Flying at Town of 1770 and Agnes Water
The Town of 1770 is a tiny coastal village north of Bundaberg with a beautiful sandy bay. One of the biggest attractions is the option to take a boat out to the southern most part of the barrier reef. It’s been our favourite family holiday spot for years.
There are some great spots for coastal flying with incredible views here. This is a guide for others that might be interested in flying there. These sites require sound site assessment, ground handling and flying skills so they’re not suitable for beginners. But for a pilot with the required skills, the flying at 1770 is amazing! I’d say PG4 with coastal flying experience is a minimum requirement for flying here.
There are a couple of launches at 1770. The first one is a big, beautiful grassy field that I did a lot of hand dragging on. I call it Drag Queen (DQ).
The other one is a smaller, scrappier, lower site that faces South towards Agnes Waters. It’s not as nice as DQ and is a bit rocky. I call it Rock & Roll (RR).
Both sites are in a National Park so keep that consideration in mind when deciding to fly here.
Pin for the parking lot: https://goo.gl/maps/XNpMWYsSax4YgTsQ7
From the parked car, you’re looking directly SE. Ideal wind direction is E but you can fly from NE to S.
There is a wind vane and weather station next to the car park along the walking track that leads to the launches. Unfortunately there is no live feed from this weather station. But at least the wind vane works well.
Both of these launches are quite low. 10–20m max. Because of this you need the wind to be fairly strong to stay up at these sites. This is similar to Carties or Alex Headland. I’d say you need 10kts+. Ideally 12–13kts. The launches are not very steep so there is a bit of compression and you need to push out over the cliff to gain height.
There is a cove with a sandy beach between the two launches. I call it Crusoe Beach (CB) because of the wooden shelter on the beach.
Rock n Roll
RR works well when the wind direction is S or it’s too strong to launch from the higher DQ. Facing south the soaring area is quite small but I’ve gotten quite high from this launch in a SSE.
The open beach to the South is a good landing option. You can scramble up the rocks to launch without having to pack your wing. Or there is a longer walking track that goes up the left side.
In strong wind you can get dragged back behind the launch but it’s just small bushes and not that dangerous.
Obviously, do not attempt landing at CB in a southerly because you’ll be in rotor.
I have flown from RR in a NE. Because this launch is behind the higher DQ in this direction, there is a strong chance of rotor. I flew in very light conditions where I could barely stay up. In very light conditions you can soar the NE side of this launch and land on CB. You have to be very careful in NE because of the very narrow soaring area and it’s easy to fly out of it. Landing in the sea is a very real possibility and it almost happened to me (see video below).
It’s better to head to Agnes Water in a NE.
Drag Queen
This is a higher launch with a bigger launch area. Ideal direction is SE-E. Although you can launch in anything from N to S, there is no bombout on the north side. Just scary cliffs and crashing waves. Unless you’re a 100% sure don’t fly in anything north of E. I flew it in ENE but only after a few days of flying there and launched when there was enough wind to pop me up from the launch.
Bombout is Crusoe Beach (CB) but consider it only an emergency option or light conditions. Narrow coves can have swirling wind in them even in medium strength conditions. You need to be very comfortable top landing in strong coastal conditions to fly here. When the wind is a bit S of SE you may encounter rotor from the lower RR to the south when landing in CB.
Flying Here
I’ve had some amazing flights from these launches. Both years I was there (around Christmas), the winds were mostly from the S-SE. Usually it would be flyable at sunrise, get a bit strong during the day for my standard sized wing and then become perfect again in the evening. The most enjoyable flights were in the evening because the air gets more buoyant and I’d get high enough to look over the hill into Bustard bay to the West.
When you first get there I’d recommend starting at Rock and Roll because of its safe beach landing to the South. Even when it is E you can launch from here out to sea over the rocks and immediately turn right towards the beach. Walking up from the beach is easy and takes only a few minutes so familiarise yourself with the area with a few sleddies. If you start getting enough height from RR you can fly back to DQ by hugging the edge of the cove. It’s exhilarating to make this XC flight :D
Once you’re familiar with the site and have had a flight or two from RR, Drag Queen is the best launch to fly from and the wind doesn’t need to be as strong. I’ve flown south past RR and well north of the parking area from here.
This gently sloping grassy launch is great for hand drags.
There is a sloping top landing spot next to the fancy house (you’ll know it when you see it. I’ve landed here a few times. But just remember if you overshoot it and can’t stay up, there’s only crashing waves ahead. Best option in this case would be to hook a right and do an ungraceful landing into bushes in the ravine to the south.
! IMPORTANT
There are some amazing views of the rocky coastline and chasms north of the top landing area. It’s tempting to head north in Easterly but the coastline bends almost NW as you go north and when you go into the coves you can easily get into rotor like I did. Landing options are very tight in the coves and even in good conditions, landings there would be risky.
It’s also very tempting to launch from the Wave Lookout to the north. It seems it would be idea in an Easterly and there is enough room to top land but if you don’t make it, you have to land on a small beach inside a tiny cove. I sat at that launch for a long time with wind coming up the face but in the end decided against flying there. It would probably work well and the views from the headland would be incredible and there are some rocky slabs to the north that would be good for landing but the consequences if things don’t go well are dire. I was very dejected at not flying from here but afterwards rewarded myself with a nice beverage at making this safe decision.
In my opinion flying anywhere in the dotted rectangle is very risky.
It’s also very tempting to launch from Tupia street in a NE. Don’t do it :D
The residents of the fancy house are very friendly and even brought me a glass of water after I top landed next to it once. But the house is all glass and we should respect their privacy and keep them onside.
Flying at Agnes Water
On our most recent trip, I scouted the beaches to the south of Agnes Water for launches. Discovery Trail Lookout would be ideal to launch from if it wasn’t for the pesky railing around the viewing platform. A really skilled pilot could probably launch from here but other than a dubious feather in the cap, it’s not worth the risk I think.
I walked down to the cove and tried ground handling the wing up the walking track but ended up with the wing in a pandanus tree. After another couple of failed attempts I gave up and was walking back up the track when I noticed a clearing that I was able to launch from.
Approximate location of launch: https://goo.gl/maps/RzzCm48Fke25MgcQ9
There’s a long stretch of beach that you can fly from this launch with spectacular views of rocky coves and surfers in the waves below.
You could land down in the cove or the beach to the south. I had enough height to fly over the lookout and then land at the Agnes Water beach. It was Christmas even with surfers catching waves and people swimming below me. One of the most enjoyable coastal flights ever.
To get here, park at the Agnes Water museum and walk to the Discovery Trail Lookout.
