Map › France › La Chambrette & Bonne Anse › Bonne Anse

Nouvelle-Aquitaine · La Palmyre / Royan, Charente-Maritime · Charente-Maritime · La Palmyre / Les Mathes

Bonne Anse

also known as La Palmyre, Baie de Bonne Anse, Plage de La Bonne Anse

beginner-friendlyhigh crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Nearby La Chambrette 19 km · Boyardville 32 km · Plage de la Gautrelle 34 km · Plage de Plaisance 35 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJan, Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, Decthe months riders and schools name How windy8-20 knotsmixed LaunchLarge sandy launch at low to mid tide; very narrow at high tide and on large tidal coefficients.access rules on record, below Watersea21°C in summer · 15 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools1named at this spot From the airport85 minLa Rochelle - Île de Ré (LRH)

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Bonne Anse is the bay beside La Palmyre on the Charente-Maritime coast, almost closed off from the ocean, and at high tide it becomes a flat lagoon about 2.5 km by 2.5 km with sand under your feet nearly everywhere. That is the whole reason to come: lessons and twin-tip progression on shallow flat water with no swell.

The catch is the tide. Ride the flood or the mid-to-high window; on the ebb most of the bay drains to a narrow channel and the current at the mouth gets strong enough to carry you out to sea, so stay away from the opening once the water starts dropping.

Wind works from most directions except north and northeast; SE, E, WNW, NW all come in side-on, as do SW and W, and NW goes slightly side-off at the edge of the bay. East is listed both as good and as one to avoid, so treat it with suspicion.

Summer sits around 8-20 knots; the statistics make October to March the windier half of the year, unconfirmed locally. There are old shellfish stakes and oyster tables in the middle of the bay, and the port with its rock digue is downwind if you drift south.

In season the take-off and landing zone is marked with orange buoys, the signage at the beach entrance explains it, and the beach is packed in July and August.

The wind

Direction

wind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Kite sizes

678910111213141516

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

Typical strength

About 8-20 knots on a regular summer day; no measured all-season range for the bay itself.

Flat and sheltered inside the bay. What makes it dangerous is the tide state and the wind angle, not the wind strength.

October to March is the windy half by the statistics; July and August are when the bay is full of people and you have to watch what you are doing.

Also on record

22.1 kt historical average shown for La Palmyre / Plage de La Bonne Anse.

The quiver, in words

Nothing local is published. On the 8-20 knot summer days a 75-85 kg rider is on a 12 m most of the time, a 9 m once it is over 20 and a 14 m or bigger under 12. Indicative, derived from the published wind range rather than from local practice.

Direction to shore

SW, W, NW come in side-on; SE and S are side-shore; NW turns slightly side-off at the edge of the bay.

Dominant direction

NW to SE arc: everything except N and NE. SE, E, WNW, NW are the side-on ones, with E also warned against in places.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan, riders' month52
Feb, riders' month52
Mar, riders' month63
Apr53
May52
Jun33
Jul38
Aug34
Sep46
Oct, riders' month59
Nov, riders' month58
Dec, riders' month55

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, Dec.

13Jan10°
12Feb10°
14Mar11°
13Apr14°
11May17°
10Jun21°
10Jul22°
10Aug23°
11Sep21°
13Oct19°
14Nov15°
13Dec11°

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

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	52%	12.7 kt	NE	7.2°C	9.9°C
Feb	52%	12.4 kt	W	8.7°C	9.5°C
Mar	63%	13.5 kt	SSE	10.7°C	11.1°C
Apr	53%	12.6 kt	NE	12.3°C	14°C
May	52%	11.4 kt	W	16.3°C	17.3°C
Jun	33%	10.2 kt	WNW	19.6°C	21.1°C
Jul	38%	10.4 kt	NW	20.9°C	22.3°C
Aug	34%	10.4 kt	NNW	21.6°C	23.1°C
Sep	46%	11.3 kt	WSW	18.9°C	21.3°C
Oct	59%	13 kt	SSW	16.8°C	18.8°C
Nov	58%	14.3 kt	W	12.3°C	14.6°C
Dec	55%	12.9 kt	NE	8.6°C	11°C

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds. 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.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

sea

Standing depth

Mostly standing-depth over sand at high water and on banks; at low water the bay dries almost everywhere and navigation is limited to remaining channels.

Tides

Strongly tide-dependent; best around mid-tide to high tide, while low tide leaves only a narrow residual channel.

Temperature

21°C summer · 10°C winter

Wetsuit

Shorty or 3/2 in summer; a thick full suit and the cold-water extras in winter.

Currents

The ebb runs very strong near the bay opening and the chenal. Ride the incoming tide.

10–23°C water

Nearly enclosed sandy bay protected from open-ocean swell. It forms a large flat lagoon at high tide, about 2.5 km by 2.5 km, and exposes sandbanks at low tide.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

A beginner bay: shallow sand and flat protected water. The ebb, the old shellfish stakes and the summer crowd are why a first session here should be with the school or with someone who knows the bay.

The scene

What riders come here for

learningflat waterfreeridetwin-tip progression

Learner and freeride bay shared with the sailing school, the beach crowd and the summer tourists; stay in your zone in July and August.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

1 school names this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: Large sandy launch at low to mid tide; very narrow at high tide and on large tidal coefficients.

access rules on record

Somewhere else

La Chambrette, 19 km

La Chambrette Boyardville Plage de la Gautrelle

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

No lifeguard on this bay: municipal surveillance covers only La Palmyre (Clapet) and Pins de Cordouan. Accrokite teaches on the bay with two boats and a jet ski watching its own lessons and answers on 06 84 74 67 45. Outside the supervised beaches and their hours, swimming and shore-launched watersports are at the user's own risk, so plan on self-rescue and on the flood carrying you back in.

Launch

Access from Avenue de l'Atlantique in Les Mathes / La Palmyre, then about 300 m walk to the beach and the signed kite area in season.

Space

Large sandy launch at low to mid tide; very narrow at high tide and on large tidal coefficients.

Hazards riders report 15

Strong current at the mouth on falling tide
Old shellfish stakes and oyster tables in the bay
Port and rock digue if drifting downwind
Shallow water at low tide
Strong current at the bay opening and channel on falling tide
Risk of being carried offshore if approaching the mouth on ebb tide
Old shellfish stakes and oyster tables in the middle of the bay
Port and rock breakwater/digue downwind if drifting south
Low tide dries most of the bay and narrows the navigable channel
Launch becomes narrow at high tide
Summer beach and water-user crowding
Do not interfere with sailing-school and other bay users
Baines and dangerous currents on the ocean side past the dune point, where swimming is banned outright
Buoyed channels that move with the sandbanks: the kite channel sits west of the dinghy and windsurf channel and other craft have no right to be in it
No lifeguard anywhere on this bay

Rules & access

2026: nautical activity in the bay runs under municipal arrete REG_2023_121 ('Baignade et activites nautiques'). It defines a buoyed crossing channel reserved for kitesurf and other traction-wing craft, marked with yellow cylindrical and conical buoys and laid to the west of the channel reserved for dinghies and windsurfers; the commune lays this marking from Bonne Anse beach and shifts it as the shoreline and the sandbanks move. Inside those channels, launching, transiting, parking, tying to the buoys, anchoring any other unregistered craft, all fishing and diving are prohibited, and once the marking is in place swimming is prohibited in the channels and in the port's crossing channel. Motorboats in the bay outside the channels are held to 5 knots, and leaving unregistered nautical craft parked on La Palmyre beach is prohibited. Swimming inside the bay is at bathers' own risk and is banned outright on the ocean side from the La Tremblade boundary to the dune point at Bonne Anse, where the baines and currents are; the two supervised beaches are La Palmyre (Clapet) and Pins de Cordouan, with periods and hours fixed by a separate annual arrete. Beach arrete REG_2026_143 adds, 1 April to 30 September: no dogs on the commune's beaches, no horses on the marked stretch, no wild camping and no fires, metal detectors only between 06:00 and 09:00, and marked dune paths only. Under arrete REG_2021_142, bicycles, fatbikes, onewheels and scooters are banned all year in the dunes and on the beach inside the bay of Bonne Anse.

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

Rider tips

Ride the rising tide or the mid-to-high window; at low water the bay is sand with one narrow channel left in it.
Keep well clear of the mouth and the chenal once the tide turns; the ebb current there runs offshore and there are no lifeguards on this bay.
On big coefficients the launch strip almost disappears at high water; rig where you will still be standing on sand once the bay fills.
Ask Accrokite or the local riders where the old shellfish stakes and oyster tables are before you cross the middle of the bay.
Park off Avenue de l'Atlantique in Les Mathes / La Palmyre and walk about 300 m to the beach; in season the kite take-off and landing zone is the one inside the orange buoys.
If you drift south, the port and the rock digue are downwind; turn back before you get there.
The channel reserved for kites is the one west of the dinghy and windsurf channel, and the commune moves the buoys as the banks shift, so read the signage at the beach entrance each trip.
The supervised beaches are Clapet and Pins de Cordouan on the ocean side, not this bay.

Getting there

Airport

La Rochelle - Île de Ré (LRH) is the nearest airport for La Palmyre; Bordeaux-Mérignac (BOD) is a larger alternative.

Route

Road access is via Les Mathes / La Palmyre and Avenue de l'Atlantique, then the Bonne Anse car park and a footpath into the bay. About 85 minutes and 87 km by road from La Rochelle - Ile de Re airport, roughly two hours from Bordeaux-Merignac.Royan is the nearest rail hub, with buses toward Les Mathes / La Palmyre in season.

Transfer

85 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Campsites and holiday villages in La Palmyre and Les Mathes, plus apartments and resort hotels; Royan has the town hotels.

No-wind days

Zoo de La Palmyre, the La Coubre lighthouse, the pine-forest bike paths, sailing or SUP, or a day around Royan and the Côte Sauvage.

Photos

Aerial view of the sheltered Baie de Bonne Anse with sandbanks, sailboats/watersports visible on the flat water — Cobber17 / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

Is Bonne Anse suitable for beginners?

Yes, the shallow sand and protected flat water suit beginners, but falling-tide current, obstacles and summer crowding call for supervision or local knowledge.

What is the wind like at Bonne Anse?

Regional guides recommend all directions except north and northeast, with SE, E, WNW and NW listed as the most favorable side-on options.

Are there rules or restricted zones at Bonne Anse?

In season, a kitesurf zone is defined and marked by beach-entry signage, and riders should stay in the dedicated zone and avoid bathers and the port area.

What hazards are there at Bonne Anse?

Old shellfish stakes and oyster tables sit in the bay, the current is strong near the mouth on falling tide, and low tide narrows navigation to a residual channel.

Is there a kite school at Bonne Anse?

Yes, Accrokite teaches on the bay using a controlled school zone.

Last updated: August 2026