After almost 10 years living in Sal and windsurfing and surfing all over the island, Jean-Sebastien and Marina Lange have created the ultimate guide to windsurfing in Sal.
This guide isn’t aimed at providing you with all the information for each spot, but rather to give you the desire to get away from the crowd and discover your own perfect spot.
[kml_flashembed publishmethod=”static” fversion=”9.0.0″ useexpressinstall=”true” movie=”/wp-content/uploads/maps/angulo-map.swf” width=”614″ height=”400″ targetclass=”flashmovie” fvars=” mapLocation= ; mainLabels=Santa Maria,Ponta Norte,Murdeira,Fontona,Pedra du Lume,Palmeira,Espargos,East Coast Windsurfing,West Coast Windsurfing,Santa Maria Windsurfing,Airport ; mainDetails=A mecca for watersports enthusiasts and famed for its glorious white sandy beach.,Ponta Norte,Holiday village,Small safe bay and a good starting point. It’s the only place on the West Coast where you can start from a beach.,Famous for its salt mines.,A small fishing village where you can watch the fisherman return and buy fresh fish,Espargos is the nearest village to the airport and it is the capital and administrative centre of the island.,The wind on the East Coast is port tack on-shore to side on-shore. The waves are not too powerful and the spots are safe.,It’s all about waves on the West Coast. Only for those that know what they are really doing and certainly not a place to learn windsurfing. ,The bay of Santa Maria faces the South. The wind here is port tack – be careful as it seems very safe but if you break something you’ll end up in Brazil!,Amilcar Cabral ; santaLabels=Djadsal,Oasis,Morabeza,Odjo D’Agua,Sab Sab Sal,Angulo Centre ; santaDetails= , , , , , ; southLabels=Ponta Leme,Ponta Leme’s Left,Wave Power,Club Angulo,Rife (aka Pontao),Club Mistral/CNS,Ponta Sino ; southDetails= , , , , , , ; eastLabels=Cabessa de Salinas,Upwind Cabessa,Sierra Negra=eastDetails: , , ; westLabels=Fontona,Cural Joul,Ali Baba,Tras Leão,Monte Leão,Canoa,Calheta Funda,La Esquerda,Ponta Preta ; westDetails= “]
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What is the best period for wind?
While you occasionally have wind all year long, the trade winds usually start blowing in mid-November until June. The wind is often light (14-20 knots) but is usually stronger from mid-January to March / April (up to 25-30 knots). We rarely get anything stronger than this.
What is best period for waves?
The first swells arrive in October and become more and more frequent. The biggest swells are from December to March. You can still catch a good north-west swell in April and May. In the summer you can sometimes catch some swell from the south, which are smaller but still great.
Santa Maria
The bay of Santa Maria faces the south. The wind here is port-tack, side-off shore. You need to be careful on these spots because they seem to be very safe but if you have a problem or break something, the next stop is probably Brazil! (Don’t panic – we do have a jet-ski!).
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East Coast
The wind on the East Coast spots is port tack onshore to side-onshore. The waves are usually not too powerful and the spots are safe. When there is no swell but medium to strong wind, this coast can catch some rather good wind swell. Generally the conditions are more or less like Europe… But with sun, turquoise warm water and trade winds!
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West Coast
Now we are talking about WAVES. While other spots on the East and South coasts can get some pretty big waves, they are still safe. But when the swell comes in from the North West, these spots on the West coast can be dangerous.
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