After visiting Holand (KBO) and Belgium, it was with some anticipation that I stepped off the boat in Golfo Aranci on the east coast of Sardegna, Island off the coast of Italy, for a 12 day Kiting holiday. The prospect of warm blue water and wind was, to say the least, appealing. (yes I did freeze my arse off in Northern Europe)

And that is exactly what I got.

Prior to that I had visited the Peter Lynn Headquarters in Holand and had collected the latest prototypes to test during this time. All I needed was wind.

My base was to be in San Teodoro, which is home to the famous beach, La Cinta. It sits on the East Coast about 30 minute drive from Olbia. According to various web reports this was one of the hot kiting destinations in Sardegna. However after consulting the various Wind websites, I noticed that the next few days would be blowing Maestrale which is off shore there. So decided on day two to head towards Porto pollo, spot I had heard about previously which came recommended.

Let me open a parenthesis on driving in Sardegna. If you have never driven in Italy, be warned! Sardegna is not for the faint hearted. People drive like maniacs on very tortuous roads having total disregard for road laws. I avoided a head on collision with some idiot by slamming the breaks and skiding around as he was overtaking on a blind corner at breakneck speed.Stupidity beyond words.Also heading inland could cause you a much longer trip than anticipated. I tried a shortcut and ended up on a drive about in the mountains which took hours. The Tom Tom was useless. Lesson Learned, stick to the main Roads!

Let me continue, Upon arriving in the area of Porto Pollo, the wind was up but no kites in sight. We asked a few people and got sent to a beach further north, la Liscia… only to be greated by this sign:

At this spot there were windsurfers, but no kites. I did finally find a kiter who was having lunch and kind of gave me the low down. I had forgotten that Lunch takes preference over everything in Italy and was the reason why there were no kites out… La Dolce Vita.

After Lunch, slowly some kites appeared. I first launched at La Liscia where I was but found the wind extremely gusty. I then moved downwind closer to the “Isola dei Gabbiani” which is the better known spot, and found conditions to be also gusty but more manageable. The wind was getting stronger…

I rigged up my 7 meter Peter Lynn Proto and went out. The conditions where pretty hard with 25 knots gusting to somewhere around 35 knts.

Conditions where difficult with constant gusts and an hour later, I was alone in the water everyone having given up on the wind that was now gusting to 40knots. Thanks to being used to Cape Town Conditions I kept going but it wasn’t much fun. Choppy waters and gusts made tricks almost impossible. Just some big airs and survival. However great test for the prototypes as the 7 handled everything the wind threw at me…

The following day’s predictions were much the same, so I decided to head to the west coast of the island on recommendations of some of the kiters I’d met on the beach the previous day.

This is were I wasted 4 hours getting lost inland trying to shorten the trip… Sardegna is beautiful inland, but you need time!

So after the drive about, we ended up at a place called Marina di San Pietro also known as Valdoria. There a river mouth has perfect Flat water conditions and the wind was softer and steadier. So I rigged up the 9m and had a blast for a good 3 hours, testing some different set ups on the kite.

 

There I had a fun session even if the wind was still a little gusty.

 

 

 

 

 

Also went out at sea where there was some small waves…

The following day, we returned to Porto Pollo with a lighter Maestrale. Opportunity to bust out some moves and test the 11 and the 9. Both Kites performed really well.

A few days later the wind swung to a more South Easterly direction and I was finally able to try the beach on the east coast, La Cinta.

The wind was almost on shore (Slight side) and pretty steady compared to the west coast’s Maestrale. However the beach is also much busier with tourists. Upon enquiring, I was told that all kiting had to be done 200 m out at sea and access had to be done via a corridor.

I spent the next few days there and met up with the guys from Wet Dreams (Kite shop in San Teodoro) who run the kite school on the beach. They were super friendly, and filled me in on other spots to visit next time I am in Sardegna.

 

The next few days were spent testing the Prototypes. I’ll be writing a full report on that which will be posted on http://peterlynn.com/

I really had a great time in Sardegna. Except for the driving, people are super friendly. Obviously being a European destination, over summer, it gets crowded, and I’m pretty sure that in August all those beaches will be jammed packed.

The food is great and I recommend you try some of the local specialities.

The wind is pretty good, even if gusty when coming from the west. There are also some waves, and some flat water to be explored.

All in all a place I would like to visit again.

An enormous Thank you to Tania Romagnoli for taking all the pictures on this trip!

Till next time

Ciaou