Dubai Kitesurfing

cabla

My girlfriend got me some lessons for kitesurfing in Dubai. I'm living out this direction and planning to move there full time in the next few months so will take them then.

Has anyone got any experience surfing in Dubai? Good, bad indifferent? I know a few Kite surfers and got a quick lesson before in another part of the Middle East but I'd definitely be a beginner. Any words of advice, I'm excited to get into it.

for decent kiting, people I know in Dubai go to Oman when it's the windy season there (think that it's Jun to October but you'd need to check). wind in Dubai is not great afaik.

there is a beach called kite beach in Dubai - look it up.
https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Kite+Beach/@25.164207,55.207967,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x3e5f6a14970669b9:0xb1734474eb26ea00

obviously then you need to keep an eye on the forecast like on here

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/dubai

to check that there will be enough wind and in the right direction (not a good idea to kite at a location where the wind will be offshore - i.e. blowing out to sea more than onto or across the beach)

you need 13knots minimum really - or about 24 kmh to bother and that's with a big kite - 12m + and as a beginner in light winds you'll be going downwind all the time (not able to come back to where you started).

the real fun starts at 20 knots plus.

from wind stats http://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/dubai

seems like May to Aug gives you the best chance of getting out. of course it will be 40c + temp wise then in Dubai...

my advice would definitely be to do a full course of lessons (it's NOT safe to try to teach yourself kiting) and then buy your own gear. buying decent second hand gear is a lot cheaper than new. just don't buy anything more than a few years old in terms of kites. you can get 1 to 2 year old kites and bar and lines for 1/2 the price of new stuff. boards-wise you can go back 5 to 6 years no issue, once it's not wrecked as boards usually keep well.

cabla

glasso wrote: »

for decent kiting, people I know in Dubai go to Oman when it's the windy season there (think that it's Jun to October but you'd need to check). wind in Dubai is not great afaik.

there is a beach called kite beach in Dubai - look it up.
https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Kite+Beach/@25.164207,55.207967,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x3e5f6a14970669b9:0xb1734474eb26ea00

obviously then you need to keep an eye on the forecast like on here

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/dubai

to check that there will be enough wind and in the right direction (not a good idea to kite at a location where the wind will be offshore - i.e. blowing out to sea more than onto or across the beach)

you need 13knots minimum really - or about 24 kmh to bother and that's with a big kite - 12m + and as a beginner in light winds you'll be going downwind all the time (not able to come back to where you started).

the real fun starts at 20 knots plus.

from wind stats http://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/dubai

seems like May to Aug gives you the best chance of getting out. of course it will be 40c + temp wise then in Dubai...

my advice would definitely be to do a full course of lessons (it's NOT safe to try to teach yourself kiting) and then buy your own gear. buying decent second hand gear is a lot cheaper than new. just don't buy anything more than a few years old in terms of kites. you can get 1 to 2 year old kites and bar and lines for 1/2 the price of new stuff. boards-wise you can go back 5 to 6 years no issue, once it's not wrecked as boards usually keep well.

That's excellent info, thanks very much for that. I've booked in already for a good bit of lessons anyway. I wouldn't risk teaching myself something like Kiting. I'll be moving full time in March so that sounds about perfect. I'm somewhat used to the heat now, I actually play rugby in the high 30s into the 40s, so I assume with the breeze and splash it won't be as bad.