Kiteboarding Kalpitiya… The good, the great, and the ugly.

I suppose it must be time to talk about kiteboarding here in Kalpitiya (and the surrounding area. This blog is supposed to be about wind as well as travel.

I have been messing around with video editing a bit the last week or so, so be warned: There will be some videos in this one. Sorry.

First, let me address the ugly: The Kalpitiya Lagoon.

The main area for kiteboarding, in the summer season in Kalpitiya, is in the kalpitiya lagoon. There is some good: The wind is good most days. We have had a range of wind, from too low to kite to forty-five knots, but the sixteen to twenty knot days are minimal, the majority of days are somewhere between twenty-four and thirty two knots. In two months we only had about seven days of no wind, so that is not terrible. One day we did not kite because it was too strong. And gusty.

And gusty! It is probably better to describe it as holey, as the wind generally tends to have these huge lulls that drop you out of whatever trick you may be trying. But it does make up for the lull with a good slap of a gust afterwards, so that is fun. When the angle is right, it gets a little side-offshore and slightly steadier. The water then flattens out a bit as well, and it can be okay. Mostly, though, it runs side-onshore through the lagoon and it is gusty and choppy. It is really unappealing, honestly, but that is where you will find the majority of the kiters, the lessons, and a few wingers.

I did not take any videos of us kiting there, so no real documentation of what I am saying. There is this one picture…

And now the good:

There are boats, arranged by the fisherman mafia here, that you can take to other areas to kite. The “good” one is called Dream Spot, and it is good! The boat ride out is about forty-five minutes from Kalpitiya lagoon. It is a spot on the West side of Dutch Bay with side offshore wind, much steadier than Kalpitiya lagoon, owing to the fact that the wind comes more cleanly off the ocean. This also means the water is flatter, and much more fun to ride. It is not perfectly flat, but there are other places for that.

Not the flattest water, but still good for fun tricks!

And then there is the great:

Mini Vela Island and Kappaladi Lagoon.

Mini Vela Island is another boat trip from Kalpitiya Lagoon, a little longer than dream spot: maybe an hour to get there, but past Dream Spot in Dutch Bay. Mini Vela is absolute perfection. The wind blows straight offshore over a tiny sandbar, and it is perfectly steady. And strong.

And it is just a beautiful place.

But don’t take my word for it, there is video.

Just a beautiful spot to kite, with perfectly flat water, and perfect wind. Seems a little like heaven!

As I said, I have been playing around with video editing, and made a few videos of Tam kiting. Here goes:

And then the best of the best: Kappaladi Lagoon. The dreamiest perfectest, smoothest flatwater and perfect wind in this area. The best part is, unlike paying twenty to thirty dollars for a boat to get to Dream Spot or Mini Vela, we could just take the motorbike or the tuk tuk to Kappaladi any time we wanted in about forty-five minutes. It is a small freshwater lagoon, and very rarely gets crowded. Anyway, one video is worth a thousand words, right?

Overall we have had fun with the kiting in Kalpitiya, as long as we stayed away from Kalpitiya lagoon. A boat ride for twenty to thirty dollars, or a forty-five minute motorbike/tuk tuk trip will take you to some amazing kiting, with really good, strong, consistent winds. I also really have to recommend Surfpoint Sri Lanka. As I have said in previous posts, the staff and the owner of the place are just a great bunch of guys, and they make the whole stay a great experience. The rooms are nice, clean, and comfortable, and they were accommodating at all turns. Check them out some time and catch some great kiting locally.