MapSouth AfricaBlouberg – Big Bay, Cape TownBig BayBlouberg – Big Bay, Cape Town

Big Bay

Western Cape · Cape Town - Blouberg/Big Bay · City of Cape Town · Bloubergstrand

also known as Blouberg, Big Bay / Blouberg, Bloubergstrand Big Bay, Eden on the Bay

Part of Blouberg – Big Bay, Cape Town →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

not for beginnershigh crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Nov–Mar

Months riders and schools name

How windy

18-30

Character: thermal · cross-shore

Room to launch

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

12–18 °C in summerOcean spot with waves, shore break and cleaner wave faces downwind of the rocks

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Intermediate to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Dec Jan Feb Mar

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Town International Airport (CPT)

Transfer times under Getting there

On the clock

15:00 · 18:00

A slow starter. Mornings are the lightest part of the day, the wind builds from mid-morning, and the strongest hours are mid-to-late afternoon, roughly 15:00 to 18:00. It commonly holds into the early evening rather than dying. Big Bay also fills in later than Kite Beach and Dolphin Beach, so a forecast already working downwind can still be marginal here.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Kite Beachno page yet
Doodlesno page yet
Kamersno page yet
Haakgatno page yet
Melkbosno page yet
Langebaan Lagoon

The spot

Big Bay is the north end of the Blouberg/Table View kite strip, real Atlantic water with Table Mountain across Table Bay behind you. This is not a lagoon: waves, shore break, flatter ground between the wave lines, rocks framing both ends.

Wind and conditions

The engine is the Cape Doctor, the summer south-easter, hardest from December to February and worth the trip from November to March. Big Bay usually takes a little less wind than Kite Beach and fills in later, so a strip already lit downwind can still leave you sitting on the sand for an hour; the peak-season days still run 20-40 knots. Cold water, shore break, rocks, crowds, a beach that shrinks at high tide: this is confident-intermediate and advanced water.

Facilities and events

What it does have is everything else within a walk of the sand: parking, toilets, lifeguards, cafes, restaurants, kite shops and kite accommodation. Red Bull King of the Air relaunched at Big Bay in 2013, though the finals now launch from Kite Beach, Bloubergstrand.

The wind

locals call it Cape Doctor

Direction

cross-shoreSE

Dominant direction

SE, S, SW

Kite sizes

456789101112

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

Two kites cover almost everything: 7 and 9 m for an average-weight man, 5 and 8 m for a lighter rider.A 75-85 kg rider will use the 9 m on the softer half of the day and the 7 m once the afternoon fills in, with a 5 m held back for the days that run past 30 knots.Anything over 10 m is rarely needed in season.

Character

thermal

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

18-30

Typical strength

20-40 in peak season; 25-35 often reported for the wider Cape Town Atlantic kite beaches

Can be gusty on the beach and close in, cleaner once farther out; very strong days can become gustier.

December to February is the core, with November and March close behind and noticeably fewer people on the water. In season the wind blows something like five days a week. Winter belongs to northwesterly frontal wind, less reliable and paired with bigger surf.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

12 ktJan19°
–Feb19°
–Mar18°
–Apr17°
9 ktMay16°
–Jun16°
–Jul15°
–Aug15°
–Sep15°
–Oct16°
–Nov17°
–Dec18°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Monthly averages. Highlighted: the months riders and schools name (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar).

Measured at Cape Town (city climate station), ~15 km from the spot (not stated on page (WeatherSpark uses a multi-year, MERRA-2-based modeled climate record, typically ~1980-2016; no exact station-year count given)).

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	11.9 kt	S	20.6 °C	18.9 °C
Feb	no figure	S	20.6 °C	18.9 °C
Mar	no figure	S	19.4 °C	17.8 °C
Apr	no figure	S	17.2 °C	16.7 °C
May	9.4 kt	S/N	15 °C	16.1 °C
Jun	no figure	N	13.3 °C	15.6 °C
Jul	no figure	N	12.8 °C	15 °C
Aug	no figure	N/W	13.3 °C	15 °C
Sep	no figure	S	14.4 °C	15 °C
Oct	no figure	S	16.1 °C	15.6 °C
Nov	no figure	S	17.8 °C	16.7 °C
Dec	no figure	S	20 °C	17.8 °C

How this was measuredmeasured · not stated on page (WeatherSpark uses a multi-year, MERRA-2-based modeled climate record, typically ~1980-2016; no exact station-year count given)

A ground station recorded this, at the distance the page names.

A station this far away — often inland or at an airport — can understate accelerated local wind. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Cape Town (city climate station) · weatherspark · not stated on page (WeatherSpark uses a multi-year, MERRA-2-based modeled climate record, typically ~1980-2016; no exact station-year count given)

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

No shallow standing bank. The flat water people mean at Big Bay is the smooth ground between the wave lines, widest on a high tide, not water you can put a foot down in; past the shore break the sand bottom falls away and you are swimming.

Tides

Semi-diurnal, and the range is big enough to change the spot. Springs run about 1.6-1.7 m, from roughly 0.25 m low to nearly 1.9 m high; neaps are closer to half a metre.High water squeezes the beach until laying out lines between the rocks is awkward, and it is also when the flat sections between the waves are largest. Low water hands the sand back.

Temperature

12–18 °C summer · 12–14 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 15–19 °C

Wetsuit

Full wetsuit required; Cape Town sources recommend 3/2 mm or 4/3 mm, with boots on colder days.

Currents

Current is a real feature of this corner and gets named alongside kelp as the thing to watch. A lateral drift sets north along the beach and builds as the wind builds. How it behaves across the different tide states is unconfirmed.

Conditions

Ocean spot with waves, shore break and cleaner wave faces downwind of the rocks; close to shore there can be flatter sections between waves.

Sea temperature at Big Bay was measured at 13.6 °C on 26 August 2026. The cold Atlantic water is associated with the Benguela current on Cape Town's west coast.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

not for beginners here

Confident intermediate and advanced unless you are under instruction. Strong wind, cold water, waves, shore break, rocks, crowds. Some of the local marketing calls Big Bay beginner or family-friendly, and the rating kept here is deliberately more conservative than that.

The scene

What riders come here for

big airfreestylefreeridewavedownwinderswatching pros

Who it suitsbeginner

International Cape Town kite scene with pros, strong-wind riders, visiting kiters, local surfers/windsurfers and a social beachfront promenade with cafes, bars, restaurants, kite shops and kite accommodation.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

12 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: ok

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

4 spots nearby

All 4 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

There is no kite-specific rescue service.

Lifeguard cover and rescue

Lifeguards are listed for Big Bay Beach, and a volunteer surf lifesaving club patrols from the first weekend in November until after Easter, Saturdays 14:00-18:00 and Sundays 10:00-18:00, with a duty tower on 087 470 1363.

Sea rescue is 112 from a mobile or 087 094 9774; if you end up in the water, stay with the kite - it floats and it is what people will see.

Schools and rentals

Schools on the bay support their own students, including boat-based lessons, and the kite house 80 m from the spot arranges instruction and rents gear.

Launch

Sandy beach launch at Big Bay with rigging on the beach or on the grass by the large parking area; the beach narrows at high tide. There are rocks on both sides of the bay, with surfers and windsurfers also using the spot.

Hazards riders report 21 reported

Wind

strong, gusty summer wind that can exceed most riders' comfort range
Strong wind, with 20-40 knots in peak season and stronger/gustier days reported
Strong wind, 20-40 knots in peak season, gustier the harder it blows and gustier again close to the beach

Crowds and zones

busy beach with swimmers, sunbathers and other kiters in peak season
Crowds of kiters, surfers, windsurfers, swimmers and beach users in season
Vehicle break-ins at beach parking; leave nothing visible

Bottom

Rocks at both ends of the bay and semi-submerged rocks north of Doodles before the Big Bay corner
Rocks at both ends of the bay, and semi-submerged rocks north of Doodles before the Big Bay corner that are not always visible
A narrow riding lane: rocks left and right make this a tighter spot than the open beaches downwind
Kelp and weed in the water at times

Waves and currents

occasional strong current near rivermouth areas
Small beach at high tide, reducing rigging and launch margin
Waves and shore break, especially challenging for beginners and improvers
Lateral current setting north along the beach, unconfirmed beyond a single account.
Small beach at high tide, cutting the margin for rigging, launching and landing
Waves and shore break, awkward for anyone still improving
Lateral current setting north along the beach, stronger as the wind builds

Other

cold water and hypothermia risk without a proper wetsuit
Cold Atlantic water and hypothermia risk without a full wetsuit
Low sun near sunset can make other riders hard to see when riding out
Low sun near sunset makes outbound riders hard to see

Rules & access

1 min read

Permits and zoning

2026: no permit or licence is needed to kite here and no official map of a kite corridor exists. The zoning that matters is local.

Avoid these zones

Keep out of Klein Baai/Small Bay, the tempting flat water south of the rocks, and out of the lifeguarded swimming zone in front of the tower marked by yellow and red flags - whether or not lifeguards are on duty - and tack out behind swimmers and surfers instead of through them.

Lifeguards and launch

Volunteer lifeguard patrols run from the first weekend of November until after Easter, Saturdays 14:00-18:00 and Sundays 10:00-18:00. Launch and land away from bystanders, shout before you launch, and pull your lines off the sand as soon as you have landed. Normal wave priority applies on the rights coming off the rocks.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

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Rider tips

Come between November and March. December to February holds the most wind and the most people; the shoulders keep most of the wind and lose most of the crowd.
Read the tide as well as the wind: high water squeezes the beach until laying lines between the rocks is awkward, and it is also when the flat sections between the waves are biggest.
Give it an hour if the rest of the strip is lit and Big Bay is not. Wind arrives here later than at Kite Beach and Dolphin Beach.
Pack small: 7 and 9 m cover the season, 5 m is for the days past 30 knots, and the Atlantic wants a thicker wetsuit than the word 'Africa' suggests.
Keep out of Klein Baai/Small Bay and out of the flagged swimming zone in front of the tower, however tempting the flat water south of the rocks looks.
Take an instructor or drive to Langebaan Lagoon if you are still learning; this is not water to teach yourself in.

Getting there

Airport

Cape Town International Airport (CPT)

Route

From central Cape Town, drive the N1 to the R27 Marine Drive and the M14 Marine Drive, then follow the Big Bay signs to the large parking lot. A rental car, a taxi or Uber and the MyCiTi bus all work around Blouberg.

Transfer

45-60 minutes from Cape Town International to Blouberg in normal traffic, and more on a weekday evening. The 30 minutes quoted locally only holds with an empty N1.

Cost level

mid

Staying

Best kite-focused bases are Blouberg, Table View or Big Bay. Cape Town Kite Club is 80 m from Big Bay and lists kite-house/hostel-style rooms; the Big Bay promenade/Eden on the Bay area has restaurants, cafes and kite shops nearby.

No-wind days

Surf at Big Bay or Muizenberg, hike Table Mountain or Lion's Head, mountain bike, run, skydive or fly a tandem paraglider. In town there are the food markets, the museums and the vineyards, and a longer day gets you the Boulders Beach penguins and the Cape of Good Hope.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Big Bay?

The reliable season is November to March, with the Cape Doctor south-easter strongest from December through February.

Is Big Bay suitable for beginners?

Treat it as confident-intermediate to advanced, given strong wind, cold water, waves, shore break and rocks; beginners should use an instructor.

What is the wind like?

The Cape Doctor blows 20-40 knots in peak season, often starting lightly around 10:00 and building through the afternoon.

Are there kite schools or rental?

Cape Town Kite Club and High Five Kitesurf School both operate near Big Bay, offering lessons, rental and guided downwinders.

What are the main hazards?

Cold Atlantic water requires a full wetsuit, rocks sit at both ends of the bay, and the beach narrows at high tide.

The bigger pictureEverything about Cape Town - Blouberg/Big Bay

Last updated: August 2026