7Bft Kite House Soma Bay: No world class spot with gusty, offshore wind, not for freeride foilers!

[roninXpl]

TL;DR: No world class spot with gusty, offshore wind, where advanced riders who want to ride outside of a small area are not welcome.

This was my first and certainly the last time in 7Bft Kite House and this will be a long rant but I had terrible experience here.

The only good thing about this place is: big lockers, warm weather and convenient location from Europe. The wind is gusty and off-shore and flat water there is not.

There was a couple of small annoyances, like: the useless foil rack, no communication about having to make a deposit at a hotel to have cash-less experience; the lack of taxis is quite inconvenient, if you must go to/from the hotel between the free shuttle you are out of luck; they have a their own time zone that they switch to on April 10th, which is confusing.

The first major issue, like with the deposit, is that they don’t explain the basics to the new-comers, which causes stressful situations - like, I knew I had two rescues to use, which I used on a very low wind day, but no one told me that I need to get tickets to be able to use them. The rescue guys don’t really speak English so I wasn’t asked about it the first time, but they were quite unfriendly about the lack of the tickets the second time.

What ruined my experience at 7Bft was the rescue drivers blocking the way with their boats to stop you if they want to tell you something, and way of resolving this by management.

Long story: the wind is terrible here, mostly offshore and very gusty but I was lucky to catch SE wind and have pretty sweet foil ride. This is on-shore wind, so I did the math where I can go and where not. On my way back from the other side of the bay the rescue boat blocked my way to stop me and tell me that I should not go that far out. I was telling the driver that I’m not stopping because I’m going back to the beach upwind and don’t want to loose my position. So he blocked the way and I crashed being on the foil. I mean, wtf, this is not safe, what was he trying to achieve - stop me in a middle of my way back from afar to tell me I’m too far - I already visited the whole bay. I raised this at the reception and they said that they would discuss the way of handling this with the drivers but this happened the next day, and the next. In the end I was really angry because they are blocking way with the motorboat, with offshore wind, which accomplishes nothing and causes stressful situations on the water!

I haven’t heard apologies from anyone, for blocking my way and causing stressful situation on the water, only that the drivers were upset with me and that I should either kite within very small area (which may be fine for TT riders) or I should not kite there at all.

A couple of fellow kiters heard my argument with the management and shared their experience about the incompetent drivers who approached them by the boat from a weird side causing them to crash the kites.

So, at 7Bft Kite House, you can kite left-right in an offshore, gusty wind (you need to change kite sizes back and forth in a day), in a very small, crowded area with choppy water, or you’re not welcome to kite there (as I was told by the manager).

[nickfox]

Last time I was in Soma bay it was quite gusty, I won't be going back anytime soon. Its been like that for a long time now. its ok if you want to Sorkel/scuba. I think if you want to go somewhere warm with good kiting then Dakhla is the place to be.

[Toby]

Soma Bay is always gusty. The further you down the bay the better it gets. But then the water is choppy. Where 7Bft is it is the flatest.

[BalsaMichel]

TL;DR: No world class spot with gusty, offshore wind, where advanced riders who want to ride outside of a small area are not welcome.

This was my first and certainly the last time in 7Bft Kite House and this will be a long rant but I had terrible experience here.

The only good thing about this place is: big lockers, warm weather and convenient location from Europe. The wind is gusty and off-shore and flat water there is not.

There was a couple of small annoyances, like: the useless foil rack, no communication about having to make a deposit at a hotel to have cash-less experience; the lack of taxis is quite inconvenient, if you must go to/from the hotel between the free shuttle you are out of luck; they have a their own time zone that they switch to on April 10th, which is confusing.

The first major issue, like with the deposit, is that they don’t explain the basics to the new-comers, which causes stressful situations - like, I knew I had two rescues to use, which I used on a very low wind day, but no one told me that I need to get tickets to be able to use them. The rescue guys don’t really speak English so I wasn’t asked about it the first time, but they were quite unfriendly about the lack of the tickets the second time.

What ruined my experience at 7Bft was the rescue drivers blocking the way with their boats to stop you if they want to tell you something, and way of resolving this by management.

Long story: the wind is terrible here, mostly offshore and very gusty but I was lucky to catch SE wind and have pretty sweet foil ride. This is on-shore wind, so I did the math where I can go and where not. On my way back from the other side of the bay the rescue boat blocked my way to stop me and tell me that I should not go that far out. I was telling the driver that I’m not stopping because I’m going back to the beach upwind and don’t want to loose my position. So he blocked the way and I crashed being on the foil. I mean, wtf, this is not safe, what was he trying to achieve - stop me in a middle of my way back from afar to tell me I’m too far - I already visited the whole bay. I raised this at the reception and they said that they would discuss the way of handling this with the drivers but this happened the next day, and the next. In the end I was really angry because they are blocking way with the motorboat, with offshore wind, which accomplishes nothing and causes stressful situations on the water!

I haven’t heard apologies from anyone, for blocking my way and causing stressful situation on the water, only that the drivers were upset with me and that I should either kite within very small area (which may be fine for TT riders) or I should not kite there at all.

A couple of fellow kiters heard my argument with the management and shared their experience about the incompetent drivers who approached them by the boat from a weird side causing them to crash the kites.

So, at 7Bft Kite House, you can kite left-right in an offshore, gusty wind (you need to change kite sizes back and forth in a day), in a very small, crowded area with choppy water, or you’re not welcome to kite there (as I was told by the manager).

You had a bad time there and the spot did not meet your expectations. And now you are are telling the story in "exaggerated mode".

Some examples?:

"...very small, crowded area with choppy water.." Fact: Kite area has been expanded last year (Don´t remember exactly when). It´s now over 800m from west to east (near white beach) and over 400m from (upwind) north to (downwind) south. Thats not "very small". They have done this because they know it can be gusty especially north-west side of the lagoon and they have done this because they know that foilers go in different angles than TT-riders. Water is NOT choppy everywhere and personally I use to change kite size twice a day maximum.

"...The rescue guys don’t really speak English". Believe me, they do speak english good enough. I know this because I know them all.

To keep it short: You are exaggerating things, how credible is the rest then? Never have heard or seen stuff like rescue drivers who blocked a rider so he fell of the foilboard.

I really would like to hear the other side of the story.

The kite stations in egypt are liable for your safety and have to make sure you are riding in the allowed kitezone. That´s how it´s done there. There are spots where you can ride almost without limitations but I would think you won´t find many of them in Egypt.

Micha

[Mike27]

Soma Bay is always gusty. The further you down the bay the better it gets. But then the water is choppy. Where 7Bft is it is the flatest.

It was a world class spot, but they fucked up with the new hotels behind.

[Toby]

Anyone can comment on how gusty ?

Behind the station it was always gusty, towards the right it was smoother. Looking at the map with many new constructions, it looks like the bay now is gusty.

I remember kiting there when there was nothing, not even the station. Good times, won’t come back.

Time to move on to other spots. Sad

[Mike27]

Anyone can comment on how gusty ?

Behind the station it was always gusty, towards the right it was smoother. Looking at the map with many new constructions, it looks like the bay now is gusty.

I remember kiting there when there was nothing, not even the station. Good times, won’t come back.

Time to move on to other spots. Sad

Very sad.....2004 it was fantastic !

[fernmanus]

Same thing happened in Aruba. They built a Ritz Carlton hotel adjacent to the Fisherman’s Huts, so you have to either ride downwind in the chop or drive to the other side of the island for decent wind.