2 posts
Hey all,
Over the last few months I've been building a passion project called Best Time to Ride. It started because I kept spending hours digging through wind archives before every trip, trying to work out if a spot would actually be on in the month I could go.
So I pulled a few years of wind, wave, water temp and weather data together for a few hundred kite, wing, windsurf and surf spots, and for each one it shows month by month how often it's actually windy, how warm the water is, and so on.
It's free and there's nothing to sign up for. Mainly I'm curious whether this is something you'd actually use when planning a trip, or whether you just ask around / go on gut feel? And if you do try it (search for the name, I can't post links yet as a new member): what's missing, what's wrong, and which spots should be on there that aren't?
Cheers, Mantas
2 posts
Can't help with NSW/WA rights from first-hand experience, but worldwide the classic kite right-hander is Ponta Preta on Sal (Cape Verde): a long, powerful right over reef, world-tour venue. Season is roughly Nov–Apr; Dec–Mar has about 20 days a month with 15+ knots and around 2 m of swell, so that's the window. It's a serious wave, not for a first wave session.
Closer to home, Namotu in Fiji has the right at Swimming Pools (plus the famous left) and the trade winds run Apr–Oct, which is when your NE summer breeze is gone anyway.
Disclosure: I run Best Time to Ride, a small site with month-by-month wind and wave stats per spot. Happy to share numbers for any spot you're weighing up.
