The report · Martinhal, Sagres · Kite · January · 6 pages
Algarve, Portugal
Martinhal, Sagres
52% of January days clear 12 kt for three daylight hours or more.
January sits outside the best months here. This report carries the record for January as it is, and no direction or session norm, because there is none to quote. Section 02 shows the year-by-year spread; section 06 shows which months to come instead.
Hour-by-hour & month-by-month wind
Rideable-day share by month, all three sports
Share of days with three or more daylight hours over each sport's threshold, counted from the record at 12 kt, Windsurf 13 kt and Wing 12 kt.
Blue fill scales with the share. Selected month outlined. Threshold per row: Kite 12 kt · Windsurf 13 kt · Wing 12 kt.
Where the wind sits, January
Share of daylight hours in each speed band, blue above the threshold.
Not drawn: 12% of daylight hours under 4 kt.
When in the day, January
Share of days over 12 kt at each daylight hour.
Rideable hours, not all hours. Every wind figure in this report is the mean over hours above the threshold.
January's own records
The month's own figures from four Januaries in the record, 2022 to 2026. Not the year's average.
What the percentage hides. A month at 80% can be twenty-four steady days or three windy weeks broken by a dead front.
Stays, the school and where the kit is
Stays
Lessons
Kit
Price band $ to $$$ only where sourced; none shown means none held. Contact details and brands stocked join this table when the operator directory is connected.
Per-launch tide notes
A mesotidal regime of 3.4 to 3.5 m (APA). Riders can stand quite a way out on lower tides, per Windsurf Magazine.
Mid to low tide lets riders keep further from the rocks, per Windsurf Magazine.
No tide information from a source used here.
Tide data not yet available for this spot. The record holds wind, air and waves, not tide. Until a tide source is connected, the tables above stay empty rather than estimated. What the guide says about tide is on the next page, in words.
Offshore wind, rocks & the rules
Every hazard on the spot page, repeated here in full. Read this before you get wet.
Conditions change. Check local rules and conditions before you ride.
Martinhal: sand, about 650 by 50 metres at high tide, with a limestone cliff at the eastern end (Vila do Bispo council) and many rolled stones on the beach towards the east (APA bathing-water profile). The limestone islets of the Ilhotes do Martinhal lie in the bay off the beach. Windsurf Magazine says riders can stand quite a way out on lower tides. Tonel: the entry is over sand, with rocks hidden in the water that are easy to see at low tide and can be missed at high tide (Surf Magazin). Windsurf Magazine advises asking a local to point them out before launching and riding at mid to low tide, further from them. The council names a rock islet, the Leixão, in the middle of the bay. Mareta: the council describes a fossil coral reef, the Pedra do Sal, in the middle of the beach by the footpaths. Where only the magazines state it, spot guides say it; no survey of the bottom was read.
The summer northerly blows offshore at Martinhal and comes in gusts near the beach (Surf Magazin, Windsurf Magazine). In winter, with south winds, Windsurf Magazine says Martinhal becomes a beach break with strong currents. Surfers share the break at Tonel, and medium to strong currents affect the beach (Windsurf Magazine), considerable on big swell days (Surf Magazin). The Capitania do Porto de Lagos, Edital n.º 173/2016: windsurfing only from sunrise to one hour before sunset, with good visibility; in the bathing season no windsurfing in bathing zones within 100 metres of the beach; in the bathing season or an authorised extra period, windsurfers in a bathing zone leave and reach the beach through the marked corridors for pleasure craft where they exist, or else swim out and in on a course perpendicular to the beach of at least 100 metres. In the same periods kitesurfing is allowed only from sunrise to one hour before sunset; kitesurfers launch and land through corridors marked for the purpose or, where there are none, only in areas outside the beach concessions with no concession within 500 metres downwind, and may not ride within 300 metres of bathing zones. The 2026 bathing season at all three beaches runs from 1 June to 30 September (Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1). The park plan (Resolução do Conselho de Ministros n.º 11-B/2011) allows windsurfing except in areas of total protection and, in its areas under a protection regime, prohibits driving or parking outside signposted places and camping outside designated sites. Whether Martinhal has marked corridors was not read.
Getting there, packing & best months
January has no session mean to size from, so no sizes are given.
Best months, Kite. Record.
Sources, and their limits
Where each section of this report comes from. Record is measured. Modelled is computed by a formula because no measurement exists yet; it looks like data and is not. Written is WindChaser's editorial copy, compiled from the sources below.
The record
Hourly wind, 2022 to 2026, from DWD ICON-EU via Open-Meteo: a 7 km grid, read at the cell 2.3 km from the spot. It knows the wind over the cell, not the gust on the sand in front of you, and it knows the bearing, not the coastline: "side-onshore" is a rider's reading of the bearing. Each month is counted over three to four years.
What we could not source for Martinhal, Sagres
A counted crowd reading: the crowd tiers follow Kite Insider and two magazines. Tide tables and per-launch tide windows. Whether Martinhal has marked corridors, and the coastal plan’s beach plan for it. Which parts of each beach, if any, fall under the park’s total protection. A written wind direction for Mareta beyond a rider’s video. A first-hand reading of the local vibe. Planet Windsurf Holidays’ Martinhal page, which refuses a script. A station check on the wind record. Surveyed launch coordinates. Which beach the MEO Sagres webcam shows. A Google Maps place for Wind4All at Martinhal, so its listing shows no photo. Where any of these is missing above, the section says so rather than filling itself.
Conditions change. Check local rules and conditions before you ride.
Compiled by WindChaser, 27 Sep 2026. Hero photograph on the spot page by Freebird, CC BY-SA 2.0. Report generated 22 Oct 2026 from record version 2026.10; a report and its spot page are rendered from the same data and cannot disagree.