Earlier this year I decided that I with the typically unreliable (less than summer) winter wind forecast that I needed a holiday to escape day to day life, in which I could incorporate some kiting along with a healthy dose of partying and see some touristy sh!t along the way. To satisfy the latter criteria, Europe was chosen as the general destination with the general knowledge that during summer there would also be reliable winds in many destinations. Due to life commitments, the trip duration was limited to 5 weeks.
One of the goals for the trip was to do it on a reasonable budget (<$1000AUD/week), and thus it was determined that accommodation would be limited to backpacker style hostels, which would also be beneficial because hostels are generally fun places to meet people and usually have good party environments. We decided that if possible we would try to avoid renting a car, meaning that accommodation had to be in close proximity to kiteable locations. There are many other factors that came into play when determining destinations to visit including crowds and summer kiting restrictions on beaches (hence why we didn’t visit Tarifa this time of year).
Part of the reason that I am writing this is that when I was researching places to visit, I found a lot of package holiday information for kiters that was well out of our price range and were targeted at an older, much wealthier demographic. I managed to find minimal information about budget backpacking/kiting trips and want people to see this to understand that it is possible to kite and travel and stay in backpacking hostels, albeit a slight inconvenience, but insanely fun nonetheless.
Gear I was travelling with included: 10m kite + bar, 7m kite + bar, twintip, harness, 3:2mm steamer. NO pump.
The destinations chosen to visit for kiting were Noordwijk (The Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Essaouira (Morocco). Several days were spent in other cities along the way to break up the trips between these locations. I go into further detail about each location below:
Part I: Noordwijk, The Netherlands
After spending a few days getting whacky and getting up to the usual shenanigans in Amsterdam, we made the 1.5 hr public transport mission (train then bus) with kite bags to Noordwijk. I had heard about Noordwijk because the RedBull megaloop challenge is heard nearby and the place is basically one big open sandy beach. In Noordwijk, by law you aren’t allowed to kite on the beach unless it is through a ‘kite club’. We chose “BeachBreak” (10 min bike ride from hostel) where for 10€/day you can store your gear overnight, use change rooms, toilets, hot showers, rescue (if needed), electric pumps, etc.., hang out at the café/bar (protected from the wind/sand, perfect to chill in between sessions) and also hire gear if needed. BeachBreak has a cool vibe and perfect for a post session beer with some of the locals and other travelling kiters. It’s a semi-permanent container style setup directly on the beach:
Overall Noordwijk is a fun place to kite with small waves (head-and-a-half in high winds) and cross onshore wind from the south west. I had 3 days of solid wind for my 10m, and one day where most people were riding powered up on 6m kites with myself and a few others riding fully depowered 7m kites. The photographs below are from the 6m/7m day:
Accomodation in Noordwijk was at a hostel called “
The Flying Pig Beach Hostel”, which is part of an Amsterdam based party hostel chain. Typically you can kite until 7-8PM, then ride hire bikes back to the hostel (getting food along the way) to make it back to the hostel in time for happy hour. The hostel has a cool bar with a smoking room, and the variety of people staying there made for great times drinking beers, smoking ;) , playing cards and generally getting up to no good before falling asleep as the sun comes up and sleeping until its windy enough to kite, and then repeating those activities the following day. The town of Noordwijk itself is fun with some good bars. Several Dutch pros come from Noordwijk and you see them around the place. We got talking to Ruben Lenten and ended up having beers with him and his mates. He is a cool guy.
Part II: Copenhagen, Denmark
I had done some research and found that there were several kiteable locations within Copenhagen. Upon arrival we hired some bikes and went for a ride to a spot called ‘
Amager Strandpark’, which has a flat water lagoon and an open beach:
Unfortunately the wind is the wrong direction for this spot in summer, but there is another spot nearby reachable by public transport called ‘
Sydvestpynten’ which works in summer. However, we got lazy and ended up having too many nights out (awesome nightlife) coming home when the sun was up to be bothered with a public transport mission to this beach. Instead, we rode bikes with boards and wetsuits under our arms (getting some funny looks) to Copenhagen Cable Park:
For aprox. $55AUD for 2 hours, this place is good value and easily accessible by bike from Copenhagen CBD. We visited this place several times while in Copenhagen.
Again the decision was made in Copenhagen to stay in backpacker accommodation (Generator Copenhagen) which was really fun and a great way to meet people to party and hang out with. There is loads of cultural/touristy stuff to do in Copenhagen including my personal favourite which was hanging out in Christiania – an anarchist free-town society within Copenhagen which is sort of like a mini Amsterdam. Smoker or not, this is a fun place to chill and has good bars and concerts.
The original plan in Denmark was to travel to the west coast, but we were having too much fun in Copenhagen and despite not doing any actual kiting, it was a great time and I would definitely go back and do it again.
Part III: Essaouira, Morocco
Alongside Dakhla, Essaouira is the other main kiting spot in Morocco except with stronger, gustier winds. To get to Essaouira, fly into Marrakech where it is insanely hot and arid. Knowing this, we had booked a private taxi (great for 79€) for the 3hr trip to Essaouira. Like any developing country, and especially when you don’t know the culture and language (French and Arabic) there are many scams to be aware of. We first got scammed at the airport when our bags didn’t show up on the baggage carousel. I stuck my head through where the conveyer belt is loaded and asked a guy if he had seen our bags. He shrugged and with a smile said in broken English ‘maybe’, and produced the bags, but in return wanted money. There are many similar scams like this.
Essaouira itself is a port town with a 4km long open sandy beach stretching south from the town. The wind blows over the town from the N/NNE, thus for relatively clean wind you need to walk about half way along the beach. The wind is still very gusty here, especially when it picks up and the direction changes from cross-shore to slightly side-offshore. The beach is like a big bay protected by a big island with some ruins 2000 years old (according to Wikipedia). Although protected there are still small waves, and when the wind picks up at the southern end of the beach these waves can reach headhigh. The water is cold here (14-16°C), I wore a 3:2mm steamer, locals wear steamers year round, although you can get away with a springsuit. Here are some pics of the setup:
When the wind picks up it gets crazy, and most people are on 5 - 6m kites. I saw a few people riding 4m kites. My smallest kite was a 7m, and I was well overpowered during gusts. Some of the locals absolutely rip, and for reference the guy in the photo below is riding a 9m Vegas when I was on the edge on my 7m dice, and most people were on 5 – 6m kites.
The town itself is cool with an interesting fishing port worth checking out:
This is what a no-wind day looks like close to the town:
When the wind picks up the people clear out.
I rode 5 days here, all well lit up and overpowered on a 7m. If I were coming back I would probably think about bringing a 6m, or if I could find a cheap 5m, I would bring that.
Aside from the suggested tourist activities, there are plenty of other no wind things to do, like hire a SUP and paddle out to this island:
Essaouira is a fun place even though the wind is really gusty and there are a lot of people learning to kite. I witnessed several tangles and they make great entertainment as long as you’re not involved. Generally you can go further down the beach to escape the learners where the waves are bigger and wind is cleaner anyways.
In Essaouira we chose to go to the Ion-Club, where for 45€ / 9 days we could store our gear there and use their facilities (showers, pumps, wifi, etc). We also hired SUPs here. Ion Club was a 25 minute walk along the beach from our accommodation.
By recommendation from a friend who had visited previously we stayed at Atlantic Hostel in the medina (old town). Its inside a 300 year old Riad (Moroccan house), and has an awesome rooftop terrace and bar which is great to chill out at night with other travellers, drink some Moroccan wine and smoke some ‘special’ sheisha. Its great value for $8AUD/night for a 6 person shared dorm. It’s a cool place:
On one of the no-wind days I went exploring to the south to scope spots to return to for a future surf trip. There are some great looking right hand point setups that I bet go off in winter:
Following Morocco, I spent several days in Barcelona, Spain where I depleted the remainder of my holiday fund and probably wiped about 1 year off my life but had an awesome time. Talking to some locals, the beach is less crowded and kiteable in winter, so I plan to return sometime in the future.
Summary: There is no doubt that travelling with kite gear to the opposite side of the world is an absolute pain in the ar$e. However, with excess/sports baggage fees, I only paid about 125€, which is equivalent to 2 days hire. During the 5 week trip, I got about 10 solid days of riding in, which was more than I got if I had stayed at home at work and in the process had a great adventure, epic nights out and made some great friends which made the whole ordeal of travelling with kite gear absolutely worthwhile.
CJ2478
> 9 months ago, 10 Aug 2016
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and for the most part struggled not to get hit by a car riding a bike so wouldn't have been really comfortable driving a car 
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