|
OK, here it goes, the kitescene in Hungary:
Kitesurfing is almost unknown in Hungary. We do have dealers of Wipika, Naish, Airush and recently RRD, but the hungarian kite-market is still very small at the moment. There are maybe 40-80 people kiting. We always go to the same place, so we all know each other. On very good days there are maybe 20 kites up in the sky. I think this year, and the following 2 years the number of kiters will increase substantially. Most of us are beginners, kiting since 1 maybe 2 years. There are maybe 5 persons who are really good. They have learned a lot on Teneriffe and Hawaii.
Kitebeaches: unfortunatly we do not have an ocean; what we do have is a beautiful lake called Balaton (appr 10 km wide, 120 km long). We do not have too many windy days. Maybe 15-20% of all days are kiteable.
When we have wind, it comes mostly from the NW, sometimes W or SW. In these cases we go to the southern shore of the lake. On this shore the water is not deep at all, you can walk in 200-400 meters before it gets deep. It is the most beginner-friendly beach in Hungary, but still quite dangerous as we mostly have on-shore winds (sometimes gusty) and the beach is not sandy, but full of rocks and trees. There was a radical day last autumn when 3 persons have been dragged out to the beach, their kites destroyed. 30 meters from our favourite beach there is also a train line, so it's really worth to watch out and to be careful. Due to these circumstances nobody uses 2-line kites, as they cannot be depowered, so they are very dangerous under these circumstances. The last guy (beginner) who used a 2 line kite has only spent a few seconds in the water before flying towards the beach. He was told previously not to use it, but he did not want to listen.
The force of the wind is mostly 3-4 Bft (on 80% of windy days), so most people are riding the AB 11.8, which is an excellent kite for these conditions (gusty). Some people are also very happy with their new X2s, although still waiting for the bigger sizes. It is a must to watch out for storms, as at this lake they can come up from one moment to the next.
I also heard that some austrian kiters are visiting the Balaton regularly, as the border is quite near.
Winds from S and SE are very gusty, in some extreme cases simply unkiteable.
So sometimes you have to wait patiently for the wind to come. But if you should visit this place do not leave your kite at home. With NW-wind on a sunny day, it would be one of your best kite-sessions. It is beautiful there.
Regards,
Gergely
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
Feed
