Christmas Special

We have a new Christmas Special advertising rate running until 4th Jan 2010. Kitesurfing Holidays Network allows you to advertise your very own kitesurfing lessons and kite surf schools, accommodation (be it an apartment near the beach, hotel or bed and breakfast) or kitesurfing shop to millions of visitors through the website each month.

To get advertising for the special rate of only £1.97 just visit the relevant link below:

If you are a private kitesurfing coach and want to advertise a kitesurfing course visit: Kitesurfing Coaching

If you are a recognized kitesurfing school offing lessons visit: Kitesurfing Lessons

If you wish to advertise any type of accommodation, either kitesurfing hotel, apartment near a kitesurfing beach or bed and breakfast or guest house then please visit: Kitesurfing holidays

To advertise a kitesurfing shop visit: Kitesurfing Shop

Kitesurfing Holidays to El Medano, Tenerife

El Medano, Tenerife

Tenerife is a fantastic location of kitesurfing as the wind blows pretty much all year and during the summer months your can expect 25mph each day.

El Medano is located just ten minutes drive from Tererife’s South Airport making it a quick and easy connection to your hotel or apartment while in Tenerife.

The location is home to ex world champion Mark Shinn who left the UK in favour of the warm waters and consistant breeze. Now far from a secluded spot, El Medano is one of the UK biggest importers of kitesurfer!

There are two main beaches in El Medano, Cabezo which is locals only and more geared for windsurfing and then south beach. South beach is a slight walk out from the small town, 5 minutes max slow walk and is protected by a huge bay so if you fall the kite you can easily swim back without danger. The water conditions are slightly choppy most days but if there is swell then expect some waves.

If you are more advanced then you can tack upwind to a small reef near to the harbour wall where you shall find waves for riding.

There are a number of kitesurfing schools offering kitesurfing lessons so if you are a novice then book a lesson during your stay in Tenerife.

If you plan to hire either kitesurfing equipment or just hire a kitesurfing kite or kite board during your stay, El Medano has a at least three local places which can be found by visiting our Shop section of the site.

Hotels and places to stay Accommodation in Teneirfe is mostly Hotels, but in El Medano which was once a sleepy fishing village offers a number of great self catering apartments at affordable prices. Our conclusion Windy most of the year while in summer months ensure to pack a 7m. 4 Hours from London by plane so grab a ticket and ride… 8/10   Apartments offer a relaxed atmosphere and some even offer wet storage for kitesurfing kit, what a bonus!

 

Kitesurfing Safaga, Egypt

Safaga, Egypt

Safaga is located in the red sea so you can expect great warm, clear water to kitesurf. The spot in safaga is fairly remote and has a resort of hotels on the eastern shores, north of the town of Safaga. It lies approximately 50 kms from Hurghada airport and is a picture postcard part of the coast overlooking Soma Bay together with the moutain ranges.
The beach is fairly compacted but with most of the resort opting for the diving option the beach can be clear for most of the day. There is a great shop and kitesurf center offing lessons on a daily basis, the guys are IKO qualified and this can make learning to kitesurf enjoyable.

If the wind direction is not great infront of the main beach the kitesurf center in Safagaoffers to take you out on a small boat to a secret sandbar spot, ideal for flat water. During the trip the staff pack up your kit, load it onto the boat and tea/cold drinks can be purchsed throughout the day.

The flat water location offers great conditions for expert and learner kiteboarders and at the end of the day you have the option to kitesurf downwind back to your hotel. What a great way to end your kitesurfing day!

Hotels and places to stay

Accommodation in Safaga is mainly hotel based, there are some small self cateringapartments among the hotel facilities if you prefer things a little quieter. This option will still enable you to have use of the pool and bar facilities.

Hotels offer a buffet breakfast option to boost you up for your kitesurfing session and they offer main meals on a half board or pay as you go option.

Our conclusion

Flying from the UK is only 5 hours and the water conditions plus great winds throughout most of the year boast only good things..well worth a visit.

8/10

Kitesurf Tarifa, Spain

Kitesurf and Tarifa goes had in hand, Tarifa is one of the windest places in Europe so for Kitesurfing its fantastic! There are a number of kitesurf schools and why not the beach is vast and covers a wide range of conditions from flat lagoons to waves for the more advanced kitesurfer.

Throughout the winter, you can kite anywhere on the beaches without any restriction. which is great for down wind sessions – and the ability to take a kitesurf lessonanywhere that is suited to the conditions on that day.

In the summer, the local council divides the beaches in “zones” for sun bathing, kite surfing, and kite surfing schools. This ensures that even in the summer, when there can sometimes be hundreds of kites in the air, you can still be taught in areas designated forkitesurfing lessons.

Tarifa has two prevailing winds, the Levante and the Poniente. The Levante is the big boy, it blows night and day and can last for weeks, because it blows from the land it is warmer and does not generally form waves, perfect for mastering that water start. The Poniente blows from the Atlantic, it is a clean, constant wind generally a little lighter than the levante and brings waves. Which is great for preparing you for conditions back home and boosting you confidence levels. Both winds blow year round with the levante being the dominant wind in the summer and the Poniente in the winter.

Has a great selection of kitesurfing shops to purchase the latest equipment including North and Naish stockists.

If you combine this with the fact that Tarifa is one of the most accessible kite spots in Europe, being served by the airports of Gibraltar, Malaga, Jerez or Seville and that prices for flights can be as low as 50€ in the winter you have the perfect year round kite surfing destination.

Hotels and places to stay

Tarifa has many types of accommodation ranging from beach front to town houses. Dependant on what you fancy will push your decision, town houses are great from easy access to the town center and cafe and bars while beach front is perfect as you can walk to the beach with your kitesurfing kit. Generally hotels can be an easier option if you require food but if you have a family a spot directly on the beach can be easier to get the kids food and also allows you to creep out for a sunset session without dragging the whole family along.

Our conclusion

Being part of Europe makes this place easy to travel to either by car from the UK or using cheap flights. The wind blows almost all year and their are many bars, cafes and restuarants to suit everyone. Water conditions are good with easy access and a large beach.

7/10

Kitesurfing ‘The Fastest Growing Sport on the Planet’?

Kitesurfing is the fastest growing extreme sport at the moment. It’s exhilarating cutting edge and even environmentally friendly as you use the power from the wind rather than the engine from a boat. The kitesurf idea became popular again when professional Hawaiian watermen Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama started experimenting with it back in 1980’s. Hamilton and Kalama were already known for their extreme feats in watersports from windsurfing, surfing and now kitesurfing.

Living in Hawaii gave them a great playground to push the sport from where the Chinese left it back in the 13th Century, when they used the art of kitesurfing as a way to transport. The Chinese called it Kitesailing back then and engineered ways to propel their canoes and boats across the water to save their own energy. Kitesailing was first recorded in history to the early 12th Century and little did they know that their mode of transportation would lead to the new extreme sport of kitesurfing.

George Pocock later advanced the kitesurf design from the Chinese in the 1800’s, taking the basic design and increasing the size to move ships over the water and carts on land. His design used a four line setup which enabled the ships and carts to easily go upwind and turn in both directions. They found the kite to be a very powerful engine as it could quickly catch wind from underneath and pull the ships and carts enough to move. In a time where engines and modes of transportation were limited this early idea of kitesurfing was revolutionary in its time. Due to the four line setup they were able to manouver the kite whilst in the air from a fixed point on the ship or carts, by moving the kite up and down in the sky the kite produced more wind over its surface area, called apparent wind. Increasing the apparent wind created more power in the kite so in light wind days by simply moving the kite up and down through the sky would create the feeling of more wind within it, therefore creating more power and faster speeds across the water or land.

These types of early kite design still had one flaw in that they would not float in the water and kitesurf sportsmen would later require their kitesurf kites to be re-launched if they came into contact with it.

At this point Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama had already been playing around with kitesurfing buy adapting their windsurfing boards and flying normal stunt kites down the coast of Maui, Hawaii. Their passion for pushing this new sport encouraged big windsurfing and paragliding manufacturers such as Naish, Wipika and Fone to design kites with inflatable bladders to enable the kite to float.

These kitesurf kites started to become more popular within the extreme sports arena and they were soon available in most countries and the sport quickly grew overnight as it mixed together windsurfing, wakeboarding and surfing together creating this new exhilarating sport.

Today in the 2009 there are professional events and Englishman Arron Hadlow is four times World PKRA (Professional Kite Riders Association) Champion competing in 11 events all over the world.