Costa Rica is perfect for enjoying water sports: it has a fantastic kitesurfing spot located in the bay called Bahia Salinas, on the north pacific coast in the Guanacaste province, the sunniest and driest side of Costa Rica. We chose this place back in 2000 when the first kite school was founded by Nicola Bertoldi at the really beginning of this sport!
The bay is also home to a protected island (Isla Bolanos) with a white beach and turquoise water, famous because it is an important nesting spot for birds: it’s 2 kms away so you can kitesurf there in 7/8 minutes. You can also enjoy half mile of reef with complete flat water. Here it’s common to kitesurf among giant turtles and pelicans. You have plenty of space around you to kitesurf surrounded by untouched nature!Kite surfing is an incredible experience! You can fly on the water over 20 meters high and easily plain, stopping at all limitations due to meteorological conditions or to the sea: you can always enjoy yourself, jumping and realizing acrobatics. ….but this sport can be dangerous if people try to attempt it without knowledge!! A course is really suggested to avoid risks and frustrations. That’s why we are here! 🙂

OUR SPOT:

  • We chose the best located spot at Copal kite beach:
  • the more upwind and safer area
  • Launching/landing spot also with high tide
  • private car parking a few meters behind the launching spot
  • We have the only spot at the kite beach without the necessity to walk with the kite gear
  • 250 mts long flat water at the reef (slightly upwind from our spot) for freestyle
  • 2 kms away from Bolaños island
  • 1.5 mts high wind waves, downwind the kite beach for wave riding

MORE INFO’S:

  • The kite beaches Papaturro and Copal are 1.5 kms long each of them, without “shore break” waves, so very safe.
  • The Hotel is only 250 mts. away from the kitebeach Papaturro and a free shuttle take you to Copal beach where it’s based our kite school.. You can also drive with your car through our private entrance, or walk along the beach for about 15 minutes and we take your gear to the kitebeach.
  • There are no people or boats around you to worry about. There are maximum 25 kiters in the water at the same time.
  • The water is fairly flat, choppy only with more then 20 knots in high tide.
  • The wind is Side on Shore which is very friendly and safe for kite surfers.
  • This place is one of the best spot in the world as far as number of windy days in the year!
  • The only 2 months when the wind is not so good are September and October.
  • At night, after dinner we’ll hang out together at the Restaurant area, listening music. Tomorrow will be another windyday…!!

Check our information about the kitesurfing lessons that we offer !!!

WIND CONDITIONS:

As any place in the world, a kiters need to know a good forecast web site of the spot.
We usually check 3 of them that are the most accurate for Bahia Salinas:

VERY IMPORTANT! Add 30% more to the WINDGURU forecast cause they don’t take in consideration the Venturi effect and the thermal wind.

The reality is that there aren’t bad wind months and the spot is basically kiteable all year around. Only during the hurricane season on the Caribbean (June-October), the wind can turn off, especially in September and October. Wind blows around 300 days per year!

The windiest months of the year are January, February and March. Note that in these month wind can be up to 35/40 knots for a couple of days every 10 days!

The less gusty months are November, December, April, May, June, July, August when wind average is 15/20 knots
The less crowded months and the best for learning are November, April, May, June, July, August

Pro rider Giel Vlugt exhibition in Bahia Salinas