Anyone been to Kappaladi lagoon in Sri Lanka? Thinking of going for a few weeks June/July.
Duotone have a pro center there so you would assume it was a decent enough spot.
Wind seems to be good, just wanting info about the spot or personal experiences people have had, I will be looking for flat water for freestyle only.
Also keen to hear about experiences. I've booked 7 days in August, very much looking forward to it!
Looking on google maps there doesn't appear to be much there. Also does it open to the sea? If not the water could be manky.
Maybe a safer bet to stay at Kalpitiya main lagoon and get a tuk-tuk ride to that other lagoon as a day trip to check it out.
I didn't visit Kappaladi lagoon when I was there in Jun 2016 (Kalpitiya) & Jun 2018 (Mannar), but you should be able to get some decent intel on it and it can't be too bad if there's a Duotone setup there. It looks a bit small so imagine it could get crowded.
My experience of Kalpitiya lagoon was on the whole good, bit gusty wind but decent power and the local camps were pretty good. The best sessions were out at Vella Island, which was a boat ride and overnight in a dormitory.
Mannar was better and that's where I'd go back to - more consistently strong wind. The camp was basic, but we were well looked after. Taking anyone with you who isn't into kiting might not go well :)
They're all good flat-water spots.
Is the lodge at Mannar even still there? I can't seem to find any recent info about it. I went in 2019 and yes awesome 30kts everyday but pretty remote so fk all else to there.
Edit. Found 'Vayu Sri Lanka'. Google reviews from a 4-6 months ago say its now closed for renovation
Probably making improvements to the camp facilities - upgrading it, because it was pretty basic. They did have some reasonably decent 'chalet' type options, but not many of them. I remember thinking when I was there that it'd be good to have more of them available. The crew running it were great - once they've completed the renovations, I'm sure it'll be an awesome place to stay and kite.
I stayed in one of those chalets and remember sweating my ass off every night as it was minimum 29C. I hope their reno's will have AC rooms.
(privileged white man here)
I've been to Mannar twice and Kalpitya with a group in 2022. The lagoon is pretty gusty and nothing special but a boat trip to big and little Vella offers amazing flat water. In Mannar only used 9m but in zKalpitya mainly 12m.
On the downside we nearly all got sick, the flies were disgusting and I got a tropical ulcer on my leg due to unsanitary conditions of dog **** and donkey and cow **** in the sand of the camp, hence the flies.
Lion beer is good and fairly cheap.
Select to expand quotePhoney said..
Is the lodge at Mannar even still there? I can't seem to find any recent info about it. I went in 2019 and yes awesome 30kts everyday but pretty remote so fk all else to there.
Edit. Found 'Vayu Sri Lanka'. Google reviews from a 4-6 months ago say its now closed for renovation
No, they had to sell over coved, now it 8s a bird sanctuary and kiting is banned.
Seriously? Where did you hear this?
With the amount of plastic crap in the water, kiting is the least of that regions ecological problems for the birdlife.
Yeah true ...plenty of bust-up plastic washed up on the beach and plenty turds and flies! It's certainly not a pristine environment, but there is good wind and there is a good vibe, and a dose of 'Pharao's revenge' helps with keeping a lean physique 
(I used to live/work in Egypt hence the phrase).
Speaking of Egypt - there are some great kiting options along the Red Sea coastline, ranging from live-aboard to land-based, and from basic to luxurious. I was working in diving in Sharm, and it was often bloody windy. Kiting and windsurfing were popular in Hurghada back then, and nowadays I think there are many newer spots from there all the way down to the southern Red Sea.
I was in Egypt this time last year. A few days in Hurghada (that was alright) and a week on what I'd almost call a superyacht, awesome!
Nice. I left in 2004 after 5 years there. It's on the list to return one day to kite and dive, and I reckon live-aboard would be the go.
Egypt is worth the trip.
I've lived in Marsa Alam on the Red Sea coast for just over two years and kited most spots up and down the coast from El-Gouna to Shalateen. Conditions are epic with wind almost year round, warm clean crystal clear water and mostly inside large reef lagoons (flat water only - no surf on the Red Sea). Costs are very reasonable and food is generally good.
The one downside with the land based kiting here is that you have to kite at kite centers. Its not a free for all and kite wherever you like. The military and coast guard get a little upset - learned through personal experience. Bonus of the centres though is that they have full beach service, compressors and usually a bar with very cheap food and beers on hand. Beach use is between 7-10 Euro day.
Have also done a couple of day trips kiting to offshore reefs and an 8 day liveaboard on what most of us would call a superyacht. Boat trip in March was 1100 Euro for 8 days all inclusive. Full luxury boat, private room with ensuite, first rate food, multiple locations, insanely flat water with diving, wakeboarding/wake foiling, snorkeling and island exploring all available on no wind days.
Highly recommend the centres in El-Gouna (Makani Beachclub), and Hurghada (Paradise Kitesurf) in the North, Kite Village and Wadi Lahami (Red Sea Diving Safari) in the south and Dream Lagoon (KiteMood) on the mid coast. Boat trips through Red Sea Kite Adventures.
Get amongst it if you can.
Great intel Simsurf - thanks!
I did a diving liveaboard trip out of Wadi Lahami while I was there and it was awesome, we went out to a bunch of reefs in a region called Fury Shoal ...and it was wild alright. Had to get all the diving done early because by lunchtime it was absolutely blowing a gale. Definitely smaller kite conditions a lot of the time. I'd love to go back.
It's a bit of a trek to get there - closest airport would be Marsa Alam which I think would need to connect via Cairo, or maybe one of the Gulf states (Kuwait/Bahrain/Qatar/UAE).
Anyway, sorry for hijacking your Sri Lanka post doonut...
Yeah it was annoying there were no direct flights to Hurghada from any of the three ME hubs (Dubai, Doha, AD). I came to & from Europe where there's direct flights from everywhere.
But if you were to go from Australia it would be three hops via Cairo - or Europe. Long trip for somewhere that's actually not that far away and of course only connecting options have budget airline shenanigans with their ludicrous costs for sports equipment etc.
Egypt has been on my list of places to go as well, though it seems like all of the kite spots are at private beach resorts and expensive.
Are there many spots that are accessible on a budget?
I lived in thalawila slash kappaladi in 2012
Fun times
But after 9 months of that I decided I didn't want to go to any Islamic country's again it just wears on you after awhile think there was 1 local chick working at a phone shop in puttalam and any others I seen were chained up and digging trenches and roads and they looked like my father. I was informed they were actually prisoners.
Travelling with a Western chick for a couple months that year ment she was constantly made to feel uncomfortable and I had to basically shave ,y head and grow a beard to look a little more fearsom this worked surprisingly well but then the taxis wouldn't pick me up.
I went from being crowded and harassed to people crossing the streets in Colombo to get away from me.
The rage was growing by the 4th month by the 9th I had elbowed a blokes head near off cause he tried to rob me I thought he may die so I told the military they didn't give 2 shots about him or that he had a weapon etc all they wanted was my money. I didn't even understand at first as I was trying to take them to the guy still before I realised they were robbing me so yea
Fun times
Oh yeah came back into my room one day after a surf in a bay to find me weed scattered all over my room covering everything it was and probably still is the death penalty over there and I thought I had been set up and was so panicked trying to work out who or why and how long I had to run for my life until I looked around the room more and realised my soap had been placed Upton of one the pieces of wood somehow holding my single ply shack together and there was bites out of the soap. That's when I realised this wasn't an episode of banged up abroad but just a rat had gone through my **** and for some reason tried dragging the weed out thru the roof and anything else that was chewy.
I did get to go to some kite factory's tho which was pretty cool for me back then.
But yeah.... why would anyone go to a bar where there's no women net alone a country where there's no women.
It's byo and you gotta fend and fight for your lives the entire time.
Granted this was all pretty recently after the war so it was interesting meeting generals who would shout your food and accommodation in the hopes you would buy land and build a kite resort on land he had just stolen.
No idea how anyone thought I was rich but I had some local friends save my life more then once.
If your going just buy a tata truck net it out and sleep in it it's better then any accommodation you'll get
Oh ****
If you were there I'm the guy who ate the fireworks thinking they were poky sticks
Select to expand quotedoonut said..
Egypt has been on my list of places to go as well, though it seems like all of the kite spots are at private beach resorts and expensive.
Are there many spots that are accessible on a budget?
I thought it was pretty cheap. I stayed in a 4* resort in El Gouna for $125 per night all-inclusive. That's 3x buffet meals and unlimited alcohol. Only downside was the resort was full of miserable looking germans and poles in their 60's & 70's.
There was a free shuttle bus to the beach club / kite spot or I preferred $3 for a tuk-tuk to go whenever I want. Yes it's 10 euro per day at the beach club but they pump up your kite for you with a compressor, help you setup and pack down. And you can store all of your gear there overnight. It's luxury kiting.
A lot of kiters stay at Sheraton in Soma bay where you can kite out the front, but I didn't go.
TBH. I wouldn't bother going to Egypt if I wasn't going on a kite yacht trip. It was great value, even though I paid 2000 euro for 8 days for a master suite. I went with Windseekers. I heard great things about Sick Dog Surf. There's cheaper ones as mentioned.
Or maybe if I was going to see the antiquities, cruise down the Nile etc and made kiting a side trip.
Oh yeah also got to learn that local fishermans bodys turn all white and puffy when they wash ashore and the police cant remove the body until they figure out what religeon they are so they just hang around shooing the crows away munging out on rottis
Anyone remember the navy training days where theyd try shell us as we kite past? Fun fun
We were in Mannar in 2018 and got a tuktuk around local area and shown sites where SL navy had murdered locals. Bodies still in mass graves on excavated building sites. Interestingly a large percentage of that area were Christian and were worried about being out bred by Moslem.
On a side note, anyone been to Jeneponto in Sulawesi? Going with some mates next month.
Now imagine how it was like for me in 2012
And i was a tourist 
There was a few other aussies on seabreeze from there at the time
Rooxxxxaaannnneeee
Where ya at matey 
Jeneponto looks interesting, I read that the locals had started farming seaweed during covid so the spot wasn't kitable but if they are opening back up for kiting then I assume they sorted out the seaweed farming?
Kinda pricey accommodation for Indo too I thought. Are you staying at the kite camp?
Yep, staying in the Dorm @ $35 us a night. They assured us that the seaweed issue was fixed. Hope so !!!.
The actual wind strength on wind finder seems lighter than what they say, I guess they have to talk it up. Treating it as a reconnaissance mission in a sense.
Windfinders just gfs jump on windy and hit the wind button down the bottom shell give ya a bunch of other forcasting models pick the one that most closely represented what ever was recorded the previous couple days actual forcast readings from the nearest airport
I tend to find the best models are usually exmwf or access but its all relative to when theyre updated most recently etc etc you can have a bit of a read on what the models actually are and do to give you a better idea on how to interpret them.
Ive never been to indo enjoy matey
Okay i sussed it out looks lik? the closest REAL time wind readings are quite a bit inland to the north west so given the prevailing easterlys you should be getting your REAL time readings from the island to the right (for kiteing/sailing purposes)
See the (4knots) in the picture thats inland as so better off getting a more accurate from over to the east
Unsure if station type SHIP means an actual ship or a ship yard
Anyways youll figure it out.
But some forcasting will default to closest real reading which will be that one to the north west which yeah... aint really whats going on down at water level
