Kiting Nananu-i-Ra, Fiji

[Bruce Mackenzie]

After 4 months of not kiting after a horrible experience in Sydney, Australia and having no lines and bar, I eventually get it together. Having lived in Fiji now for almost 3 months, I plan a trip to the main kiting destination in Fiji on the Island of Nananu-i-Ra.

Situated on the North Eastern side of the main island of Viti Levu, the Island of Nananu-i-Ra is in the passage of constant SE trade winds, the prevailing wind here in Fiji. After getting in touch with Warren Francis who runs a place called Safari Lodge and establishing that he has a bar and lines for me, I decide to go there over the long weekend.

After a hard week of work and some preparation in making sure my equipment is all 100%, Saturday arrives. In the meantime I had invited along a very special friend of mine Andrea who is from Germany and has been living in Fiji for almost 7 years.

We leave on Saturday at around 10.30 am and head north along the coast through the towns of Ba, Tavua and Rakiraki, about a 2 hour trip to Ellington Wharf where we wait for a boat to take us across to the Island. While waiting, I could see across from us in the direction of the island, three kites up in the air. By this stage my excitement levels where clearly visible.

Eventually after waiting an hour at the wharf, the boat arrives. We pile in with a group of 5 Japanese girls and another young couple from Germany who are studying at the university of the South Pacific. I am like a packhorse with my two kites and am the only one that’s fully laden with equipment. Andrea the German Princess has one small bag containing what looks like two bikinis and maybe one spare change of clothes. The boat trip takes us about 15 minutes. We arrive on the West side of the island, the opposite side to where we are going due to the tide being too low for us to get over the coral in front of Safari Lodge. While on the boat, there is one kite in the distance cruising back towards the island. The water is crystal clear, the temperature around 28C, humidity probably 60% and the wind sitting at a constant 20 to 25 knots from the SE.

We climb out the boat and make our way to the other side of the island, a short 10 minute walk. As we reach the top of the small hill, we witness one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. In fact, a site so beautiful that the group of Japanese girls make such a loud noise that it sounds like they are having a team orgasm.

There in front of us is this massive bay with so many different colours of blue and turquoise from the changing levels of water over sand and coral. The wind on this side of the island is a side onshore and looks really good.

We arrive at Safari Lodge and quickly take our gear up to our Bure. The rest of the people staying in the resort arrive back from their lesson with Warren who is the owner of the establishment and the school. After a quick lunch and a bit of preparation, Warren announces that we will be leaving on the boat at 3.30 to go out to Kite point. Off we go! We arrive at the spot which is a tiny little beach opening up into the main channel between the mainland and the island. I set up my 14.5m Ion on a beach that is fast disappearing due to the incoming tide. No such thing as a beach launch, in fact, the kite is walked out into the water and then launched. Off I go, first time up and riding for 4 months. Needless to say I was pretty nervous, but before long I was back in the air. After a 3 hour session, it is 7pm and we all come in and head back to the mainland. The wind keeps on blowing throughout the night. In fact, at this particular part of Fiji, the Trade winds are almost constant.

After a pleasant night sitting around chatting about the days kiting and being entertained by this 22 year old Dutch guy and his British girlfriend who use Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine their decision on whatever they are going to do next, we go up to our Bure and climb onto a really massive hammock and stare out at the full moon shining onto the ocean through the palm trees. At around 12.30pm, the generator goes off and so too does our ceiling fan. Fiji is not for sissies.

The next morning after breakfast Warren announces that we are going to go and kite out on the sandbar. At the same time we get a Tsunami warning as there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake off one of the Pacific Islands. We hear that it is not going to be too serious and that there could possibly be a 1.5m Tsunami which for us is a good wave to jump, so we begin to prepare.

Because we are going to be launching off the boat, we need to attach our lines to our kites and then roll them up again. After preparing all the equipment we head out. The trip is about 5km out to sea and is to a massive big sandbar surrounded by coral reefs. After a 30 minute journey, we arrive in the shallow waters, the colour of which you simply cannot believe. This is nothing more than paradise. Imagine sitting 5km out to sea in knee deep water surrounded by islands and coral reefs. Words cannot explain.

One kite is pumped up at a time on the boat by the boatman who is really experienced at launching off a small craft. Then it’s my turn. While my kite is being pumped, I start walking back to unravel my lines. The weirdest feeling ever as you are 5km out to sea. Suddenly a small shark dashes past me. I shout to Warren who retorts with “I wonder where its mother is?” After a short while I am ready to launch. Up goes my 14.5m in a good 20 knot SE. Off I go, skimming across knee deep turquoise water with white sand below from edge to edge of the sandbar. The sandbar is surrounded by a coral reef, just deep enough to get over. Once over it you are in deep water and are able to go crazy. While Warren is teaching the other 3, I ride up and down with all the space in the world, going from the deep back onto the sandbar which is no less than 100m wide and 500m long. After riding there for almost an hour, we start heading downwind towards the main island. Moving between coral reefs and deep water, we head off for the 5km run. Although the wind is blowing a steady 20knots, the surface is smooth because of the outer reef. The second hour goes by, and then we start to head towards the main bay. Three hours in and we are now playing around off Mile Long Beach in front of Safari Lodge. Jutta, a German lady now living in Suva, who has only been kiting for 6 weeks and is doing extremely well. Unfortunately right at the end of the session, she gets too close to one of the exposed coral reefs and end up with her kite stuck on the coral. I eventually head in onto the beach in front of Safari Lodge, sun burnt and tired after one of the most unbelievable 3 hour sessions I have ever had.

We roll up the kites and go and have some lunch. We then decide to head back to kite point for an afternoon session. Andrea decides that she wants to have a lesson so off we go. While Warren is teaching, I decide to get onto my 10.5m kite (now named little bitch since my accident), with the wind now at around 22 knots. Andrea does well and gets a full session of body dragging in. We kite for 2 hours and at 7pm, we get back on the boat and head back to the East side of the island.

One of the challenges with kiting on the island is that the beaches are very small or you are climbing back onto a boat. This means that there is no beach to land your kite on and you have to roll up your lines in the water. Lesson number 1, do not detach your lines from your kite while rolling them up. I did and ended up spending more than an hour untangling lines that evening. Not the end of the world as I was fully loaded with a Fiji Bitter quart. This is the life! That night it rained really hard until the morning so unfortunately we had no wind on our last day. But with 11 hours behind me, stiff muscles and sun burn this is not the end of the world. After breakfast Andrea and I went for walk along Mile Long Beach with Warren’s two dogs. After lunch we headed back to the mainland to end what could easily be considered as the perfect kiting weekend.

Bula vinaka!

Thank you Fiji – you have delivered.

[Kitesports]

Bruce, this looks amazing. I am so keen to come over, I wonder how many lessons I will have to do to pay my way!!!!
Dude, you are living the life.....