Kitesurfing in Tenerife

The trip was worth the journey. Even though I only had three good days within a week in December, it should be enough. On the penultimate day, the wind arrives at Tejita Beach with a gust of 20-28 knots. 20 kiters dash through two metre high waves.

The first wave at the start was intentional. I discovered a stain on my body and wanted to get a good wash. My jumps get higher, the landings get dirtier and dirtier. The best crash landing led over 10 metres of air directly from behind into a two-metre wave that was just breaking. It was almost no longer funny.

Kitesurfing Tenerife – the spots I travelled around a lot by car, inspecting beaches on all sides. It looks like there are really only two spots in the whole of Tenerife: El Medano, and right next to it Tejita. Both are sandy beaches without rocks. Everything else has powerful surf and nasty rocks, at many windy bays the beach is a 300 metre high vertical rock face. There is also a lagoon near El Medano. But I neither looked for nor found it.

Kitesurfing Tenerife – The wind I had a 12 and a 19 with me in December and needed both. Lighter kiters should take a 9 with them, wind force six is quite common. What I noticed, at least now in December, is that there is either no wind at all or wind force 4-5 upwards. In between is rare. The direction varies greatly. The standard is north-east, but I haven’t had it once. When the wind comes over the sea (north-east or south in El Medano) it is usually quite laminar. From wind force 5 it also gets rough over the sea. Westerly winds are always rough across the island.

Kitesurfing Tenerife – Accommodation If you are not staying in one of the two hotels in El Medano, you urgently need a hire car. This is available from around €20 per day, e.g. from Holidayautos.de. The public buses run quite frequently but also slowly and sometimes with long detours / changes. You can also see a lot of the island by car. It is large and varied. There are only two hotels in El Medano that you can book last minute: Playa sur Tenerife *** (directly at the surfing centre) and Hotel El Medano **. The food at the latter is said to be pretty rubbish. Otherwise: Book a concrete castle in Los Christianos and drive 15 minutes by car every day to go kitesurfing. That way you’ll also have a bit of nightlife, as there’s practically nothing outside Los Christianos.