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Sardegna · Siniscola / Posada, east Sardinia · Nuoro · La Caletta / Posada

La Caletta

also known as La Caletta di Siniscola

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 La Cinta 21 km · straight-line distance

SeasonMar to Octthe months riders and schools name How windy12-16mixed LaunchMedium-width sandy beach, about 30 m average width, with lots of space outside peak beach-use periods.access rules on record, below Watersea26.3°C in summer · 8 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools3named at this spot From the airport45 minOlbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB)

On the clock

15:00

An east-facing coast, so the summer thermal works with the SE and comes up in the afternoon, with a shift around 15:00 on some days. It runs on almost every summer day, and an SE on the forecast tends to deliver even when the number is small - 9 kt forecast is still a session with big gear or a foil.

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.

La Caletta sits on a long sand bay in east Sardinia between Siniscola and Posada, about 4 km of beach with the harbour at the north end and rocks at the southern village end.

The wind that matters is the SE Scirocco thermal, which builds in the afternoon and often runs stronger than the raw forecast, sometimes shifting around 15:00. North and Mistral get in too, and a hard Mistral stacks 1-2 m waves into what is otherwise chop and small stuff.

Watch the afternoon: an S/SW turn goes gusty and side-offshore, and that is what catches people out on an easy-looking day. Schools teach here with a boat, and spring and autumn give you the beach to yourself.

From June to mid-September the north part of the beach is out, you use the kitesurf channel, you ride away from the sand, and the river-mouth area is where you go instead. March through October is the season and 12-16 knots is the everyday number.

The wind

locals call it Scirocco, Mistral

Direction

Kite sizes

67891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: An east-facing coast, so the summer thermal works with the SE and comes up in the afternoon, with a shift around 15:00 on some days. It runs on almost every summer day, and an SE on the forecast tends to deliver even when the number is small - 9 kt forecast is still a session with big gear or a foil.

Typical strength

12-16

Generally steady in the SE thermal setup; gusty when it turns S/SW side-offshore.

Summer brings SE thermal reinforcement; March through October are the best months.

Thermal or synoptic

thermal and frontal

The quiver, in words

No published size table. On the everyday 12-16 kt SE thermal a 75-85 kg rider wants big gear: 13-15 m, or a foil for the days that stay under 12 kt, which is the standing local advice for getting out at all in summer.A 10-12 m covers a strong Tramontana or Maestrale, and 8-9 m the days a hard Maestrale stacks up waves. Indicative, derived from the documented wind range and from the local 'big gear or foil' advice rather than from a size list.

Direction to shore

The coast faces east. SE is the direction that matters and it is the steadier one. Straight S turns gusty once the hills south of Santa Lucia get into it.SW kills the spot: the wind stays out at sea and there is next to nothing under the beach. N and NE come in too, and a NW Maestrale blows off the land, which is why it flattens the water and makes the long runs possible.

Dominant direction

N, SE, NW

Forecast

Month by month

Jan26
Feb7
Mar, riders' month24
Apr, riders' month35
May, riders' month19
Jun, riders' month20
Jul, riders' month16
Aug, riders' month16
Sep, riders' month17
Oct, riders' month18
Nov23
Dec21

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.

26%Jan15°
7%Feb14°
24%Mar15°
35%Apr16°
19%May19°
20%Jun23°
16%Jul27°
16%Aug27°
17%Sep25°
18%Oct22°
23%Nov20°
21%Dec16°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	From	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	26%	32%	31%	10.4 kt	W	15:00	11.1°C	14.7°C	62
Feb	7%	21%	12%	8.2 kt	SE	14:00	11.6°C	14.1°C	57
Mar	24%	40%	39%	11.4 kt	WNW	15:00	13.1°C	14.8°C	62
Apr	35%	47%	43%	11.8 kt	WNW	15:00	15.1°C	15.9°C	60
May	19%	32%	24%	9.7 kt	SE	14:00	19°C	18.9°C	62
Jun	20%	28%	28%	9.7 kt	SE	15:00	23.7°C	22.7°C	60
Jul	16%	23%	21%	9.3 kt	SE	15:00	27.7°C	26.6°C	62
Aug	16%	23%	19%	9.5 kt	ESE	14:00	27.3°C	27.4°C	62
Sep	17%	37%	25%	10.2 kt	SE	15:00	23.9°C	24.8°C	60
Oct	18%	34%	24%	9.5 kt	SSE	14:00	21°C	22.3°C	62
Nov	23%	35%	33%	9.9 kt	WNW	14:00	16.1°C	19.5°C	60
Dec	21%	29%	29%	9.6 kt	WNW	14:00	12.8°C	16.3°C	62

modelled

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

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. 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.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

sea

Standing depth

Sand bottom and a low seabed along the whole strip, the sort described as ideal for children. No measured standing distance is published, and in the bathing season the rules push you 200 m out anyway, well past anything you could stand in. Treat the shallow part as the shorebreak and the first metres, not as a wading lagoon.

Tides

Tide independent.

Temperature

26.3°C summer · 13.7°C winter

Wetsuit

Shorts or shorty in summer; shorty/full suit in spring and autumn; thicker full suit in winter.

14–27°C water

Clear sea with chop and small waves. South and Scirocco give flat to choppy water; a strong north or Mistral builds 1-2 m waves.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Schools here teach beginners and run courses up to advanced level. On your own you still have to handle the summer channel and the wind swinging side-offshore in the afternoon.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridelearningwavethermal wind

Spring and autumn are not crowded; summer has normal beach users and channel restrictions.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

3 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: Medium-width sandy beach, about 30 m average width, with lots of space outside peak beach-use periods.

access rules on record

Somewhere else

La Cinta, 21 km

La Cinta

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

Rescue

Cover is the standard Italian beach arrangement, not anything aimed at kiters. Through the bathing season the concession-run stretches must staff at least one qualified lifeguard per 80 m of beach frontage from 08:30 to 19:30, each post carrying binoculars, a megaphone, a rescue tube, 200 m of floating line on a reel and a small craft; free stretches are covered by the municipality's own rescue plan.

Outside those hours, and outside the season, there is nobody. At sea the numbers are 1530, the coastguard's blue emergency line, and 112; the local maritime office sits at the Porto Turistico in La Caletta.

The kite schools teach from a boat in the bay, which is the only fast pick-up on the water and is theirs, not a public service.

Launch

Long sand bay running south from the La Caletta harbour, with the village at the north end and the rocky coast starting east of the Rio Posada mouth.In the bathing season you go in through a marked launch corridor and they all sit a long way from the car parks, so a trolley for board, kite and bar is the difference between a session and a slog.Out of season the ordinance lapses and you can launch off La Caletta beach itself, where the car-park-to-waterline walk is short. Orvile, the small point by the Rio Posada mouth, has shaded pine-wood parking close to the sand and works in winter on the Maestrale or in summer when no bathers are there.

Space

Medium-width sandy beach, about 30 m average width, with lots of space outside peak beach-use periods.

Rules & access

2026: the Sardinian bathing season runs from the third week of May to the third week of September, and the Olbia coastguard bathing-safety ordinance applies through it. Inside the 200 m strip reserved for bathing, windsurf and kitesurf transit is banned outright; conversely, bathing is banned in the water set aside for kite sports. That leaves the marked launch corridors as the way in and out: 20 m wide as the rule and never under 10 m, marked with yellow or orange buoys on a knotted line and running out to the 200 m line, with a bilingual sign at the waterline. On this coast the corridors are at Sa Petra Ruia on Santa Lucia beach, with the kite corridor a little further north on the same sand, and a second kite corridor at Su Tiriarzu in the comune di Posada by the river mouth. Going in outside a corridor is not banned outright: it is allowed if you swim out to 200 m with the rig down and start from there, which is a windsurf answer more than a kite one. Out of season the ordinance does not apply and the beach is open. Emergency numbers: 1530 and 112.

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

Rider tips

Watch the clock in the afternoon: once it swings S/SW it goes side-offshore, so stay off the shoreline.
In summer, find the marked kite channel before you pump, and keep off the north end from June to mid-September.
On a thin SE forecast, ask the local school anyway; the thermal here beats the numbers.
Launch mid-bay, away from the rocks at the southern village end and the harbour at the north.
Camp near the kite beach if you want to be on it early; the village has hotels and cafes otherwise.
Bring a trolley in summer: the corridors are nowhere near the car parks and the pine-wood parking is paid.
Come out of season if you want the beach without the rules: the ordinance only binds during the bathing season, and you can then launch straight off La Caletta.
A 13-15 m or a foil is what gets you on the water on the everyday summer thermal.

Getting there

Airport

Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB)

Route

Olbia is the airport, about 51 km and 45 minutes by car to La Caletta. In summer the launch corridors are a long way from the car parks and the pine-wood parking is paid, so bring a trolley.Out of season park at La Caletta beach for a short carry, or at Orvile by the Rio Posada mouth, where the pine wood puts you close to the sand and in the shade.

Transfer

45 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

There is camping near the kite beach, plus hotels, restaurants and cafes in La Caletta itself.

No-wind days

Capo Comino, Cala Gonone and the Costa Smeralda are the usual no-wind drives.

Photos

La Caletta beach - panoramio — trolvag, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at La Caletta?

March through October is best, with the SE Scirocco thermal working even on light forecasts and often strongest in summer afternoons.

Is La Caletta suitable for beginners?

Yes, local schools offer beginner-friendly, boat-supported lessons on the spacious sandy bay.

What is the wind like?

The SE Scirocco thermal typically builds in the afternoon and runs steady, while a shift to S/SW later in the day can turn gusty and side-offshore.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

From June to mid-September riders must use the marked kitesurf channel and avoid the beach's north end, riding instead near the river mouth.

Last updated: August 2026