Winter kiting days in the Holy Land

by Efrat Saar
(Israel)

The past couple of weeks were a proof that winter has arrived.

Mid December, Saturday morning and many kitesurfers from different parts of the country all gather at the one beach where there is excellent wind with gusts of up to 30 knots and no rain forecast.

We get there and it looks like a kiting competition is taking place.


Over 50 kiters from around the country come to ride the winter waves on the beach of Ashdod.

It's too cold, and too big of a mess for myself so I stay on the beach and shoot some pictures. There were many kiters there that just came for the scene. These winter storms are pretty rare in our country, and it is definitely a sight to be seen.

After a couple of hours of wind that doesn't stop, some of the riders decide to head back to Tel Aviv for a better wave and no rain in sight...

We get there and attend the encore of the day an hour before sunset. This beach is full of wave riders and it is pretty small. The wave comes in much better and still it is very windy. This time only the best kiters in the country go in. What a show! Our local riders show us what strapless wave riding is all about.

To end it all we had a beautiful sunset.