MapUSAKite Beach (Kanaha), MauiKite Beach (Kanaha)Kite Beach (Kanaha), Maui

Kite Beach (Kanaha)

Hawaii · Maui - Kite Beach · Maui County · Kahului

also known as Kanaha Beach Park, Naska Beach, Kanahā Beach Park, NASKA, Old Man's Beach, Old Mans Beach, Naish Beach, Teach Beach, Pro Beach, Action Beach, Pro Pool, Ka'a Point

Part of Kite Beach (Kanaha), Maui →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlyhigh crowds

On this page

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

Riding essentials

Season

May–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-30 kt

Character: trade

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

26–28 °C in summerInside the reef is bump-and-jump chop

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug May

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Kahului Airport (OGG)

Transfer times under Getting there

On the clock

11:00

On the clock

20:00

The trade wind builds through the morning and is normally at or near full strength by the time riding opens at 11:00, peaks through the afternoon and eases towards evening. Riding must stop by sunset under the airport waiver, and the park gate shuts at 20:00.

The mark is the clock time the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The fade after it is not an end time, and not a promise of wind.

Nearbystraight-line distance

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

Naish/Flash Beach
Ka'a Point / Pro Poolno page yet
Spreckelsville / Sprecksno page yet
Ho'okipano page yet
Kihei / Kalepolepo

The spot

Kite Beach at Kanaha is the main north-shore Maui kite zone, right beside Kahului Airport and split into named stretches: Naska, Naish, Old Man's, Teach Beach, Ka'a Point and Pro Pool.

Wind and season

May through October is the documented season, when the northeast trades are strongest; winter sessions happen on more variable wind with big north swell behind them.

Water conditions

The water is not one thing. Inside the reef it is flatter and school-friendly, and outside there are reef waves, deep channels and current that runs harder.

Hazards and access

Under most of it there is reef, and around it there are swimmers, canoe crews and fishing lines, tree shadow at some launches, and an airport waiver over the whole beach, which is why nobody rides before 11 AM. That rule is the local access issue and breaking it is how a beach like this gets lost.

Come expecting a busy, watched, high-profile beach rather than a quiet tropical one.

The wind

locals call it Northeast trade winds funneled between Haleakala and the West Maui Mountains

Direction

cross-onNE

Direction to shore

Cross-on. NE and ENE trades come in side-onshore along a shoreline that runs roughly east-west. NE under about 50-55 degrees is the clean, easy launch; ENE puts the treed point directly upwind of the launch, kills the ground wind and makes both getting out and coming back awkward.

Dominant direction

NE, ENE, E

Kite sizes

567891011121314

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

7-12 m covers most of the year.A 75-85 kg rider is usually on 9 m for a standard 20 kt trade afternoon, 7 m when it pushes into the high twenties, and 11-12 m on lighter shoulder-season days.Kanaha commonly overdelivers relative to the airport reading once the afternoon fills in, so err small rather than large.No school publishes a size-by-weight table for this beach.

Character

trade

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

No measured monthly average is published for the park. Treat 15-30 kt as the working range rather than a statistic, with summer afternoons at the upper end.

Typical strength

15-30 kt on a trade-wind day; summer afternoons commonly sit at 20-30 kt.

Generally clean, strong trades; NE and ENE are the preferred directions, though ENE can leave some Kanaha launch areas wind-shadowed by trees and harder to return to shore.

May through October is the best-documented wind season. Summer has the most consistent trades; winter can still work but is more variable and brings larger north-shore swell.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

riding season from the spot record · no wind series here is trusted enough to name a season

No month-by-month share of windy days is held for this spot. The months riders and schools name are Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, May, Oct.

About these figuresno series

Nothing usable has been measured or modelled for this place. The months come from what riders say, or from nothing at all.

Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Naska/Old Man's/Naish is the shallow end: a reef-protected inside area reportedly running about 50 cm to 2 m, with the reef break some 500 m offshore. That inside strip is where the schools work and where you can put a foot down.Everything else - the outer reef, Ka'a Point, the channels - is swimming depth with sharp reef underneath.

Tides

Small mixed tide - mean range about 0.48 m and great diurnal range about 0.69 m at the Kahului gauge - so the park rides as tide-independent.What the tide does change is reef clearance: at low water the sharp reef between Kanaha and Kite Beach sits closer to the surface, and a gybe or a crash over it is a different event than at high water.No local tide window is published.

Temperature

26–28 °C summer · 24–25 °C winter

Wetsuit

Boardshorts or swimsuit plus rash vest are normally enough; a 2 mm neoprene top or shorty can be useful at dawn/dusk or when windy.

Currents

Current runs harder around the reef and the wave zones, and it changes with the swell and with exactly where you are. The Weird Wave, between Lowers and Uppers, is the one to know: the wave action there can cancel the wind and leave you without an easy way out.

Conditions

Inside the reef is bump-and-jump chop; the outside breaks work on north swell and winter surf gets much bigger. Along the shoreline you also cross buoyed swim zones, fishing spots, rocks, coral reef and water the windsurfers are using, so the water changes character every few hundred metres of this long park.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Kanaha is not one beginner beach.

Naska, Naish, Old Man's and Teach Beach are where the schools work and where a beginner belongs.

The overall rating is beginner to intermediate, with the caveat that you should be able to self-launch and self-land before you turn up alone.

Pro Pool, Ka'a Point, the wave breaks, the reef channels, the ENE wind shadow and winter swell all want intermediate to advanced judgment.

The scene

What riders come here for

big airfreestylewavesfreeridefoilingwave watching

Who it suitsbeginnerlessons

A long-running Maui kite scene. Schools, locals, visiting riders and windsurfers share the water, and the park is full of families, fishermen with lines out and canoe crews. Courtesy is not decoration here, it is what keeps the access.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

10 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

5 spots nearby

All 5 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Lifeguards patrol Kanaha on jet skis and both police the local rules and pick people up. The station is manned 08:00-17:00 with lifeguard emergency support until 16:30; outside those hours there is no guard on duty and an emergency goes through 911 to the Maui Police.

Verification needed

Official listings for the park contradict each other about whether a guard is posted at all, so confirm cover on the day rather than assuming it. There is no kite-specific rescue boat, and the airport waiver stops riding at sunset, which also caps how late anyone would come looking.

Launch

The beachA long sandy shoreline broken into named areas. Naska, Old Man's and Naish have the widest beach and two ways in, through the campground and main park or down the Keyhole sand road. The far-west Kanaha and Pro Pool launch has the closest parking and the least room: one launch strip with swimmers and fishing poles beside it, and a treed point upwind.ConditionsIn NE wind, under roughly 50-55 degrees, launching is straightforward. In ENE the trees eat the ground wind, so the local answer is a drift launch, with the advanced riders going up with extra power and climbing for cleaner air. The entry road is rutted and floods in winter, and a low car does not always get through.

Hazards riders report 24 reported

Wind

strong midday wind building quickly
Trees and wind shadow at some launches in ENE wind
Treed upwind point that shadows the launch in ENE wind, making both launch and return difficult

Crowds and zones

Swimmers, children, canoe paddlers, windsurfers and other non-participants share the park
Break-ins and theft from the parking lots; leave nothing visible in the car.
Swimmers, children, canoe paddlers and windsurfers sharing the same park
Car break-ins and theft from the parking lots

Bottom

reef close to shore

Waves and currents

Sharp coral reef and rocks, especially near/over reef and at low tide
Weird Wave area between Lowers and Uppers can break unexpectedly and create difficult escape conditions
Stronger currents around reef/wave zones
Winter north swell can make outer reefs and launches advanced only
Sharp coral reef and rocks close to shore, worst at low tide
The Weird Wave area between Lowers and Uppers, where waves break unexpectedly and can kill the wind and trap a rider
Stronger currents around the reef and wave zones
Winter north swell turning the outer reefs and some launches into advanced-only water

Protected areas and rules

FAA airport proximity: avoid aircraft, no kite above 125 ft above sea level, and observe mapped runway corridor restrictions
Airport proximity: aircraft, the 2 nm by 1 nm runway corridor, and a 125 ft altitude ceiling on the kite

Other

airport proximity/aircraft noise
Fishing lines and poles, especially at Kanaha/pond areas in spring and early summer
No kiting before 11 AM; access can be jeopardized by violations
Fishing lines and poles, particularly around the Kanaha pond area in spring and early summer
No riding before 11:00 - violations put the whole access at risk
Rutted, flood-prone entry road in winter, not always passable in a low-clearance car

Rules & access

1 min read

Operating hours

2026: no riding before 11:00. This is the most enforced local rule and the one continued access depends on. Gates open at 06:00 and kitesurfing runs 11:00-20:00; the county lists park hours as 07:00-20:00.

FAA airspace rules

2026 FAA waiver, valid only between official sunrise and sunset: no kiteboarding inside the corridor 2 nautical miles long by 1 nautical mile wide off the end of the Kahului runway, extending half a nautical mile each side out to sea; lines no longer than 125 ft; no kite flown more than 125 ft above sea level; riders responsible for seeing and avoiding aircraft; a safety meeting every 12 months.

County rules

2026 county commercial ocean recreation rules, compiled 30/12/2019: CORA hours at Kanaha are 08:00-20:00 Monday to Friday and 09:00-20:00 Saturday, with no Sunday or holiday operations, and kiteboarding setup, launch, landing and breakdown are confined to the area fronting and west of the Girl Scout Pavilion, excluding Ka'a Point.

Safety

2026 local safety rules: always use a kite leash, never kite after dark, never kite further from shore than you can swim, keep 300 ft from humpback whales, stay in the designated kiteboarding areas, wear a helmet if using a board leash, and tell someone where you are going and when you will be back.

Right of way

2026 right of way: starboard tack has right of way, the overtaking kiter gives way, incoming kiters yield to those launching, and everyone gives way to swimmers, surfers, fishermen and canoes.

Camping

2026: no overnight camping in the park.

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

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Do not rig or ride before 11:00. Nothing else on this list matters as much.
Check the Kahului airport and harbour readings and the webcam before driving; in ENE the launch is shadowed while the sensor still reads windy.
In ENE wind, drift launch instead of fighting for clean air on the beach.
Avoid gybing or crashing over the shallow reef, especially at low tide or with north swell running.
Keep the kite under 125 ft and stay out of the runway corridor; the whole beach rides on an airport waiver.
Lock the car and leave nothing visible. Break-ins here are routine.

Getting there

Airport

Kahului Airport (OGG)

Route

Kanaha Beach Park is off Amala Place on the north shore, minutes from Kahului Airport. Come in from Hana Highway, Route 36, onto Amala Place; there are several entrances and several parking lots strung along the park.

Transfer

2-10 minutes by car from OGG depending on exact launch/parking area; reported figures range from about 2-3 minutes for 1.1-1.3 miles to about 10 minutes.

Cost level

high

Staying

The closest beds are in Kahului by the airport. Paia, Kihei, Wailea or West Maui all work and all add drive time. There is no camping at Kanaha.

No-wind days

Swimming/picnicking at Kanaha when conditions are safe, watching wind sports, Paia town, Ho'okipa lookout, Maui Ocean Center, snorkeling/surfing on appropriate coasts, Haleakala National Park and Road to Hana day trips.

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Kanaha?

May through October is the best-documented season, when northeast trade winds are strongest and most reliable; winter sessions happen too, with more variable wind and larger swell.

Is Kanaha suitable for beginners?

Certain sub-areas such as Naska/Old Man's/Naish and Teach Beach are used by schools and beginners, while Pro Pool, wave breaks and winter swell need intermediate-to-advanced judgment.

What is the wind like?

Wind is a NE to ENE trade wind funneled between Haleakala and the West Maui Mountains, typically 15-30 knots on trade-wind days, though ENE can leave some launch areas wind-shadowed by trees.

Are there rules to know?

As of 2026, no kiting is allowed before 11 a.m., and FAA rules near Kahului Airport require riders to see and avoid aircraft, stay out of the runway corridor, and fly no higher than 125 ft.

What hazards should riders know about?

Sharp coral reef near shore, the Weird Wave area that can break unexpectedly, fishing lines, and strong currents around reef and wave zones are the main hazards.

The bigger pictureEverything about Maui - Kite Beach (Kanaha)

Last updated: August 2026