Kitesurfing & Windsurfing Beaches

Steady wind, space to rig, and schools on the sand.

Kitesurfing and windsurfing need reliability rather than strength, and the beaches here are the places where a wind arrives on schedule. Three mechanisms produce that. Trade winds give the Caribbean, Cape Verde and the Indian Ocean their seasons — Le Morne in Mauritius and Boa Vista work on this. Thermal gradients between land and sea give the Mediterranean its afternoon patterns, which is why Tarifa and the Greek islands have theirs. And funnelling around headlands and through channels concentrates whatever is already blowing, which is what makes Jericoacoara and the Danish and Dutch North Sea coasts work. Flat lagoon water is the other half of the equation and is why New Caledonia and Zanzibar appear here despite modest wind. Seasons are sharp: a wind beach out of season is a beach.