Map › France › Hauts-de-France — Cayeux-sur-Mer - Brighton to Fort-Mahon-Plage › Fort-Mahon-Plage

Hauts-de-France · Somme, Cote Picarde · Somme

Fort-Mahon-Plage

also known as Fort-Mahon, Plage de Fort-Mahon

beginner-friendly

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 Berck-sur-Mer (Grande Plage) 7 km · Le Crotoy 15 km · Stella-Plage 16 km · Cayeux-sur-Mer - Brighton 16 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJan, Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, Decthe months riders and schools name How windy9 ktsynoptic Launchlarge at low tide; reduced at high tideaccess rules on record, below Watersea18°C in summer · 10 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools2named at this spot From the airport95 minParis-Beauvais (BVA)

When it fills in

Frontal wind, no thermal to wait for; it is in or it is not, and it can hold for days. The timetable that governs a session is the tide: the beach is enormous at low water and a strip under the seafront at high.

Fort-Mahon-Plage is the open-coast beach on the Picardy coast between the Baie d'Authie and the Baie de Somme, and at low tide it is immense: flat sand, more room than you can use. At high tide it shrinks to a strip under the seafront and the launch gets tight.

The wind is synoptic, SSW to NW, with W to NW the main setup at side to side-onshore; October to March is the season and the rest of the year is lighter, and the historic station average of 9 kt from WSW with 14 kt gusts for 2016-2018 tells you to pick your days rather than turn up.

The water is open sea, choppy to rough, with real waves once swell gets into the bay, 18 C in summer and 8 C in winter, so it is a full suit in every month. Currents run on both the rising and the falling tide.

Beginners can learn here with the school on the flat low-tide sand; for everyone else it is a long-reach freeride and big-air beach with space to burn. It is a family resort in July and August, and no municipal kite-zone order or summer hours have been confirmed, so ask before you rig in front of the town.

The wind

Direction

cross-onSSW to NW works

Character

synoptic

fills in: Frontal wind, no thermal to wait for; it is in or it is not, and it can hold for days. The timetable that governs a session is the tide: the beach is enormous at low water and a strip under the seafront at high.

Typical strength

The only station figure for the beach is an annual average of 9 kt from WSW with 14 kt gusts, measured November 2016 to November 2018 and no longer reporting; spot listings quote 23.9 kt for the same place. Treat the low number as a year-round average over all conditions and the high one as what riders turn up for, and pick your days.

Regular and exposed: plain northern-France open coast, no shelter.

October to March is the main season; summer use is possible but the beach is a family resort and local zones/hours should be checked.

Also on record

Direction to shore

W to NW comes in side to side-onshore; the angles for the other directions are unconfirmed.

Dominant direction

SSW to NW works; W to NW is the main working direction.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan, riders' month61
Feb, riders' month75
Mar, riders' month69
Apr63
May47
Jun46
Jul51
Aug47
Sep44
Oct, riders' month73
Nov, riders' month68
Dec, riders' month65

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.

15Jan9°
16Feb9°
13Mar9°
14Apr11°
11May14°
11Jun17°
12Jul19°
12Aug20°
12Sep19°
13Oct17°
15Nov13°
15Dec10°

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

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	61%	14.5 kt	WSW	5.6°C	8.6°C
Feb	75%	15.8 kt	WSW	7.7°C	8.5°C
Mar	69%	13.4 kt	SW	8.6°C	8.9°C
Apr	63%	13.6 kt	WSW	9.9°C	10.7°C
May	47%	11.3 kt	WSW	13.5°C	14°C
Jun	46%	11.4 kt	NE	16.8°C	17°C
Jul	51%	12.3 kt	WSW	18.5°C	19.2°C
Aug	47%	11.5 kt	WSW	19.1°C	20.4°C
Sep	44%	11.7 kt	WSW	17°C	19.4°C
Oct	73%	13.2 kt	SSW	14.2°C	16.7°C
Nov	68%	15 kt	SW	9.9°C	13.3°C
Dec	65%	14.7 kt	SW	6.8°C	10.3°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

Tides

Very large tidal range; the sandy beach is immense and flat at low tide and narrower at high tide.

Temperature

18°C summer · 8°C winter

Wetsuit

Full wetsuit year-round for most riders; summer water is still cool, and winter needs a thick winter suit with boots/gloves/hood depending on tolerance.

Currents

Real currents on both the rising and the falling tide.

9–20°C water

Open-sea sandy beach between the Baie d'Authie and Baie de Somme; usually choppy to rough, with regular waves when swell enters the bay.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

The low-tide space suits learners with the school, but the rating is intermediate for a reason: currents on both tides, stronger wind and a beach that vanishes at high water.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridebig airlong reacheslearningopen-coast sessions

Popular family resort and established northern-France kite community; very frequented in season.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: large at low tide; reduced at high tide

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Berck-sur-Mer (Grande Plage), 7 km

Berck-sur-Mer (Grande Plage)Le Crotoy Stella-Plage

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

Rescue

No kite-specific rescue. The town keeps a permanent SNSM station and a seasonal lifeguard post whose season runs weekends from late April to 31 May, 11:00 to 18:00; daily in June, 11:00 to 18:00; daily in July and August, 11:00 to 19:00; daily the first week of September, then weekends to the end of September, weather permitting.

The post answers on 03 22 31 63 22. At sea it is the CROSS at Cap Gris-Nez, 03 21 87 21 87, or 196 from any phone.

Launch

Large sandy beach with the most room at low tide, but the seafront itself is closed to kites: the launch has to be outside the banned stretch, north of the nautical base or south of the last building on rue des Vagues, toward Quend.

Space

large at low tide; reduced at high tide

Hazards riders report 10

tide and exposed beach conditions
large tidal range
currents on rising and falling tide
reduced beach space at high tide
busy resort beach in season
strong wind possible
open-sea chop and waves
Kite-towed boards banned on the town beach and in the 300 m band between the nautical base and rue des Vagues
Bird protection zone on the northern beach from 1 March to 31 August, from the nautical base to the pointe de Routhiauville
Crossing channel at the nautical base used by sailing boats and motorboats

Rules & access

2007, and still carried on the town's list of permanent orders: kite-towed board sports are banned on the beach of Fort-Mahon-Plage and inside the 300 m band, from the boat park of the nautical base at the north end — the crossing channel included — down to the last building on rue des Vagues at the south end.

Only rescue, police and surveillance craft are exempt. The 2022 buoyage plan draws the same beach: a 300 m supervised bathing box in front of the town running 600 m out, a 200 m buffer zone where nothing at all is allowed, and a 200 m crossing channel by the nautical base signed for sailing boats, windsurf and motorboats at 5 knots, with no kite permitted anywhere on the plan.

2023, renewed every year: from 1 March to 31 August the northern beach, from the nautical base to the pointe de Routhiauville, is regulated to protect nesting ringed plover — a staked and signed zone closed to walkers and dogs, dogs on the lead over the rest of that stretch.

Between the two, the legal ground for a kite is outside the banned frontage, and in spring and summer the northern side is squeezed by the bird zone. Ask locally before rigging.

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

Rider tips

Rig at low tide on the flat sand in front of the seafront; that is when the beach is widest.
Check the tide times before you commit; at high water the beach narrows to a strip and the launch gets crowded.
Expect current on both the flood and the ebb; pick a downwind exit point before you go out.
In July and August ask at MSKite / Locakite or on the seafront which zone the town is enforcing; no order has been confirmed.
Full suit every month: the water reaches 18 C in summer and 8 C in winter, and winter wants boots, gloves and a hood.
Do not rig in front of the town: kites are banned on the beach and in the 300 m band from the nautical base to the last building on rue des Vagues. Walk out of that stretch first.
From March to August the northern beach toward the pointe de Routhiauville is staked off for nesting birds, so the northern option shrinks exactly when the summer crowd arrives.
The lifeguard post is on 03 22 31 63 22 and the CROSS on 196; neither is a kite rescue, and out of season nobody is on the beach.

Getting there

Airport

Paris-Beauvais (BVA) is the closest airport; Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is the other major-airport option.

Route

About 138 km from Paris-Beauvais, roughly 1 h 35 by car. By public transport it is the airport bus to Beauvais station then a train to Rue, about 3 h 45 before the last few kilometres to the coast, so with kite gear the car wins.

Transfer

95 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Seaside resort accommodation, campsites and holiday rentals around Fort-Mahon-Plage and Quend.

No-wind days

char a voile · catamaran · paddle · kayak · horse riding · golf · Baie de Somme nature outings

Photos

Plage de Fort-Mahon (27714) — JackyM59, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kitesurf at Fort-Mahon-Plage?

October to March is the main season, though summer use is possible if local beach zones are checked first.

Is Fort-Mahon-Plage suitable for beginners?

One source says the generous space suits all levels, while another rates it intermediate due to currents, stronger wind and reduced space at high tide.

What is the wind like at Fort-Mahon-Plage?

Dominant wind runs SSW to NW, with W to NW as the main side to side-onshore direction; reported averages are modest at around 9 knots with 14-knot gusts historically.

What hazards should riders know about at Fort-Mahon-Plage?

A large tidal range reduces beach space at high tide, currents occur on both rising and falling tide, and the beach gets busy with resort crowds in July and August.

Last updated: August 2026