Breitenbrunn / Lake Neusiedl

I’ve had my eye on this forecast for a while. you rarely get 24 knots at 24°C in October on Lake Neusiedl. But the first disco after a year and a half break due to the coronavirus the night before, plus four and a half hours travelling to and from the lake and kiting are too much for one person alone.

Luckily, some friends spontaneously decide to drive over. One place is still free. After the disco, I quickly pack the kites at half past three. We set off an hour later. I sleep through the whole journey in the cosy camper.

We arrive in Breitenbrunn shortly before midday. The forecast for Saturday is right: very light winds in warm sunshine. Not enough for me. Playing guitar, I watch my lighter friends from the shore.

Breitenbrunn is notorious for bad kite accidents due to the lack of space between the trees. The good news: since my last visit a few years ago, several trees have been felled, especially in the front of the kite zone. The bad news: Breitenbrunn has become very popular.

Even in today’s light winds, there are a whopping 70 kiters on the water and just as many at the relatively small launch site on land. The members of the local kite school do their best to ensure safety – but they also reach their limits when there are 100 kiters on the water at the latest.

There are few accidents on the first day. Only one 21 speed kite is quickly parked in a tree. The pilot starts by cheering his wife on. Then he easily rips €1,300 of residual value out of the tree – and completely in two. With just a little brainpower, he would have climbed three metres into the tree and saved the kite. But keeping shame short was more important to him.

In the evening, we have a big barbecue in the car park. I fall into bed early.

The next day starts promisingly. Early in the morning, strong gusts rattle the camper. The wind calms down a bit for breakfast. At 10am I set up the wrong kite. I wait in vain for two hours for the forecast strong wind and finally set up the 13er.

By midday there are already over 100 kiters on the water. The space is too small for these crowds. Hungarian kiters in particular keep launching in the landing zone. This is doubly stupid in Breitenbrunn with a south-easterly wind like today. Firstly, they block the runway, especially for the many beginners. Secondly, with the wind direction, they can’t get past the posts in the water right next to the kite beach, which protect the beach behind it. This means that a few idiots block all the kiters taking off.

In a mild 18 knots, I cruise east through grey water almost to the middle of Lake Neusiedl. Then the wind picks up. I abandon my plan to cross over to Podersdorf on the eastern shore. The decision was absolutely right. I only just make it back to the western shore. Then the wind dies completely.

One of the best things about kiting is that you always meet up with old friends from long journeys unexpectedly. Today it’s Rainer, my Styrian kite buddy from the Argentinian strong wind area Cuesta del viento. We spent a week there in 2018 surviving the strongest winds of two kitesurfing lifetimes with over 50 knots. Rainer topped my little three-month trip to South America with a year and a quarter and a few six-thousanders.

The right friends bring the right wind. After two hours in the doldrums, the wind unexpectedly returns with a nice 24 knots. The launch site now mutates into the wild west. Everyone is thinking only of themselves. Apart from a few more tree landings, the fact that no serious accidents happen is nothing short of a miracle.

I quickly cross through the now packed Danger Zone on the shore out onto the lake. there are now 170 kiters on the water. Once you’re 200 metres out, you notice surprisingly little.

There are two reed islands in front of the Breitenbrunn kite beach. Behind the eastern one, choppy waves slosh back in the lee. Not laboratory conditions. But in the bay in front of the western reed island I find my little heaven in the late afternoon until sundowner.

The wind behind the islands is a good deal weaker than in the channel in between. But the water is as smooth as glass even at 50 by 100 metres. The maximum of 24 knots in my 10 XR is not enough for records. But I’m satisfied with a good six metres.

ATTENTION: The water in front of the islands is very shallow. You tend to notice this too late because of the strong grey colouring. In the reed channel towards the shore, the water is only five centimetres deep. The muddy morass of decaying dinosaurs is as soft as butter. With enough pressure, you can actually fin-tranch it. However, if you stop here as a precaution, you will mutate into a fly on the sundew.

Lake Neusiedl is the only spot in the world where the locals know 17 terms for every stage of the transition from solid to liquid. Falls in the mud are problematic. They cushion the impact better than deep water. But as soon as you stand up, you sink up to your thigh in a stinky smoothie…