With Nitinat being closed for the season I was looking for an alternative. I spent the last five days camping at China Creek with friends. We had four days of great kiting and one day of rain. The campsite is very nice for tenting or RVs with hot showers and clean washrooms and easy access to the launch area. The kting scene is smaller than Nitinat with maybe up to twenty kites on the water at the busy times. The wind was a bit lighter so sometimes only hydrofoils got out. I only used my 8m and 12m kites with my hydrofoil.
There is a small kite school there but they seem to be heavily booked for lessons. The area is user friendly but probably not great for beginners since if you don't stay upwind you might end up drifting up the inlet toward Port Alberni. The kite school does rescues for a fee if you drift too far. There is always plenty of room on the water. I found the wind steady and the water relatively flat which is ideal for foilboarding. Overall I was very happy and we have reserved campsites for another trip in August. https://campchinacreek.com/camping/
CG
Attachments
campsite43 (Small).JPG (173.58 KiB) Viewed 2775 times
41555921_10156770348618552_6786007650044739584_n.jpg (154.52 KiB) Viewed 2775 times
- only about 10 - 15 minutes of dusty gravel road to endure from Port Alberni to China Creek, but generally this section of road is well traveled, so be prepared for on-coming vehicles
- kiting beach at China Creek is a mix of small & medium sized rocks, sand and mud, quite gently shelving, tide levels vary widely ( a lot more than at Nitinaht ) and the mid-tide zone of the beach has many barnacle-encrusted rocks, so foot protection when walking through this zone is recommended
- wind direction at China Creek is generally a bit more onshore ( onto the kite & windsurf beach ) than wind at Nitinaht, so getting off, upwind, and away from the beach can be a bit harder, particularly if the wind is light. Frequently there is somewhat of a wind hole at the north ( marina entrance ) end of the beach. When the wind is light, it's best to walk out away from the beach as far as possible to give yourself some room downwind to water-start and get going out into the middle of the inlet
- Alberni inlet is so long that tidal fluctuations do not fully empty is, so with a sunny and warm summer, the water will warm up more than our normal Pacific NW coastal sea temperatures ( in August China Creek can be shorty or spring-suit warm ! )
From what I understand the Alberni Inlet thermal kicks in a bit later in the day, sometimes as late as 3:00 or 4:00. The wind probably fills in earlier at China Creek though as it's half way up the inlet.
I just came back from another great trip at China Creek campsite. Lots of Squamish and Nitinat kiters are there right now. We had five straight days of good wind ..which sometimes didn't start until mid afternoon. I used only my 12m and my 8m kites with my hydrofoil but some foilers were on 6m or 7m kites. Everyone appreciates the clean washrooms and hot showers and the organized campsite. There are kids playgrounds and a big beach area for kids and some sites have full services for RVs. On the water it's comparable to Nitinat with nice water temperature and maybe a kilometer wide inlet. The launch area is not large but works fine.. I counted about 25 kites in the air at the busiest times. Bring booties as there beach is small rocks not sand. I used my 3/2 wetsuit and my 4/3 wetsuit.. anything thicker is probably too warm. You need to make reservations for a campsite as it's generally full.