Lake Garda Italy is it worth bringing gear

[SSK]

Going to Italy near Lake Garda at the end of June, on a family trip not for kiting. I do not know anything about it, but, from what I have read it has some very good thermal wind both in the AM and afternoon. However, it also seems that it may be a bit of a hassle to ride there, requiring boat launches, joining clubs, limited sketchy launches, mandatory safety gear. Anyone ever ride there? Any recommendation on kite size/s to bring and other gear? Wetsuit? I would not want to bring a lot of gear to drag around so I would limit to necessaries. Any idea on what rentals are like and what it would cost? The web pages all seem like spam sites and cannot get any real information. I am not wind starved, so not interested in spending a ton of money and hassles, but if it is worth it then maybe bring some gear or rent. Any information would be appreciated.

[Toby]

Never been, but must be stunning beautiful to ride there!
Wind should also be good!

Spot info on www.splocs.com

[gvironda]

In my opinion lake garda is one of the most beautiful places on earth!
In the morning, from 7 to 10 a.m., you have north wind (Peler), around 15/20 knots, in the afternoon south wind (Ora), around 12-15 knots.
Good weather forecast are in meteotrentino.com
In the morning you can leave from Campione del Garda, in the afternoon from Navene or Campione. In both cases you need to enroll to the kite association. The beach is stricltly regulated.
Most common way is the make a lift. You board on a boat, and leave and land from it.
Check kiteschoolnavene (in Navene, north east side), or kitecampione
On the weekends you may have hundreds of kites in the water, but with the lift no problem of traffic at all. Lift cost 30€.
Amazing are Riva del Garda and Torbole. Kitesurfing is forbidden, but you can windsurf, with hundreds of other sails.
Garda Lake is also a paradise for mountain bike.
Renting kite / bikes is not a problem at all.
Have fun!

[SSK]

@gvironda,
Thanks for the information. From what I have read it is an incredibly beautiful place with tons of stuff to do. So kiting will just be a bonus. From what I have read it is mostly 8m or less in the AM and then 12m or bigger in the afternoon. Is that correct? Can you fake it and split the difference with a 10M or will that be too big in the AM and too small in the afternoon? Would it be better to bring a 12m and just ride in the afternoon? How difficult is it to join one of the kite associations? Do you need to bring a wetsuit? If so what size, spring suit or 3/2 full? Are there places you can self launch or does it all require a boat launch? I am an experienced kiter so can tether, drag, or drift launch if necessary. Thanks again.

[gvironda]

with a 10 you may cover everything
in the morning it is generally 20/22 knots maximum, and you can always stay in the centre of the lake where it blows a bit less
in the afternoon it generally reach 15knots, so you MAY be a bit underpowered with the 10, but many people use it as well
my suggestion is do the lift from Navene in the morning, at kiteschoolnavene (no other way to do peler than a lift, and you will love it), in the afternoon leave again from navene. it is very funny, you enter into a small tunnel to lift the kite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi1wHMmjfDA
the association of navene cost much less than the one in Campione, and it is very easy to join
http://www.kitemalcesine.it/club.html
it is positioned in front of hotel eden
it cost 15eur, and then 10eur per day, unless you make a weekly package
lift cost 30eur

if you have to choose, ride in the morning, it is always much more fun in my opinion, and the panorama is stunning
bring a full wetsuit in the morning, in the afternoon you may use a shorty if you're german, but I still use a 4mm (outside is super warm, but water is quite cold still)

no place at all where to tetheror drif launch
have fun!

[kitesurfwarehouse]

Garda rocks.

[knot_moving]

So did you go to Lake Garda last year?and how was it?

[knot_moving]

So did you go to Lake Garda last year?and how was it?

[SSK]

Ended up going, and it was a great trip. I have been to Europe many times but never to Italy. Beautiful country and the Lake Garda area is wonderful with spectacular scenery. A lot to see and do. I ended up packing a 10m and harness only. I could fit that in a suitcase without extra baggage charge. I ended up not kiting for several reasons. I was on a family trip with 11 people, so breaking away was not simple and so it would have to be really good in order for me to get away. Second it was never was very windy while we were there. From what I have read, I think the weather was abnormal. I think it was abnormally rainy, which I assume messed up the wind. The wind is thermal dependent. The first five nights it thundered like an Midwest storm. I have lived in Hurricane alley in the US, but these were whoppers. I did not know they got that kind of weather. The whole place shook. The other thing was we stayed on the South West corner. The lake is long (I think about 30 km) and narrow. The North end is bounded by high cliffs and mountains, and it widens and flattens out as you go South. So it is a natural Venturi, with the wind mainly in the North 1/3 of the lake where the lake narrows. Being in the South it would be about a 30-40 minute drive to get to somewhere to kite. But the bigger thing is that it is no simple task to kite once you get there. Because of the cliffs you have to get a boat launch and/or join a club that has a limited beach launch. Anyways, it takes some serious commitment to ride. I am a little too spoiled for that. So if the wind was better, I probably would have done it for the novelty but I do not think it is somewhere I would go to kite. But like I said there is plenty else to see and do.

[knot_moving]

Thx- we are Considering that area for a vacation so think i will plan to rent if everything looks perfect while we were there- but not drag a bunch of gear around