Tag Archives: sardinia

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

Island hopping

October 9, 2014 CedFly

After a winter in the Southern Hemisphere, Island hopping in autumn up North sounded like a great idea…
For a moment there, I sounded like a trust fund sponsored kidâ€¦ Ok reality check, I had to travel to Italy and a quick 4 day get away in Sardinia was on the cards (man that ferry is expensive and uncomfortable!) To that add a cheap flight to Fuerteventura to visit my friend and team manager Gunnar Biniasch for a week. Borrowed cars, and inflatable mattresses… that sounds more like it! But hey I ain’t complaining!

Sardinia
The Sardinian trip really was a last minute decision, and of course with only 4 days there, I was taking chances to encounter kiteable conditions. Armed with one Peter Lynn Fury 15, and a 10, 5 / 9 / 7 Peter Lynn Swell, I felt like I could deal with whatever Eolio threw at me.

With pretty dismal weather forecast, I was looking at 4 days of eating and sight seeing (Cloudy windless weather predicted). This time however, the guru got it wrong and the wind blew 3 out of 4 days.
Staying once again near San Teodoro, Â I got to catch up with my friend Emerico and crew from the Wetdreams kite school and shop at La Cinta. It was nice to find them more relaxed with the end of season in sight and being able to enjoy some water time together.
3 days of fun conditions! The 15m Fury did come in handy coupled with my Underground FLX 135 while the wind hovered around 10 / 12 knots. But once it picked up the Swells‘ got unpacked and I got to ride the 9m and the new 10,5 m enjoying them as free-ride kites.

The Swell 10,5m

Let me first come clean; I am not a fan of big kites. And I will admit that I am a spoiled kiter with 7m conditions at home far too regularly. Of course if the wind is on the low end of the scale, I would rather have a big kite than sit on the beach thinking about it. However, given the choice, I prefer a 7m session any day!
But… the 10,5m is surprisingly fast and was still fun on a twintip. At the spot “La Caletta” I was staying upwind and jumping while most other kiters on 11m and 12m were struggling. The 10,5m Swell generates a lot of apparent wind due to its maneuverability giving it an awesome low end.
I look forward to trying it out in the waves back in South Africa on those low wind days.

The FLX 135

During the whole winter in Cape Town, I mostly rode waves. So it took a little to readjust to a twintip. The Underground 135 FLX (That I’ve had for the last 6 months) is a great free ride board with loads of flex and a super smooth ride. It absorbs all those nasty hard landings sparing your knees. With it’s flat rocker, it performs great in marginal conditions. A great board for the Med.

Fuerte

It had been 5 years since my last visit to Fuerteventura. Great to be reunited with my team mate (manager) Gunnar Biniasch. It was also great to revisit those spots: Flag Beach, Cotillo beach, Cottillo Lagoons. But to also get to ride some waves as I had previously visited only in the summer. We were also on a mission to shoot some video footage with the New 2015 Peter Lynn Escape which Gunnar will be editing over the next few weeks.

After a quick catch up, a good night’s sleep and a re acclimatization to island vibes (took 5 minutes) we headed to the beach to try the new Escape.
The accessible spots are crowded and some of the water users are on the dangerous side, not all of them having absorbed the wisdom and calm the ocean seems to give me. So after surviving a head on collision with a windsurfer (accidents happen to everyone) I managed to claim my space and have some fun

The 2015 “Escape”
Once again Peter Lynn have produced a 4 strut kite which is has an amazing “ease of use” component that makes getting on this kite an absolute delight.
After 5 minutes on the kite I was throwing my limited range of Twintip tricks with ease and landing them. It is a kite I would recommend to anyone wanting to progress in their kiting as it is so forgiving and is super stable.
Great all rounder.

The last day was spent riding waves off a reef to the right of Flag beach which was fun once I had worked out where all the rocks wereâ€¦ As the sun set on the Island hop I packed my bags and chilled out with Gunnar reminiscing on old days and dreaming of days ahead. I got so chilled that i managed to leave my board bag behind and had to rely on Gunnar’s F1 driving skills to do a return trip home from the airport to get my board bag to me with 5 minutes of check in time to spare. The reward for that brain fart was to get the very lastseats at the back of the plane, the ones reserved for midgets and amputees, right in front of the toilets.

I would like to Thank Tania Romagnoli for all the pics and supplying accommodation in Sardinia. (and dealing with the plane seats from hell).
Emerico in San Teodoro for supplying advice and good energy.
Gunnar Bianisch for supplying accommodation and toys in Fuerte. Without you guys these trips would be impossible.

I will be spending the rest of October in Italy Demoing The Escape and Swell kites and will then be heading back to Cannon Rocks to sink my teeth in the upcoming summer

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

Ced's Kiting Blog