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Flag beach or sotaviento?

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kiter4fun123
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Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby kiter4fun123 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:42 am

Hi,

Trying to decide between the two beaches in mid mars.
Are there any restrictions for kiting in Sotaviento? I did see some forbidden kite signs googling.

What's the crowdiest place?
Is it difficult to rig a foil in Sotaviento in high tide? (ie no space due to crowd tide?)
Big difference in wind quality?

br /Jakob

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gmb13
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Re: Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby gmb13 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:58 am

Hi Jacob.

They are two totally different spots. Here is a rundown:

Flag Beach (my home spot)

1) Works in most wind directions exept North East. The wind is usually very clean.
2) Rocky at low tide, with 2 rock-free entry points. At high tide all the rocks are under water
3) It can get pretty crowded near the shore, but there is space on the water.
4) Besides Flag there are 3 other Kite Spots up here
5) The North of Fuerte is pretty interesting with lots to see and do

Here is a video which shows most of the conditions we get here when the wind is light
https://vimeo.com/185485022

https://vimeo.com/185485022

and when the wind is stronger:
https://vimeo.com/150022386

https://vimeo.com/150022386

Sotavento

1) Works mainly with North to North East winds.
2) Lagoon is only rideable at high tide during spring tides (Full or new Moon)
3) Can also get pretty crowded
4) One of the most gusty kitespots on this planet with North or North East winds blowing cross offshore
5) There is nothing to do down there, it's pretty boring
6) Foiling is only really nice down there when the wind is light.

--
Gunnar

--
Gunnar

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Toby
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Re: Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby Toby » Sat Jan 20, 2018 11:00 am

Big difference in wind quality!
Flag Beach has nice consistent wind while Sotavento has insanely gusty winds.

E.g. I did a jump in the lagoon, on top the gust was gone and a sank down hard and hit my head on the shallow ground. Luckily no stone around...I stopped Kiting and preferred to work instead...I am sure you can imagine what this means!

kiter4fun123
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Re: Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby kiter4fun123 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 5:01 pm

Thanks for the valuable input, it'll be part of my equation!
Nice vids :)

One last thought, a 3/2mm combi is it ok for the water temp in mid mars?

br /Jakob

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Re: Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby BernieTomic1 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:32 pm

gmb13 wrote:
Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:58 am
Flag Beach (my home spot)

1) Works in most wind directions exept North East. The wind is usually very clean.
2) Rocky at low tide, with 2 rock-free entry points. At high tide all the rocks are under water
3) It can get pretty crowded near the shore, but there is space on the water.
4) Besides Flag there are 3 other Kite Spots up here
5) The North of Fuerte is pretty interesting with lots to see and do

Sotavento

1) Works mainly with North to North East winds.
2) Lagoon is only rideable at high tide during spring tides (Full or new Moon)
3) Can also get pretty crowded
4) One of the most gusty kitespots on this planet with North or North East winds blowing cross offshore
5) There is nothing to do down there, it's pretty boring
6) Foiling is only really nice down there when the wind is light.

--
Gunnar

--
Gunnar
Hi Gunnar,

thanks for your feedback.
Checking Windguru, the wind direction seems to be northeast between the 20 - 29 january. Does that mean that Flag beach does not work?
You probably mean a NE direction where the wind goes over Lobos?

I was at Flag beach when i had kited about 3 months. I thought I could ride at the time, but the wind was very light, and I could not get away from the stones, and got a few cuts. I still have a nice scar on my knee from that.
I probably should try the spot again, I had no idea that the wind is much cleaner than in Sotavento, and clean winds obviously make for awesome sessions.

Which other spots are you thinking of? There are two natural pools to the left and the right of the Faro Toston, or am I mistaken? Are there further spots?

In regard to Sotavento, I had a really fun session in light wind there. Nobody else out, because of light wind, sunny, flat water close to the beach in cross-off. It does quickly get crowded, and there are a lot of beginners though.

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gmb13
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Re: Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby gmb13 » Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:30 pm

BernieTomic1 wrote:
Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:32 pm
gmb13 wrote:
Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:58 am
Flag Beach (my home spot)

1) Works in most wind directions exept North East. The wind is usually very clean.
2) Rocky at low tide, with 2 rock-free entry points. At high tide all the rocks are under water
3) It can get pretty crowded near the shore, but there is space on the water.
4) Besides Flag there are 3 other Kite Spots up here
5) The North of Fuerte is pretty interesting with lots to see and do

Sotavento

1) Works mainly with North to North East winds.
2) Lagoon is only rideable at high tide during spring tides (Full or new Moon)
3) Can also get pretty crowded
4) One of the most gusty kitespots on this planet with North or North East winds blowing cross offshore
5) There is nothing to do down there, it's pretty boring
6) Foiling is only really nice down there when the wind is light.

--
Gunnar

--
Gunnar
Hi Gunnar,

thanks for your feedback.
Checking Windguru, the wind direction seems to be northeast between the 20 - 29 january. Does that mean that Flag beach does not work?
You probably mean a NE direction where the wind goes over Lobos?

I was at Flag beach when i had kited about 3 months. I thought I could ride at the time, but the wind was very light, and I could not get away from the stones, and got a few cuts. I still have a nice scar on my knee from that.
I probably should try the spot again, I had no idea that the wind is much cleaner than in Sotavento, and clean winds obviously make for awesome sessions.

Which other spots are you thinking of? There are two natural pools to the left and the right of the Faro Toston, or am I mistaken? Are there further spots?

In regard to Sotavento, I had a really fun session in light wind there. Nobody else out, because of light wind, sunny, flat water close to the beach in cross-off. It does quickly get crowded, and there are a lot of beginners though.
Windguru is wrong. In January the wind can come from any direction. It depends on the weather. I do not know where Windguru gets theirs statistics, but they are BS. The most prevalent direction in January is East. So Dead Onshore at Flag, which is probably why you could not get away from the rocks when you where here last time.

North East gets split around Lanzarote, which leaves Flag with virtually no wind, Lobos has very little effect. El Cotillo (15min drive from Flag) will get about 10 knots more than forecasted in NE.

We also have Glass Beach , Piedra Playa (Cotillo), Majanicho and some other spots that work well.

--
Gunnar

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gmb13
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Re: Flag beach or sotaviento?

Postby gmb13 » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:46 am

Here are some proper wind statistics.

https://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/corralejo

--
Gunnar


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