Sotavento Lagoon Spot Guide - Fuerteventura - Sotavento, Canary Islands

The windsurfing and kitesurfing beach and lagoon in Sotavento offers world class sailing conditions as well as sheltered, tidal lagoon for lessons and practicing moves.


The Spot at Sotavento Lagoon
Depending on the tides, the beautifully situated lagoon stretches across Sotavento beach right in front of our recommended Hotel - the 4* Melia Fuerteventura. At 4km long, the lagoon offers a tidal area, offering shallow water up to 200m wide at the optimum high tide conditions. These flat, warm water conditions are ideal for all levels of windsurfer and kitesurfer from beginners to experts. Windsurfing and kitesurfing zones are separated by a swimming zone, with jet skis offering assistance during instruction or as part of the rescue service on offer.

Windsurfing
There is a choice of open sea in front of the centre or lagoon. This is where the PWA Windsurifng world cup takes place every year in July. If you wish, depending on whether there is water due to local tides, you can sail further along in the lagoon in flat water conditons.

Kitesurfing 
The lagoon offers spectacular, turquoise, mirror flat water that you can stand in. The open kiting area, directly off the beach offers conditons between flat water, chop, rolling swell and waves depending on the time of year and local conditions. This is the location of the PKRA World Cup in July. The lagoon and open kite area are separated by a sand bank. Launch space is huge with one of the widest and longest sandy beaches we have seen!

The Sotavento 'wind funnel' effect
The windsurf and kitesurf centres are placed a the spot of the Sotavento 'wind funnel'. When the prevailing north-east trade wind is forced between the two land masses behind the beach, this has an accelerate affect of the wind. When coupled with the warmer summers months, where the land mass is heated by the sun, creating air masses rising and compressing against the slightly cooler trade winds, this can create a 'double' effect to create the 'wind tunnel'. During peak wind months, this creates strong accelerating wind conditions and can sometime create fast gusts when arrived at the sea, sometimes making for substantially stronger wind conditions that the surrounding areas.

The Centres at Sotavento Lagoon
The kitesurfing centre is directly in front of the hotel, while the windsurfing centre is a short walk along the beach, approximately 10 minutes further north, with wide sailing area.  A wide range of equipment is available on the spot with pre-reserved equipment and possibility to change depending on the conditions and availability at the time. 





Climate and Tides
The climate in Fuerteventura is pleasant all year round, not in vain, the Canary Islands are known as "islands of eternal spring". The hot air masses of the nearby Sahara are kept away by the steady trade wind, so that the average daily temperatures can be around 20C and 28C in August, with night time temperatures not usually below 16C. Of course, all temperatures, like the weather can sometimes vary against seasonal averages. Wtih low levels of rains and water from 19C in winter and 23C in summer you can use light weight wetsuits if needed or hire them from the centre.

The Sotavento lagoon is tidal. Please contact us before planning our holiday so we can advise when is the best time to go to maximise your sailing time in this area. The lagoon extends over max. 4km and fills depending on the tides of the full moon and new moon phases. The depth of water in the lagoon can be betweenn a maximum of 35 and 85cm, which is usually for a couple of hours before and after high tide. High Tide time will vary from day to day and month to month. These measurements All measurements are subject to variation depending on the time of year and phase of the moon. For details on sailing in the lagoon, please contact Sportif.