Hi,

This may have been disussed previously but ran a search and had no luck..

Anyway, heading to Europe for a few months on a holiday (july-Aug) and want to kite as much as possible, but traveling around by train and im not keen on lugging my gear around for that long.....
Is it easy to hire gear...?
Should i get my IKO before i go, to show im kind-of trust worthy....?
I am an experienced kiter, but when you want to hire gear im shure everyone says that.!

Any tips or advice would be great..

Also spots/destinations, im heading the Amsterdams coastal area, Greek Is, the coastal bits from italy around to Valencia - Spain and then to san sabastian.

I hope i can kite in most of that area.... that would be super cool.....

Cheers

J

tarifa is a great party spot at that time of year but the crowds on the water and the beach in july-august are ridiculous.
there are 2 different winds, poniente and levante. as benny says you will use a 12 half the time in the poniente wind, but if it blows levante while you are there you will need a 5 and you will need to go up the coast to bologna or canos de meca to ride as levante is offshore in tarifa itself.

Tarifa is awesome.. I used to live 30 mins up the coast from there.

You can hire gear from KTS (Kite Tarifa School), i think he used to charge like 10 Euros an hour, or i think they asked 60 Euros a day, is all brand new gear. The owner of the place is very cool, he speaks English also, his name is Danielle..

They have a website that you can look up,, there are some pics on there, you can see how crowded the place gets in summer..

There is also heaps of awesome beach bars, Arte Vida was favourite during the day..

We kited Kremasti in Rhodes (Greek island) - not v impressive, choppy water and rocks - but Prasonisi in the south was really nice. Tarifa will be super busy but is a lot of fun.

Should be ok hiring gear as long as you sound like you know what you're talking about!

If you want to do some research, you could start with
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitesurfing_locations

Enjoy!

all great info has anyone flown in San Sebastian????? Don't know about trashing beaches as that sounds like a Euro thing to do but have ordered brand new kite pants to look like a douche...

Charl dv said...

make sure u get in everyones way, make a big mess everywhere, be a flat out douche and wear ur jocks around on the beach.

Dick

tarifa is a great spot, you can hire gear BUT they will not insure it so if you bend it you buy it, and gear is top dollar there. If its levante head to valderquiros(something like that) towards canos de meca just past hurricane hotel. Its slightly off shore but there will be another 200 people out there with you!!! and its on a corner so worst you will have 1-2 km walk back, check it out on google earth. When the Lavente blows it blows, I was there in July 2 years ago and it blew constant 30 knots+ for days. Used to go every year when lived in Uk its great midweek but weekends crazy prob over 1000 kites over a 8km stretch of beach. If you stay in Town and no wind there on a lavente look at beach at Valder*** and it may be howling there, its a weird place. But enjoy.

nickloop said...

Tarifa is great but very busy as said. . week days busy weekends packed, prob over 500 kites, Enjoy

that sounds awesome wtf would you want to kite with 500 kiters, and fly half way around the world to do it. Surely there must be plenty of other good spots in europe with much less kites on the water.

I have now definalty added Tarifa into my list (weekdays), but im adding it on the end of my trip because if its as good as you all say, i wont want to leave and wont see anything else.... I think i will still take my chances with the hire gear....

As Bennie said surely there are other good spots too.........

leftfield said...

Charl dv said...

make sure u get in everyones way, make a big mess everywhere, be a flat out douche and wear ur jocks around on the beach.

Dick

left field likes dick? i woulda never guessed..

Charl dv said...

leftfield said...

Charl dv said...

make sure u get in everyones way, make a big mess everywhere, be a flat out douche and wear ur jocks around on the beach.

Dick

left field likes dick? i woulda never guessed..

Let me guess you're more of a Ball bag?

bennie said...

nickloop said...

Tarifa is great but very busy as said. . week days busy weekends packed, prob over 500 kites, Enjoy

that sounds awesome wtf would you want to kite with 500 kiters, and fly half way around the world to do it. Surely there must be plenty of other good spots in europe with much less kites on the water.

Try the Greek Islands of Paros and Naxos - you get consistent 25 - 35 knot NW from Sunrise to Sunset in the summer - a lot less Brit Chav Tourist than the South of Spain. Only downside is the beaches tend to be nudist on Naxos. I dropped my kite when the wind dropped out, drifted to shore and had a fat German in his fifties try to sort out my line tangles - oh well, chalk that one up to life experience! You access them via ferry from Athens, and you can get down to Santorini as well. Greece is one of my top countries in Europe.

What you need to do is make some online Euro mates so you can take your gear, drop it off and do some travelling, and come back at a later date to pick it up.

In Italy there are kite spots but they are few and far between, because just about every square metre of sand is occupied by those stupid beach clubs.

PM me and I'll email you copies of pages from my Kitesurfing Guide to Europe

wishy said...

why the hell would you go to europe and not the south pacific? there are 1000s of islands that are 50 times more beautiful than spain's barren wasteland, and will end up costing you less than half the price. I would hate to see the carnage that happens at tarifa every year with 300 hero-kiters trying too hard, 200 intermediate guys, and 100 beginners thrown into the mix to keep it interesting.....oh god.

What's wrong with....
Samoa
Tonga
Niue
PNG
Cook Islands
Tahiti
Fiji
New Cal
.....etc

Nothing wrong with them at all, but...

Spain is Spain, personally im going there to experience the culture, meet the people, see the country and eat the food!
Kite boarding there will be a (very welcome)side note to the rest of the trip.
Im going with my girlfriend, but ive heard the ladies there are sensational too.

Yeah im going with the wife.... and mainly doing the torist thing... obviously kiting in a few of the nicer spots while im there would be great.!

Yes the south Pacific has some great spots too, but this topic was related to europe.

We are spending some time in the Greek Is. so i will check out some info on Paros and Naxos.

as far as gear goes, iv got mates spread out all over the place, but was looking at doing one big loop of europe, so not heading back to one spot.... thats a good idea though...

Aorta..... are you taking your gear....? maybe i can borrow yours:)

If you're in Barcelona drive half an hour out of town to castelldefels, huge long beach which gets good wind, say hi to Joan Dani on the yellow airush kite.

I agree with you Wishy!!! But to kite and travel Europe in the summer is awesome. The food, culture, chicks etc etc etc.
Have you kited on Tonga Wishy??????