“Kiteboring” – Search for the perfect spot

          Kiteboarding is an amazing sport. With its unlimited range of things you can do when you are tight up to a kite and sliding your board though the water or air it’s really a sport for almost anyone and everyone finds its own style of kiting. This is when we are talking about you and kite only. But there is the third and essential element which makes all of this possible…the wind, the sea and the environment around in general!! And to be honest, there are better and worse places when you can go kiting.

          So what are the perfect conditions then? Empty one meter deep crystal clear lagoon with absolutely flat water and constant steady cross-onshore 20 knots wind. Kiting in such conditions makes you forget about the surroundings and concentrate on just riding, jumping and tricks…and each session will be pure unforgettable pleasure. But as it is always…nothing is perfect J

          I have been kiting in many places. I learned in Dubai on a crowded deep beach with straight onshore wind blowing all beginners right back to the shore. Far from perfect. Then we were going to 200km far shallow empty beach, but wind in UAE in general is weak so many times we didn’t even inflated the kites. Far from perfect. I also went for a week trip to Hurghada in Egypt, which was supposed to be great spot, but there was no wind for a whole week. There is plenty of wind usually…just a bad luck. Far from perfect anyway.

          Then I moved to Qatar. Kiting on shallow lagoons with small waves in 16 knots wind with little gusts is actually very good. Pity that the wind is unpredictable and if there will be one week of wind and one month of nothing! Almost perfect.
          But then you hear the other talking about amazing places around the world and feel like you just give it a try. So I went to southern Spain kiting on open sea with big broken waves and medium gusty wind. Getting used to the new conditions took me almost whole trip! Average.

           On the way back we stopped in southern France to kite in 35knots on lagoons with pretty gusty wind and small waves. Not being that tired and having more time for finding the right lagoon, I think would have been great.

          And because my dream of kiting in a perfect sport still lived, with Jitka we used August Islamic holidays and went for a week trip to Sri Lanka to kite on mirror flat water with steady strong wind. That is what we have been told!

           Kalpitiya is a village in the middle of nowhere 3 hours drive north of Colombo. During the summer monsoon season the strong winds blow from the west into many closed lagoons along the shore. Because there is little tourism the accommodation options are limited, so we paid pretty high money for staying right on the beach in a bamboo wooden kind of kite camp resort.

           Shortly said…if you expect too much, you often get disappointed!! And it started right when we came and they put us into the room behind the kitchen and toilet and the first night when we heard through thin wooden wall everything from the last guy finishing his beer and going to pee to the first cook to start preparing the breakfast and going to pee. Then we moved to a semi protected space in the first floor of the kite centre, where wind was blowing in though curtains and holes in the wooden walls. After everyday breakfast of toast bread, marmalade and egg, not even a shower corner built from palm leaves and shower tube hanging from a palm tree in the middle could surprise us! All of that luxury for only 55 USD per person per day…fair deal! I was kind of expecting that…Jitka a bit less!!

           All of this would be no problem for me if I could waste myself kiting and die in the bed after whatever dinner they serve. The first two days was almost like this. We launched from the hotel 5x5 meter launch spot with wind often dropping to zero and landing your kite on a bush and rode one kilometer to the other side of the lagoon onto the sand bank. The only tiny flat spots just behind the sand bank were always occupied with others or school so I was riding outside in small waves and only little gusty wind. But I had fun for sure and managed to learn some new tricks. Jitka had less fun because she was struggling with her 7m in wind on the low end. Swimming murky water didn’t help her at all!

          I was still expecting that super clean steady wind to some, but instead we got something what I’ve probably never experienced yet. Gusts ranging from 12 25 knots and lasting for a minute easily!! In conditions like this even riding on the flat water over lunch time when everyone left to eat, didn’t save our mood from dropping. There is not much fun on waiting with your 9m kite for enough wind sitting in the water and then once you ride and airborne being tossed back down in another gust! The last two days the wind even almost died in the afternoon, so our frustration was complete! Time to leave this “Kite paradise”

          Fortunately we planned also for a three day roundtrip around Sri Lanka culture sights, which saved the holidays. We hired a van and went cruising through ancient cities full of spiritual peace. And it definitely replenished us with some fresh energy and we enjoyed all the dense green jungle with standalone rocks in the middle, wandering around white Buddhist temples and ruins and going though busy local market streets or multi-religious districts of the capital Colombo.

          We were leaving…well…torn apart. On the other hand we were looking forward to go kiting to our desert wind, but on the other hand we wanted to stay and go explore Sri Lanka more, because we saw a lot of potential in the parts of the country where we didn’t go…understand it that I’ve heard about a great kite and surf spot on the east coast J

          So the search for the ultimate kite spot is still on!!! But next time no gambling…straight to Mauritius J