Saal

The kite spot in Saal offers flat water and a large meadow for setting up and launching. Two kite schools hire out equipment on site and offer the only dry shelter even in shitty weather, as well as hot drinks and burgers. Parking costs €5 per day including toilet use. You can also camp here.

The entrance is via a few small stones in a 20 metre wide bay between rushes on the Bodden. If you want to use foils with long masts, you have to go out at least 150 metres. It is a little difficult to get out of the bay in a south-westerly wind. There is a lot of training on the water. Getting through this belt can also be a bit tight at times.

There’s not much going on today thanks to the rain, says a kite instructor. There are up to 40 kites on the water. At the weekend, with good wind and sunshine, there can quickly be three times as many.

In north-westerly winds, the 5-kilometre crossing of the Saaler Bodden to the kite spot at the rainbow camp in Born/Darss is a good option. The exit there is via a few rough and sometimes quite sharp-edged remnants of an old rubble dump. Neoboats are highly advisable here. Good tarte flambée and drinks are served at the nearby kiosk 100 metres west of Kitebeach Born.

Second visit: with significantly more wind around 20 knots and great weather, it gets a lot more crowded. There are 60 kiters on the water today. I try to get on my 95cm mast foil board for the first time with the 10. Two hours of pure frustration. Firstly, with a 95cm mast you easily have to run out 300 metres into the westerly wind until the water is deep enough. But even here, the foil sinks to the bottom again and again during my 50 launch attempts. I hit the mast and wings a few times with my shins and feet. Not fun, not at all.

I only find the fun again with the twintip. The wind is a bit low for the 10m, but an Eleveight Super Trickser in the bulrush bay 250m to the south keeps going up well over 7m. I head over and find flat water deluxe. There are no waves at all in the 30cm deep water at 50 x 100m. The jumps get high … and some almost end up in the rushes. Heading left, you can make good use of the first small kickers after 10 metres of flat water just before the rushes. The westerly wind is blowing fully onshore here, so it’s even easier to jump too far towards the rushes in this direction. Watch out! There should be a rock somewhere in the bay.

Although there is quite a lot going on, it is noticeable that almost all kiters and surfers observe the right of way rules and are quite considerate of each other. Sure, there are always 1 or 2 Rambos. But they don’t spoil the soup any more.