Top Freestylers & Beginners Play Here
With so many beach-lined shores on the Indian and the Pacific oceans, inland lakes, and rivers, you won’t have to go far in South Africa to find good wind and currents. Windsurfing is a popular sport in this country, so if you head here it won’t be necessary to bring your own board and sail. You can easily book a tour, with lodging, rentals and more at several locations. The point is to get out on the water and take advantage of the fantastic windsurfing conditions off the coast of remarkable Cape Town.
If you stay in Cape Town, you’ll have your choice of top windsurfing spots nearby. The Langebaan Lagoon, about a 1-hour drive from Cape Town, is a hot spot for boardsailing and other watersports. Although the surf may crash against some of the rocks near the shore, the lagoon located within the West Coast National Park is sheltered so you won’t find big waves. The lagoon is ideal for beginners because of the flat water, but some of world’s top freestyle windsurfers come here to train.
The folks at Cape Sports Center, which is a large retail shop in town that also offers lessons and monitors the wind forecast, say the Southeaster is a reliable wind. On a normal day, it starts blowing around 10am and builds—at times in a gusty fashion—until peaking around 3pm before it begins to die down.
Langebaan Lagoon is equally popular with kitesurfers and other watersports enthusiasts. In summer, thousands of migratory birds gather on an island in the middle of the lagoon. You can sail or paddle nearby and watch the gulls squabble with the cormorants and gannets, although it’s a bird sanctuary so setting foot on the island is prohibited.
The town of Langebaan is a popular getaway spot for South Africans, and many guesthouses cater to the windsurfers and kitesurfers who flock here. This region is packed with activities for vacationers, from visiting Cape Town and taking the ferry ride to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for many years, to watching the tiny penguins strut around at the Boulders. You can hike up to the lighthouse at the Cape Point and stand at the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southwestern most point of the African continent—a thrill in and of itself. —LF
Cape Sports Center ( 27/22-772-1114; www.capesport.co.za).
When to Go: Oct–May.
Cape Town, South Africa.
$ The Farmhouse in Langebaan, 5 Egret St. ( 27/22-772-2062; www.thefarmhouselangebaan.co.za). $$$ Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront Capetown, Beach Rd., Granger Bay ( 800/395-7046 in the U.S. or 27/21-441-3000; www.radissonblu.com/hotel-capetown).