything with a bit of East in it will work, with cross shore conditions like NE and SE being ideal. The wind will work right around to a full Southerly, but true North tends to get a bit flukey and offshore.

Wave action will vary greatly, you’ll have to be the judge of what you can handle but as a rule of thumb, NE’ly conditions are generally going to be much smaller and easier to handle then SE’ly. Strong winds from the South East tend to last a couple of days and push in some decent swells from out to sea, so within the first couple of days of a SE pattern we’ll usually end up with large and messy conditions only suitable for experienced kiters.

Tides can make a big difference to the wave action too. On a high tide, there will usually be a large shore break making it difficult to get started and get out off the beach. If you’re less experienced, wait for a mid to low tide where the waves are breaking further out. This will often leave a gutter close to the beach you can kite in where the waves won’t be as large.

There are a few sections of rocks to look out for, mostly located in the area to the north of Coolum/Stumers Creek. The banks of coffee rock are typically exposed at low tide, and on the dropping tide you’ll want to watch out for them.