Tag Archives: sardegna

Sardinia Island in autumn

November 24, 2020 Ced Vandenschrik

Cedric Vandenschrik Kiteboarding Sardinia during a Storm in November 2020

Thanks to Covid, my plans for the year got turned upside down, Well to be truthful, you can no longer plan anything really.
As a result I ended up spending Autumn in Sardinia.
In normal times, I am there over the summer so this was a new experience. I was looking forward to checking out the island out of season.
With limited spare cash and equipment as my travel companions, I had to make do with quite a few limitations.
Firstly I didn’t travel with a board and ended up having to beg and borrow to go kiting. I also didn’t have a guitar, which if you know me is a big deal!

Anyway, turns out I have a great girlfriend who organised a roof over my head and a car to drive, and friends who lent me boards and pumps (Veronica, Max, Emerico).

Video

I made a little video of my kiteboarding experience in Sardinia in Autumn with a little home Jam at home. If you want more, read on.

September

Well firstly I can’t count the whole of September as a kiteboarding month. I was confined at home for the first 2 weeks.

Secondly September is more summer than autumn with warm sunny days and very warm water temperature.
Once I got out, I found the beach to still be pretty busy. The San Teodoro area, where I was based, seemed to not suffer from the travel advice and restrictions that had been laid across Europe. Some shop had really busy seasons.
Beach goers and Kitesurfers were also present in full force. I know that time of the year well having been the race director at an event which used to run on the last week end of September. I remember the beach crowds and light wind conditions too well.

The only days that yielded stronger conditions were Mistral winds .
Being on the East Coast meant that I had to trek across to find better conditions for the North West wind. I ended up in Mari Ermi for what was probably the strongest wind I had the whole time I was in Sardinia this year. My smallest kite was a 9m Wave and I was lit! Sadly the wind was super gusty so it was hard to throw proper powered loops which is one of my favourite activity when kiting in those type of conditions.

October

The month of October brought about more wind and less beach goers. Kiters were still plentiful, but with more space to work with on the beaches, it was more enjoyable.

I frequented Posada beach a fair amount and also finally got to go out at La Cinta during a memorable 4 days of Scirocco wind (SE).
La Cinta looks great but in my opinion is not the best place to go out wind wise. However the kiters flock, especially foreigners, and also the curious beach goers.
As usual, with the crowds come problems.
Sadly a board I was borrowing just vanished while I was sorting out a kite issue on the beach. After much searching, I had to come to the conclusion that someone just took it. I would like to hope that it wasn’t another kiter, but whoever it was may the Karma police find you.
On the first day, great photographer Manu Borsato came to the beach and got a few cool pics.

Discovering new spots

Off season is great in Sardinia. Less tourists, and more spots! Some spots would be out of bounds in the middle of summer as they would be covered with cancer seeking sunbathers and locked up in regulation and policing. Once the crowds vanish, no one seems to care. Here are a few pics from spots that will remain nameless for now.

November storms

November brought colder temperatures but also stronger winds from the North, North East. On the East Coast it means some wave activity too. Sure it ain’t the ocean, but it was enough to have some fun. I got to explore some other spots and finally found empty beaches and open water. Almost felt like home.

Cedric Vandenschrik Kiteboarding Sardinia 2020 — Photos Robby Fontanesi

Aesthetically Sardinia is beautiful and has much variety to offer. Kiteboarding condition wise it’s way better out of season. Sardinia in Autumn has stronger winds to offer with the Southerlies being the steadier. However, I am a difficult customer to please coming from Kiteboarding Paradise...

Kiteboarding

Big Kites save the Trip: Sardinia

July 22, 2013 CedFly

Two years ago I visited the Mediteranean island of Sardinia. I was testing the new, to be released, “Fury” from Peter Lynn. Back then the tube kites were about to be released on the market.
I came back from that trip with a big smile, not only because the kites performed really well, but because I had found a place in the med where the wind can pump in the 30 knot range.

It felt like home.

So this year, when plans were materializing to visit Sardinia again, I asked the guys at Peter Lynn Kiteboarding to send me a 6m (the smallest fury of the new 2013 Range).
I was looking forward to a “top end” testing for all the kites.
I was also excited to test the Styx 132 from Underground in strong conditions.

As the departure date loomed, the forecast looked terrible. So I decided to pack the two Fury Lite that I am testing at the moment in Italy, and set off hoping for some “Sardinia Magic”. Well the “Sardinia Magic” didn’t work in the breeze but in other ways…

I spent a lot of time on the East coast of the Island near San Teodoro. In San Teodoro I ran into Emerico, the owner of the Kite shop called “Wet Dreams“.
Emerico, over the years, Â has spent a lot of time in South Africa and we have a lot in common. Mostly in the passion we both share for this sport and beautiful places.
Thanks to his local knowledge, and his “large” board I was able to make something out of the bleak predictions.
If there is no actual wind predicted, all kinds of possible thermal local breezes kick in around the island â€¦ and who better than a local to give you advice!

Sardinian’s are in general super friendly, going out of their way to tell you about spots and great restaurants. Of course they get invaded by “not so friendly” tourist over the summer months, but even that can’t taint their enthusiasm and good nature.

I had 3 outings at La Cinta (near San Teodoro), where the wind was always super light. Thanks to Emerico, I got to try a race type board and got to kite the super light conditions. I also had a chance to really test the Fury Lite and push it to its limits in the low end. La Cinta is a really beautiful beach with amazing water colors.

At “La Cinta” Wet Dreams operate their kite School and have managed to secure a designated area for launching. And when beaches get crowded, it’s a pretty important feature.

I had one session at “La Caletta”, further south, where the breeze looked promising. I put up the 11m hoping I would have to go smaller. Sadly fifteen minutes later I was taking the Race board out and only managed half an hour of cruising in the dying wind. Again, Carlo, the local instructer was also super friendly. The second visit there was dedicated to catching UV rays and chatting on the beach as the wind just never picked up.

With a hint of North West Wind predicted up North, I decided to drive up to Porto Pollo. Porto Pollo is famous for its strong wind. Luckily it delivered something, even if not it’s usual 20 knots +.
Thanks the 15m Fury Lite and the photographic skills of Tania Romagnoli, we managed to capture some pretty good images. My Underground Styx 132 was a pleasure. With the wind up and down, it kept planning in the lulls feeling like a bigger board but then being small enough to throw around in the gusts. A great all round ride.

The last few sessions back on the east coast were again lite and dedicated to the Race board.

The wind may have been disappointing, but armed with the Big kites, I was still able to enjoy myself.
I have never been a fan of big kites, being spoiled with strong winds in Cannon Rocks, but if one lives in Europe, it might not be a bad investment after all.

The “Sardinia Magic” was the people. New friendships and hopefully new visitors to my part of the world. I look forward to welcoming them and showing them some of the “Cannon Rocks Magic”

Ced

Kiteboarding

The Sardegna Trip

July 27, 2011 CedFly

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.

Few Kiters, but not much space for more...

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 onÂ 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

Ced's Kiting Blog