Kite Life

I just got back from an ‘Extreme Holidays’ trip there. Stayed in ‘Las Olas’ hotel in corralejo - decent sized appartments but no air conditioning. As far as bars and clubs go there are hundreds, mostly fairly tacky but I would highly recommend ‘Rock Island’ which is a great little bar just off the main street with live music every night and is good for meeting people. The only nightclub I went to was Wikiki which was ok. The restarants in the old town seem the best for food. The resort is expensive though, very expensive for spain… The extreme holidays crewe will probably recommend Corkys Surf Bar and Oink but I thought they were pretty ****e and always totally empty apart from us lot. I would recommend extreme holidays though. Very friendly and professional tuition and very organised. Beware though that they don’t farm you out to another outfit because if they don’t have enough people for a full group they will farm you out and you could get kinda dumped on your own like one guy there who ended up stuck at one beach with no transport, tuition or people to help him. Alexi is the guy who sorted us out. We had a great week. Not too much wind though.  There were kitesurfers, windsurfers and surfers all in the hotel, great laugh every night too!! .

Yep they have huge Nissan Patrols full of goodies. Moving from land to water we did an intermediate course, 5 days instruction. North of the island is good, Flag beach is good and El Cotillo (?sp) just over the other side. The other good place we heard of was Sotavento down at the south. I am itching to go again. I came away with my IKO2 card so I am a happy boy. The instructors were first class and a real good laugh, Tams tan is ridiculous, looks like he has been dipped in cuprinol. I am going to book with them again for sure.

Caleta de Famara and La Graciosa, Lanzarote – Canary Islands We flew out to Famara with Excel Airways. The flight was smooth no worries. Arrived in Arrecife airport to pick up our Hire Car which was a brand new C3 with only a few hundred miles on the clock.  We squeezed our gear in and with a complete lack of rear vision and the exhaust dragging we rolled out to Famara on the North Coast of Lanzarote.  I would recommend that everyone takes it slow and reads the map as the seemingly straight forward drive to Caleta de Famara was only 30kms. It took us 1.5hrs.  It was dark and the signs are so small and not lit so it’s easy to miss them. The signs even stop as you go through to towns so a little common sense is needed. 

Famara is like a dusty old Mexican Village from a western movie. Dusty un-surfaced roads and white washed houses gives the place great character and atmosphere.  Jamie from Costa Nor Oeste met us at the Supermercado on the outskirts of town.  Jamie cruised up in his surfers wagon and a joint hanging out of his mouth. I knew right there this was going to be a great trip. The apartment was above their school in the centre of Famara. It was clean and tidy. We went for a walk around town which doesn’t take long and you really feel like your NOT on holiday but on an adventure. A few pissed surfers and feral dogs roaming the streets give it that blue juice meets Big Wednesday vibe. In the morning we could take stock and really evaluate the place. We woke up to the shutters banging and the sound of 20knots of pure bliss. Famara beach is big…. Probably 3kms long so you have to drive up to a car park in the north of the bay in front on El Risco. Risco are the huge mountains that dominate the scenery and make the lunar landscape more appealing to the eye. Kiteboarding is officially banned in Famara but nobody cares and there the same guys out everyday (all locals). The local surfers are quite moody and have been known to set tourists cars on fire at the better breaks of Saint Juan and La Santa.  Jaime and Santi (The owners) are surfers from way back and know the local score. The local kiters were good guys too. It’s a local crew that welcome you into the family. A couple were also surfers who shaped locally and were exclusively kite surf nomads.  One guy came from Switzerland, another from France. There are no centre facilities on the beach so you have to be prepared to make friend and respect the locals or you could get into trouble. 

The winds are so good here. Everyday from the North / Northeast and progressively getting stronger each day. The wind can be a little gusty from the North East because of El Risco but the bay is so big that it doesn’t matter. The main season is from May to September for the Northerly Trade winds ‘Sotavento’ and the waves were clean sets from 3ft to 10ft when a big swell comes through. There are quite a few German Nudists on Famara beach and lots of surfers as the break is the most friendly on the island so surf lessons go on too. If you have the time then go over to La Graciosa island just offshore from Famara as the beaches are empty and a few Italian kiters have made it their home!

Famara offers good local food at good prices and with over ten different restaurants you can pick and choose each night. There are a few watering holes but most end up in the main square drinking into the night of if a beach party is on then role with it. For getting into the waves I cannot recommend Famara enough! Its awesome and the winds were great all week (I went in Middle May 2005). After driving around and checking out the rest of the island and the touristy south west coast with all the German and English louts I was glad we stayed in Famara.  Playa Blanca has some great restaurants and Costa Teguise has some good nightlife but It’s very sterile.

A great trip… and having been to Fuerte and flag beach i would choose Lanzarote and Famara any day!

Kite Surfing Fuerteventura - Flag Beach, Corralejo

We Drove up the coastal road (there’s only 1) until we arrived in the sand dunes (now they are impressive!). Just after passing some hotels we arrived at Flag Beach you can’t miss it as there were about 20 kites on the water and it looked really good.
 
We hired a car to be able to travel around the island but at the end of the day we kited most days at Flag Beach as Cotillo was very gusty on the inside and not a lot of room to launch the kite and Sotavento offshore force 8!!
 
Where to stay 1 bed apts booked through Flag Beach, it’s on there website called Casa Quemada (?) it was 45 Euros/day and they had storage facilties and internet connection. They were a good place ot stay to get into town we didn’t have to take the car as most bars, restaurants etc were only 5-10 min away.
 
Restaurants and places to go to Try Corky’s bar for surf videos, for cheap booze Booze and Tatoos and then Waikiki for night life.
Avendia was a good restaurant as well as the Mexican Pancho Villa (both close to the apts!)
Other activities are available for the family Windsurfing, surfing, jeep tours, trips to theother islands and diving
 
Average living cost per day 40 Euros/day
 
Time of the year attended and best time to go May and the wind blew nonstop most days, the best times are between Mar/Apr and Sep/Oct which is when the trades blow, having said that Flag Beach staff reckon that the winter months there are lots of days with onshore when you can get on the water with big kites (16).
 
Wind conditions 17-22 knots most days picking up from about 2 pm. It was cross shore from the left and pretty consistent. The days there was no wind at Flag Beach we went to Cotillo and got a good session but is was very gusty and the water seemed colder, there was also no rescue facilites in Cotillo, which was very good.
 
Beach and the rigging area Flag Beach: Loads of room, bit of a walk from the car but otherwsie lots of beach. Stay clear of the beach chairs.
 
Water (temperature, waves, chop, etc.) There was one day with a small swell but otherwsie flat- choppy conditions, perfect really, water temp was about 20C
 
Obstacles to look out for Beach charis as mentioned earlier, spectators, and windsurfers downwind. There are also some rocks downwind to avoid and at low tide the launching area can get rocky.
 
Nearest kiteboarding shop / center Flag Beach Kitesurf Center/School.
Kiteboarding do’s and dont’s in area Avoid the the windsurfers and get rescue cover from the centre, it only costs 30 Euros for 15 days unlimited cover and they will even come and look for your board if you loose it. If you don’t have the cover they charge 90 Euros for a single rescue!!