- Flat - Chop - Small Wave (< 1m) - Medium Wave (1-3m)
Hazards:
- Wave Breakers / Groynes
Quality:
- Clean
Best Tide:
- Tide Independent
The Scirocco thermal will form decent waves if it blows long enough at 12+ knots. Less than 12 knots is flat water or chop. Strong, onshore winds will create frothy messy waves but you can kite the flat water behind the wave breaker stone walls 300m from the beach that are parallel to the beach so protect it. Strong winds can form waves up to 2+ m which can also be good the next day.
7 km of sandy beaches. There are a few wave breeker stone barriers around on some beaches you want to stay away from. In summer (June to August) you have to go to the Circolo wind/kite at Ponente (North of the port) or the wind/kite centres in Valverde (South of the port) or wait until when the tourists leave the beaches because there are too many deck chairs, beach umbrellas and kids around for kiting anywhere else. In these months the launch and safety zones are drastically reduced for kiting so you either have to be sure you're not going to fuck up or just kite light wind (8-14 knots). In winter, spring and autumn the beaches are pretty deserted and empty, they are all sandy beaches and many of them are at least 100m wide so nice and safe, in winter there will also be a dune to protect the beach bars from storms which is nice and soft too.
In summer everyone kites in board shorts because the air temperature is around 30+°C and the water temperature can be pretty warm too. You could use a shorty if you want to keep warm kiting alone in the evening into the sunset. In spring and autumn most people use a 3/2 full wetsuit but also thicker as the temperature can range from 25-5°C, the water will be about 10°C. In winter with strong wind it's cold although the temperature rarely drops much below zero, most people use drysuits in winter.
In summer Cesenatico gets 8-14 knot SE (Scirocco) thermals on an almost daily basis, if there's any SE winds in the Adriatic this can buck the thermal up to 20ish knots. 8-12 knots is normally flat water or chop, 12+ will form decent waves if it blows long enough. Other onshore, sideonshore winds are the Grecale (NE), the Bora (NE) and the Tramontana (N, NE). All these winds can vary from 8-35 knots or more. The most constant wind is the Scirocco, the gustiest onshore wind is the Bora which can easily range from 20-40 knots in a matter of seconds. In winter you can get pretty flat months but also moments when you will have decent wind at least 2-3 days per week. Or a whole week of Bora which is strong, gusty and onshore so you really need a small kite, a big empty beach and to know exactly what you're doing. The Libeccio is 0-40 knots offshore here but we go to Lido di Volano 40 km north where it's sideoffshore and strong but a bit less gusty or else you can try the lake behind Mirabilandia 20 km north of Cesenatico. You can kite around 100 days/year if you have a good quiver with a big kite, you will get around 30 days windsurfing/year.
You can fly to Bologna Airport then take the motorway towards Ancona and exit at Cesena, Cesenatico is right on the coast. Or you can fly to Rimini and drive North down the A road to Cesenatico. Parking is only a problem in July and August. There are loads of hotels open from May to September.
Please don't muck around or even launch a kite on the crowded tourist beaches in summer, we've managed to keep our and your access free so far by respecting other beach users. In spring, autumn and winter it's our, in summer we share it.
04-02-27 Luca: Great spot for beginners and in some case for advanced! The real problem is that the wind is quite rare :-(
As you finish your kite session, just look for a "Piadina", buy a beer and relax down... that's life my friend!
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