May 04, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Squamish, Surfing & Watersports
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I went camping in Squamish this weekend, and on the way back to Vancouver we made a slight detour to watch kiteboarders at the Spit.
The Spit is a long, narrow gravel road (actually a breakwater) that juts out into the mouth of the Squamish River. Getting to the Spit is relatively easy; the roads are well marked until the last crucial couple of turns. With a little perseverance, we found our way and gently eased our rental car along the dusty gravel road.
The backdrop at the Spit was spectacular, with a fantastic view of the Stawamus Chief and Shannon Falls behind the brightly coloured, looping kites. There were about a half dozen kiteboarders on the water, with another half dozen on land preparing to go out.
It’s amazing how much speed kiteboarders pick up as the glide across the water – and how much height they get in the air. Some of them must have been 20 feet above our heads. They seemed to like to do all their fancy jumps and tricks right near the spectators on the Spit.
I’m sure they were making it look a lot easier than it actually was… although we did see one pair of kiteboarders doing the “walk of shame” after being caught downwind. They were forced to gingerly step (barefoot) along the long gravel road back towards the launch site.
We spent half an hour being entertained by kiteboarders. Next time, we’ll bring chairs and extra layers of clothing – even though we weren’t actually in the cold water, it was still chilly just watching due to the blustery winds. On a warm summer day, this would be a unique place to snack on a picnic lunch in the afternoon.
May 14, 2007 | Tips from Us >
Squamish, Surfing & Watersports
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View a larger image on flickr.com
The Howe Sound wind forced me to sit lower and lower on the rocks, allowing the jutting spit to block the morning air from reaching my stinging ears.
Despite their wet suits, the kite surfers swore at the cool BC water, and shared their energetic hoots and hollers with us onlookers as they stomped the waves. And then they would soar off again, into the snow-capped mountains or Shannon Falls or against the cargo ship docked on the opposite shore. I sat and shot away, and relished in the action as they played. The spit ranks right up there with the best wind-surfing and kite-surfing spots in the world.