The report · Sakalava Bay · Kite · June · 6 pages

WindChaserSpot report

Diego Suarez, Madagascar

Sakalava Bay

KiteJune

93% of June days clear 12 kt for three daylight hours or more.

01Hour-by-hour & month-by-month windp202The month's own recordsp303Full stays, schools & kitp404Per-launch tide notesp405Reef, sandbanks & no public rescuep506Getting there, packing & best monthsp507Sources, and their limitsp6
Guide
Compiled by WindChaser
25 Sep 2026
Record
2017 to 2026, hourly
Open-Meteo, ECMWF IFS HRES 9 km
Normals
2017 to 2026
Ten Junes
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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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecKite3526397891939710099897351Windsurf251629698991959898856541Wing3526397891939710099897351

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, June

Share of daylight hours in each speed band, blue above the threshold.

4–7
8–11
12–15
16–19
20–23
24–27
28–31

Not drawn: 2% of daylight hours under 4 kt.

When in the day, June

Share of days over 12 kt at each daylight hour. The trades are a clock. A dawn session is a different spot.

8am
9
10
11
12pm
1pm
2
3
4
5
6pm
Wind directionSEThe Varatraz, the south-east trade, side to side-onshore on the bay.
Wind strength16 to 18 ktThe mean over rideable daylight hours, April to October, in the record, a 9 km model with no station check yet.
When it blowsAll dayFrom the morning, peaking around midday. In August and September about nine windy days in ten blow by 8am.

Rideable hours, not all hours. Every wind figure in this report is the mean over hours above the threshold.

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02

June's own records

The month's own figures from ten Junes in the record, 2017 to 2026. Not the year's average.

Rideable days28 of 30Ten Junes in the record
Wind, rideable hours17 ktMean over daylight hours at 12 kt+
Air29.5°CMaximum
Hours over 12 kt11.9 a dayDaylight, all days averaged
BeforeMay91%28 rideable days in 31
Your monthJune93%28 rideable days in 30
AfterJuly97%30 rideable days in 31

What the percentage hides. A month at 80% can be twenty-four steady days or three windy weeks broken by a dead front.

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03

Full stays, schools & kit

Stays

Sakalava Lodge$$$Lodge · Full boardBeachfront bungalows for up to 15 guests, full board and an open bar. All-inclusive weeks.
MadaKiteCamp$··Lodge · BungalowsBeachfront bungalows, restaurant and a school on site. Open March to December.
Ocean LodgeLodge · BungalowsSeafront bungalows with a restaurant. Mid-March to late November.
KiteParadise$··Hotel · Rooms and bungalowsSuites and bungalows facing the sand bar, with secure kite storage in the room price and a pizzeria.
Royal SakalavaHotel · On the beachBeachfront bungalows about 20 m from the bay, towards the mangrove end, with a pool, a restaurant and its own kite school.
Varatraza Wind Riders$··Kite lodge · Mid-bayEco-lodge built for kite and windsurf riders, with lagoon bungalows from 60 euros and trainee huts from 35 euros, breakfast included, and its own lessons on the bay.

Lessons

Sakalava LodgeSchool · Kite · WingIKO centre with seven IKO instructors, beginner to advanced.
Kite Alizé at Madakitecamp$$·School · Kite · Wing · Windsurf · IKOIKO-affiliated kite school at Madakitecamp, on the bay since 2012, with wing and windsurf lessons and rental on site. Private kite lessons 60 euros an hour.
Ocean LodgeSchool · Kite · Wing · WindsurfIKO-certified kite teaching, plus wing and windsurf.
KiteParadiseSchool · Kite · WindsurfKite and windsurf school within the hotel, right in front of the spot, with gear rental included in the lesson price.

Kit

MadaKiteCampRental · Kite · Wing · WindsurfEquipment rental on site.
KiteParadiseRental · Kite · WindsurfRental equipment at the spot.

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.

04

Per-launch tide notes

Lodge beaches
Low—Mid—High—

Mirror-flat and shallow at low tide, choppier at high tide in strong wind. Hours per tide state unknown until tide data arrives.

Sandbank
Low—Mid—High—

Shows at low tide, with standing depth over most of the bay for four to six hours.

Reef entrance
Low—Mid—High—

KiteParadise: the wave zone comes alive at medium and high tide.

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.

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Reef, sandbanks & no public rescue

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.

No public rescueKite Insider says there is no public lifeguard and no municipal rescue service. Cover on the water depends on whichever school or lodge you are riding in front of.
The reefCoral reef and reef waves at the bay entrance, a few hundred metres from the shore. Kite Insider rates them best for experienced riders.
Tide and sandbanksThe tide range runs from about 40 cm to 2.5 to 3 m. Kite Insider warns that low-tide sandbanks and shallow areas can be grounding hazards, especially at speed or on foil. Check the tide before every session.
Mangrove turbulenceKiteParadise says the zone near the mangrove is flat at low tide, but the direction of the wind, with the mangrove close by, causes a lot of turbulence in the whole area.
Cyclone seasonKite Insider gives the cyclone and monsoon period as roughly December to March, generally outside the kite season.
The reef and the sandbanks

Waves break on the reef at the bay entrance, a few hundred metres out; KiteParadise puts the break at 500 m from the shore. At low tide a sandbank shows, and Kite Insider warns that low-tide sandbanks and shallow areas can be grounding hazards, especially at speed or on foil. The tide range runs from about 40 cm to 2.5 to 3 m.

No public rescue, the mangrove and the cyclone season

Kite Insider says there is no public lifeguard and no municipal rescue service: cover on the water depends on whichever school or lodge you are riding in front of. KiteParadise says the zone near the mangrove is flat at low tide but has a lot of turbulence in the whole area. Kite Insider gives the cyclone and monsoon period as roughly December to March, generally outside the kite season.

06

Getting there, packing & best months

Nearest airportDiego Suarez (DIE)Arrachart airport, about 21 km by road, around 45 minutes.
SeasonApril to OctoberThe months the record shows the most rideable days. August is the pick, September a point behind.
Getting around4WD or a taxi15 km of sealed road, then 4.5 km of sand track. Transfers from Diego Suarez town or the airport take 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the lodge, per Kite Insider.
What to pack
BeachSand. A white sand beach more than 2 km long, with the lodges along it.WaterFlat to waves. Mirror-flat at low tide, choppier at high tide in strong wind, waves on the reef.TideBig range. About 40 cm to 2.5 to 3 m. A sandbank shows at low tide.Water temperature25 to 28°C. April to October, from compiled research, not measured. Boardshorts most of the year; KiteParadise says bring a shorty for July and August, when it can drop to 23°C.KitRent at a lodge. MadaKiteCamp and KiteParadise rent kit on the beach.
Kite sizes for June

Derived from the 16 to 18 kt mean over the season’s rideable hours in the record, April to October, not from a fitted quiver.

60 to 70 kg7 and 9 m70 to 85 kg8 and 10 m85 kg and up9 and 11 m
JFMAMJJASOND

Best months, Kite. Record.

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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.

§WhatSourceLimit
01Kite month sharesRecordCounted at 12 kt for three daylight hours from ecmwf_ifs at 9 km, cell 1.91 km from the spot, January 2017 to September 2026, 9 to 10 years a month, no station correction.
01Windsurf and Wing month sharesRecordCounted at 13 kt (Windsurf) and 12 kt (Wing) from the same series, by the same rule as the Kite share.
01Direction, strength, when it blowsWrittenDirection from Sakalava Lodge and Kite Insider. Strength and time of day read from the record.
02The month’s recordsRecordA 9 km global model, not a station. Treat the shares as a guide until a station check ships.
03Stays, schools and kitWrittenChecked on each business’s own website or a named rider source, most recently on 27 September 2026. Price bands only where a price is published.
04Tide windowsMissingNo tide source in the pipeline. The section renders its empty state.
05Hazards, reef, sandbanks and rescueWrittenFrom Kite Insider and the lodges’ own pages, not surveyed. No official emergency number was found.
06Airports, access, packing, kite sizesWrittenRoad distance from a routing engine; transfer price from Kite Insider. Water temperature from compiled research, not measured. Sizes derived from the session mean.
MapsMissingNo drawn maps for this spot. No surveyed coordinates for the launches.

The record

Hourly wind, 2017 to 2026, from ECMWF IFS HRES via Open-Meteo: a 9 km grid, read at the cell 1.9 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 nine to ten years.

What we could not source for Sakalava Bay

A counted crowd reading: the crowd rows are compiled research. Emergency numbers from an official source. A water quality classification, and a first-hand reading of the local vibe. Tide tables and per-launch tide windows. A station check on the wind record. Surveyed launch coordinates. Licensed photographs. 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, 25 Sep 2026. Hero photograph on the spot page by Chirocca77, CC BY 4.0. 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.

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