Wingcation: Cyprus

We went to an area called Latchi located in the North West of Cyprus. Which is right next to the Akamas national park on one side, and the mountains with the Paphos forest on the other, and ofcourse the Mediterranean see on the other. We found it was a beautiful region. Probably the most beautiful region of them all from what we have seen in 2 weeks’ time. As it was spring everything looked green with lots of flowers around and oranges hanging nicely on the trees. The water was about 17 degrees, a 4:3 wetsuit was fine.

The Car One large gearbag, large suitcase, buggy, other bags, 2 persons, 1 baby. Well that’s sounds like we needed quite a large car. Upon arrival someone from the car rental company was awaiting us with a Nissan Micra! OMG how where we going to fit all of this. The car rental was really relaxed about it. And we could also just trow the gearbag on top of the roof. A perfect way to start the travels with such a relaxed attitude! Also on return of the car we could just park the car and leave the keys inside. It sums up how most people where on the island.

Being new to a spot From day 1 there was wind. And it was quite strong on the first day. Being new to a place it can be quit a mission on where to go to get out. Especially when there might be rocks around that you can’t spot. When the wind is around 10-20 knots and it is flat it’s quite easy to discover spots. Just jump in and find out if there are any rocks. 30 knots, waves and quite onshore winds is another. After 30km of driving around the Latchi area I did not find any other kind of watersporters going around. Just a closed windsurfschool… I figured I would message the guy on his phone. Apparently not much was going on in this area in this time of the year. He even moved his school to the other side of the island. Quite a shame as I found out there where quite some spots to get out! Actually I had the best waveriding in front of his school a couple of days later at a place called Argaka. Just some rocks 10m out you needed to walk over first. But they were okay.

Most days however I just went out in the most touristy part of Latchi (which was still more then fine), right in front of some beachbars. There where some rocks close to the harbor, but 20m further all was good. Depending on wind direction, this spot was just a nice cruising spot with some sort of thermic effect. I really needed to be quick when the wind was on. Towards the end of the day it would drop on me every time. Launching was easy with enough depth after just 1 meter of walking in to the water.

The search Doing some cruising around with the car I found more potential spots. Just cruising around is already nice on this island. Traffic was really light, even around places like the airport. We even went for a 3 hour drive true the mountains where we did not see any other car! Pretty insane! I do think this road was subsidized by the EU haha. Ok back to the spots. While there was no wind in Latchi, only 15 minutes away there was actually wind on a Reservoir lake, Evretou dam. I did not anticipate on this and did not have gear with me. And with a one year old in the back you don’t just drive up and down to get it. It takes some planning. Another potential flat water cruising spot was a touristy place called Coral bay. While in Latchi there was no wind, here in Coral Bay there was a little local effect going on. The south side of the island As wind was forecasted on the south side of the island I figured to check out the spot where the windsurfschool moved to, Geroskipou. It did not feel good to get out there on a foil. Again there was no one around and you have these man made wave breakers lying around. They have small gaps in between. But no clue on how deep it is in between and it takes some captain skills to end right where you want be everytime I did not bother. Instead we drove on. This time to a beach I found on a kite spot guide. Mandria beach. That day it was cloudy, 28 degrees with dessert sand in the air and quite a breeze. I could have used my 3.5 Ensis score, but the 6m freewing nitro was still okay aswell. This was actually a really nice place for everyone. There was a really chill beach bar right on the spot. Launching here was the same as on other places I had been. Deep immediately, however some shallow part after 20m or so. With a 90cm mast it is just safer to swim over this first part.

Where are the surfers? With weather being great I really found it weird I did not meet any other surfers! Chatting to the guy from the windsurf school apparently this was mostly done in the region Limassol. After returning to the Netherlands I also received an order for wingsurfer.nl that came from Limassol. I never got there, as the drive would be just to far with a 1 year old. One day we did go to Avdimou beach. Also found this one on the kite spot guide… WAUWW there where kitesurfers on the water! Even a girl out for the first time, going with the wing on a sup. Apparently this was a kitesurfschool operating there. Getting out was easy. Just never figured out if I could go over a darker patch of water. I just avoided it and went upwind a bit where it was deep enough everywhere. Apparently in summertime, there would be wind here almost every day. Some thermic effect that will be at its strongest at 3pm. Which I noticed, as the wind went away after 5pm. A nice place to cruise around, nothing special. In winter time there would be waves that could build up quite a bit. Conclusion If all this sole winging is nothing for you? You should probably look up some accommodation in the Limassol area as apparently much more winging is going on over there. If you don’t mind exploring. Driving in to many little dirt road tracks hoping to find a nice spot. Just go where ever. The island (Greek part) isn’t that big. In 2 hours time you drive from one side to the most far out location on the other side.

Don’t become too heavy We always want to go on smaller wingboards. Be aware, the food is very good on the island with many restaurants, local taverns and little food trucks next to the road. Especially at the taverns and food trucks you will get a lot with an pretty okay price. The local fruits are great and their will be good coffee on almost every corner of the street.

Culture and nature When the wind is down there are plenty of places to visit. From historic ancient Greek and Roman sights, up to nice walking trails. Though I would not recommend to those in summer time as apparently this island can get very hot! Rather go out and surf I would say!

During the stay I also made some product video’s