The report · Tauranga Harbour · Kite · February · 6 pages

WindChaserSpot report

Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Tauranga Harbour

KiteFebruary

44% of February days clear 12 kt for three daylight hours or more.

February sits outside the best months here. This report carries the record for February 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.

01Hour-by-hour & month-by-month windrecord only02The month's own records03The club, kite school & kit04Per-launch tide windowsno data05Channels, shallows & shipping06Getting there, packing & best months07Sources, and their limits
Guide
Compiled by WindChaser
27 Sep 2026Record
2017 to 2026, hourly
Open-Meteo, ECMWF IFS HRES 9 kmNormals
2017 to 2026
Ten Februaries
Tauranga Harbour · Kite · February · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record1 of 6
01

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecKite484439424043454660565051Windsurf393327353238364052464043Wing484439424043454660565051

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, February

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: 9% of daylight hours under 4 kt.

When in the day, February

Share of days over 12 kt at each daylight hour.

8am
9
10
11
12pm
1pm
2
3
4
5
6pm

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

Tauranga Harbour · Kite · February · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record2 of 6
02

February's own records

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

Rideable days12 of 28Ten Februaries in the record
Wind, rideable hours16 ktMean over daylight hours at 12 kt+
Air23.4°CMaximum
Hours over 12 kt3.9 a dayDaylight, all days averaged
BeforeJanuary48%15 rideable days in 31
Your monthFebruary44%12 rideable days in 28
AfterMarch39%12 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.

Tauranga Harbour · Kite · February · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record3 of 6
03

The club, kite school & kit

Stays

Kulim Park freedom campingCampsite · 150 m from the Kulim Park launch · Van pitchesTwo council freedom camping spaces in Kulim Park, for certified self-contained vehicles only, for no more than two nights in a calendar month. The council locks the park gates overnight (9pm in summer, 6pm in winter, until 5:30am). The park is the Tauranga Windsports launch and boat shed.
Mount BackpackersHostel · 400 m from Pilot Bay · BudgetDorm hostel on Maunganui Road in the middle of Mount Maunganui, a short walk from Pilot Bay on the harbour side and the surf beach on the other. It hires surfboards and wetsuits to guests.

Lessons

Tauranga WindsportsClub · Windsurf · FoilFree learn-to-windsurf days from September to April, and windsurf foil coaching, from the Kulim Park boat shed.
Assault Boardriding Centre$$·School · Kite · WingA mobile kite school, teaching since 2003, that often works from Fergusson Park, plus wing foil lessons. Kite instruction NZ$80 an hour, or NZ$100 to NZ$160 an hour with kit. Shop in Mount Maunganui.

Kit

Gaastra & Tabou NZRental · Windsurf · WingA mobile shop hiring windsurf kit by the day and wing kit by the hour and a half. Prices are printed on the Tauranga Windsports club page.

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 windows

Kulim Park
Low—Mid—High—

Best two hours either side of low tide for bump and jump; foiling two hours either side of high, per the club.

Fergusson Park
Low—Mid—High—

Best two hours either side of high; not great on an outgoing tide because of a strong current through the channel, per the club.

Speed Creek
Low—Mid—High—

Best one hour either side of low, per the club.

Pilot Bay
Low—Mid—High—

Best three hours either side of high; any tide possible, per the club.

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.

Tauranga Harbour · Kite · February · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record4 of 6
05

Channels, shallows & shipping

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.

Emergencies111 is the emergency number for police, fire and ambulance.
Main shipping channelSailing in the main shipping channel is always dangerous. At Pilot Bay, also watch for moored boats, swimmers, kayaks, paddleboards and tidal currents.
Fergusson Park channelA strong current runs through the channel on an outgoing tide, and sandbars appear as the tide goes out. Kitesurfers and occasional boats share the water.
Speed Creek shallows and boatsThe creek gets very shallow in places: do slow test runs first. Give way to boats going 5 knots and keep to the sides of the channel.
5 knot ruleUnder the Bay of Plenty Regional Navigation Safety Bylaw 2017 a sailboard or kiteboard is a vessel. No vessel may exceed 5 knots within 50 metres of another vessel, raft, floating structure or person in the water; within 200 metres of the shore or of any structure, or on the inshore side of buoys marking a 5 knot restriction; or within 200 metres of a vessel flying a dive flag. Sailboarders and kiteboarders are exempt from the shore, structure and buoy limit. A board sport carried out with due regard for the safety of other water users is exempt from the 50 metre limit. Neither exemption covers the dive flag limit. The bylaw does not name wing foiling.
Large shipsIn the Tauranga pilotage area a moving prohibited zone, 50 metres to each side and 500 metres ahead, surrounds any vessel over 500 gross tonnes, or with tugs in attendance, while it is under way. No vessel may navigate within it. In a marked channel the zone stays within the channel. In the pilotage area a vessel under 500 gross tonnes must not impede a vessel of 500 gross tonnes or more.
Sandbars and shallows

At Fergusson Park sandbars appear as the tide goes out. Speed Creek gets very shallow in places: do slow test runs first. Do not assume a line that was clear at high water is clear at low water.

Channels, currents and shipping

A strong current runs through the Fergusson Park channel on an outgoing tide. At Speed Creek, give way to boats going 5 knots and keep to the sides of the channel. At Pilot Bay there are moored boats, swimmers, kayaks, paddleboards and tidal currents, and the club says sailing in the main shipping channel is always dangerous. Under the Bay of Plenty Regional Navigation Safety Bylaw 2017, in the Tauranga pilotage area no vessel may navigate within the moving prohibited zone, 50 metres to each side and 500 metres ahead, around a vessel over 500 gross tonnes or with tugs in attendance while it is under way, and a vessel under 500 gross tonnes must not impede a vessel of 500 gross tonnes or more. In an emergency call 111.

06

Getting there, packing & best months

Nearest airportTauranga (TRG)About 8.6 km by road to Kulim Park, around 17 minutes.
SeasonSeptember to JanuaryThe months the record shows the most rideable days. September is the pick; March is the quietest.
Getting aroundBy carEach launch has its own parking: at Kulim Park a small car park on the headland and more in the main park; at Fergusson Park windsurfers park at the far end by the toilets.
What to pack
TideSets the launch. Each launch has its own tide window in the club’s guide. Check it before you go.WaterChop or flat. Bump and jump at Kulim Park, Fergusson Park and Pilot Bay; flat water at Speed Creek.LaunchBeach or ramp. Speed Creek launches from a ramp off Keith Allen Drive; the others from the shore.WetsuitBring your own. The club supplies no wetsuits.KitClub or hire. Learner gear with club membership; windsurf and wing hire from Gaastra & Tabou NZ.
Kite sizes for February

February has no session mean to size from, so no sizes are given.

JFMAMJJASOND

Best months, Kite. Record.

Tauranga Harbour · Kite · February · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record5 of 6
07

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 HRES at 9 km, cell 2.32 km from the spot, February 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 per launch from the club’s locations guide. Strength and time of day read from the record.
02The month’s recordsRecordA coarse 9 km model, not checked against a station or an independent model. Treat the shares as a guide.
03Club, kite school and kitWrittenFrom the club’s own pages; the hire prices are printed there. The kite school, its prices and its Fergusson Park base from Assault Boardriding Centre’s own site. The Harbour Jam dates from the club’s event page. Two stays, a council freedom camping area at Kulim Park and a hostel at Mount Maunganui, from the council’s page and the hostel’s own site, read 30 September 2026. A city harbour: more hotels would only repeat them.
04Tide windowsWrittenEach launch’s best tide from the club’s guide. No tide tables in the pipeline.
05Hazards, channels and rulesWrittenPhysical hazards from the club’s guide. Rules from the Bay of Plenty Regional Navigation Safety Bylaw 2017, read first hand; the council adopted a replacement in September 2024, but its bylaws page still lists the 2017 bylaw. Emergency number from NZ Police.
06Airports, access, packing, kite sizesWrittenRoad distance from OSRM; parking from the club. No water temperature source. 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 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 nine to ten years.

What we could not source for Tauranga Harbour

Crowds by month. Surveyed launch coordinates. Stays. A water quality classification. Tide tables. A station check on the wind record. A water temperature. Guide 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, 27 Sep 2026. Hero photograph on the spot page by Sgroey, CC BY-SA 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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