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| Bantham | Bigbury | Exmouth | Paignton | Slapton |
| Location | Bantham | Click map for an annotated and interactive Google map |  |
| Wind Direction | NW(bit gusty), W, SW, S | ||
| Best Tide/Standard | From Low to 1-2hrs before high tide. Beginner to Advanced. Tide depends on whether it's Springs or Neaps, but generally when it's above 4m the rocks in the middle will start to get covered. If you get into trouble, you or your kite may land on them. | ||
| Description |
It is frequented by kite buggys and land-boarders at low tide with expansive flat sand - this makes it a great place to surf and gives lovely shallow water to skim across when kitesurfing. The only rules for kiters on land and water is to stay to the right of the RNLI beach flags for the swimmers and no launching or sailing from the left hand side of the flags. It is very important to be EXTRA CONSIDERATE on this beach. Set up far away from crowds in the big open spaces. You may have to avoid kiting altogether if the beach is busy. The lifeguards want to see at least a 50 metre distance around swimmers and surfers - this may mean that there just isn't the room to kite. Also be sure to have 3rd party insurance up to date or you can't surf here. See home page. Wind surfers tend to avoid Bantham, probably because of the long walk to the water at low tide - but this very reason makes it ideal for kitesurfers. First of all you have a large open space to practice with your kite, it tends not to get as busy or congested except sometimes in the height of summer - and although surfers were there first - kiters are generally accepted as co-"owners" of the spot thanks to its long history of traction power kiting. Unfortunately there is a small window for kiting in a given wind direction - but it is the prevailing westerly wind. Do be careful kitesurfing when the tide is going out - the water can disappear quite fast and the beach undulates leaving very shallow water out at sea, when further inshore it can be quite deep - potentially very dangerous when jumping.
In addition the Sloop is a great village pub - really friendly and depending on the time of year and day the car park isn't too expensive compared with Burgh which is extortionate. | ||
Across the bay from Burgh Island and Bigbury, and the opposite side to the mouth of the river Avon, Bantham is probably the best of all, for all levels of kitesurfer.
Also when the tide is coming in, it rushes down the river, so if you are under-powered you'll be sucked into the black hole. But don't panic, just at the mouth of the river is a beach area where you can land, pack up and walk back! On the upside the shallow water provides a beautiful "skim board" effect giving extra lift and the impression of skating effortlessly across the surface.