Planing across Whitley Lake. — Photo: Ian Kirk

Kites beside Whitley Lake. — Photo: Des Blenkinsopp

Stormy skies over Poole. — Photo: Ian Kirk

Ballard Down looking over Sandbanks. — Photo: ITookSomePhotos

United Kingdom

Nov · 67% rideable

Poole Harbour

What it's actually like

Kiters get the winter fronts in a south-west to north-west wind, with a preferred kite area in the harbour beyond the buoys. You need a Kite Surfing Permit, though BKSA school students under supervision are exempt, and Easyriders teach kite from Shore Road.

Here is the thing about Poole Harbour: the bay inside Sandbanks is Whitley Lake to everyone who rides it, though it is no lake at all. It is the shallow corner of a huge tidal harbour, with Brownsea Island out in the middle. Give it a mid tide and a westerly and the water goes flat.

October to March is when the fronts roll through, and more than half the days from October to February are rideable, November and February the strongest. Those winter days can be properly hooning, and they are bloody freezing. In January the air and the water are both in single figures, so it is a 5/4, hood and gloves, stripped off beside the car. You get very quick at wetsuits.

Summer is a different animal. May to September are the lightest months, May the quietest at about one day in three. The harbour has no thermal sea breeze to bail you out, and the launch fills early on summer weekends, so plenty of days you just get skunked.

The wind you want blows from the south-west round to the north-west, across the water from Shore Road, and a north-westerly has the longest fetch. North-easterlies and easterlies come over the land and ride gusty. Come on a mid to rising tide, when the water is flat and a fall means you can stand up. On a neap you can blast about all day. On a spring high in 20 knots or more it chops up as the waves bounce off the sea walls.

Get the tide wrong and you will know about it. Whitley Lake dries at low water. Near low tide it is a long walk out over sand and mud, with shells and debris underfoot. Fins touch the bottom, and it is a longer walk of shame back if the wind dies. The other launch is Hamworthy Park on the north shore, over the lifting bridge from Poole Quay. It gets deep sooner, but the tide pulls hard through the gap towards Arne, so it is for intermediate windsurfers and up.

Rules and safety. The rules here come from Poole Harbour Commissioners. Under their General Direction, no one may kitesurf anywhere in the harbour without a Kite Surfing Permit. The permit declares third-party public liability insurance and that you can self-rescue and pack down in deep water. BKSA school students under an accredited instructor are exempt, but must wear their school’s rash vest. The terms do not permit kitesurfing in the harbour entrance or the main channels between the Bar buoy and the Turning Basin. They also bar it south of a line from South Haven Point to Shipstal Point. They do not permit launching or landing between the shore and the 50 m buoyed exclusion zone at Whitley Lake. Kitesurfing is allowed only from sunrise to sunset. Board sailing in the Middle Ship Channel or the Haven Channel needs the Harbour Master’s written consent. In an emergency on the water, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

Learners windsurf and wing inside Whitley Lake, where they can stand up. Experienced riders go downwind, learners upwind, and nobody rides under a learner’s kite. Mind the wall and the road behind the beach. Inexperienced kitesurfers have been dragged across it into traffic, so keep the kite low near the shore and never rig with the road downwind. Easyriders at Sandbanks Beach Club teach kite, wing and foil, and Poole Harbour Watersports teach windsurf and wing at Whitley Lake. New to kiting? Learn with a BKSA school first.

For flat water, stay in the harbour. For something tastier, carry your kit over Shore Road to the sea side at Sandbanks, for small bump and jump in a southerly. Wind and kite surfers are not allowed in the bathing areas marked by red and yellow flags. Do not sail between the two through the harbour entrance: it is only 300 m wide, the tidal streams are very strong, and kitesurfing and windsurfing are not allowed there. Walk it over the road, as the chain ferry crosses every 20 minutes.

When it's good

Is it for you?

LevelNot checked yet
Kiting needs a Poole Harbour Kite Surfing Permit, so learn with a BKSA school first.
WaterMillpond to small chop
Flat on a mid tide; a spring high in 20 knots or more chops up.
LaunchBarefoot
Gradual sandy entry at Shore Road, but the road and wall sit right behind.
Wetsuit5/4 and booties
Sea about 14 °C in November: a 5/4 and booties, and you'll want both.
AprèsGoes off till sunrise
80 bars, 4 clubs and 154 places to eat within 5 km: the night's yours.
CostNot checked yet

Where to launch

Conditions change. Check local rules and conditions before you ride.

Launch
Hazard
Parking
School
Stay

Whitley Lake, Shore Road

A dedicated board sailing area in the harbour, beside Shore Road and Banks Road at Sandbanks.

For kite, windsurf, wing. Directions: Google Maps · Apple Maps
Hamworthy Park

Beach launch on the north shore of the harbour, over the lifting bridge from Poole Quay.

For windsurf. Directions: Google Maps · Apple Maps

In an emergency

Emergency, ask for the Coastguard 999

Getting there

Nearest airportBournemouth (BOH). Bournemouth is your closest, about 11 miles by road. Southampton (SOU) is about 38 if the flights suit better.
Getting aroundCar or the Breezer bus. The Purbeck Breezer 50 bus runs from Bournemouth via Sandbanks. Roadside parking by the launch is paid and crowded early on summer weekends.

Stay, learn and rent

Full details for every place are in the Pocket Guide.

Sandbanks Hotel

On the harbour beach where kiters launch, right out front, and sharing 15 Banks Road with The Watersports Academy’s hot showers and changing rooms.

Book on Booking.com

RNLI College

Hotel rooms, a restaurant and a bar open to the public at the lifeboat charity’s college on Poole Quay, a drive from the Sandbanks launch.

Book on Booking.com

South Lytchett Manor

Pitch a tent or book glamping at this touring park three miles from Poole, a drive from the harbour.

Book links to Booking.com and Agoda may earn WindChaser a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Pocket Guide

Poole Harbour, in your pocket

Everything you need on the beach in one PDF. Save it to your phone and it works with no signal.

01The month: wind, conditions and water02Every hazard, and the local rules03The launches, with maps04Getting there with kit05Stays, schools and kit hire06Where every score comes from

Poole Harbour

When it's good

Is it for you?

Where to launch

Whitley Lake, Shore Road

Hamworthy Park

In an emergency

Getting there

Stay, learn and rent

Sandbanks Hotel

RNLI College

South Lytchett Manor

Easyriders

Poole Harbour Watersports

Poole Windsurfing

The Watersports Academy

Poole Harbour Watersports

Easyriders

Surface 2 Air Sports

Poole Harbour, in your pocket

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