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Punta Rasa

Buenos Aires · Punta Rasa - San Clemente · Partido de La Costa · San Clemente del Tuyu

also known as Punta Rasa - San Clemente, Punta Rasa - San Clemente del Tuyu, Reserva Natural Punta Rasa

Part of Punta Rasa, San Clemente →

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beginner-friendlymedium 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

16-22 kt

Character: mixed

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

22.5 °C in summer

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Dec Jan Feb

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

270 min

International Airport (EZE)

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Punta Rasa has no other spot on this map within 40 km of it, and none other in Punta Rasa - San Clemente. straight-line distance

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

Mar del Plata
Chascomús
San Clemente del Tuyu beachesno page yet
Punta Lara / Ensenadano page yet
Mar Chiquitano page yet
Mar del Plata / Playa Grande

The spot

Punta Rasa is the headland north of San Clemente del Tuyu, where the Rio de la Plata estuary meets the Argentine Sea and the open Atlantic.

Conditions and learning

The riding water is shallow and mostly flat, the beach is enormous, and the local schools run kitesurf, wing foil, kite foil and SUP lessons off it, which is why it is one of the more forgiving places to learn or drill flat-water tricks on the Buenos Aires coast. Come between November and March for the overlap of wind, daylight and water you can stay in; courses here run October to April and wait for 16-22 kt from N, NW or NE.

Access and hazards

The last stretch in is a sand road through a tidal reserve, and it floods. Spring tides and a south-wind surge have stranded cars on the crossings. Broken shell cuts feet, so booties are normal kit here, and there is no lifeguard, no rescue boat and no shop of any kind.

Riders have been carried out into the estuary after a southerly shift, which is why S and SW are the directions to leave alone. Ride weekdays if you can: a good December-February forecast on a Saturday fills the same sand with schools, fishers, cars and swimmers.

The wind

Direction

cross-shore

Direction to shore

The main riding beach runs roughly north-south, and a northerly blows parallel to it - side-shore, which is why it is the direction schools prefer for teaching.NE and NW are the other two working directions. S and SW are gusty and are the ones to leave alone, and anything outside that N-NE-NW arc risks pushing you away from the beach.

Dominant direction

NE/E through much of the warm season, with N also frequent. SW, W, N, NE and E are reportedly the best directions, which does not match the N, NW and NE window the local courses work to.

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

The school-grade window here is 16-22 kt and the strongest days reach about 25 kt, so a 75-85 kg rider covers the whole season with two kites: 11-12 m on the light 14-17 kt days, 9-10 m for the standard 18-22 kt afternoon, and 7-8 m when it builds toward 25 kt.Anything bigger sits in the bag, because the days that are worth the access road are the windy ones.

Character

mixed

Average strength

Typical strength

16-22 kt is what the local courses wait for, and the strongest usable days run to about 25 kt. The long-run mean hourly wind is only around 11 kt, so a monthly average tells you nothing useful - read the forecast for the day.

Steady enough on the working directions. S and SE are reportedly very gusty and not worth rigging for.

The spot works in the warm half of the year. Local courses run October through April and wait for 16-22 kt from N, NW or NE; the windiest stretch of the calendar is late August to late February with November the strongest month. Weekdays are better than weekends in the December-February peak.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

12 ktJan
11 ktFeb
11 ktMar
11 ktApr
11 ktMay
11 ktJun
11 ktJul
11 ktAug
11 ktSep
11 ktOct
12 ktNov
12 ktDec

avg knots per month · season highlighted

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

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

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from

Month	Knots	Wind from
Jan	11.6 kt	E
Feb	11.4 kt	E
Mar	11 kt	N
Apr	10.9 kt	N
May	10.8 kt	N
Jun	11 kt	W
Jul	10.9 kt	N
Aug	10.9 kt	N
Sep	11.4 kt	E
Oct	11.3 kt	E
Nov	11.6 kt	N
Dec	11.5 kt	N

How this is modelledmodelled

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

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.

San Clemente del Tuyú (modeled) · Weather Spark (NASA MERRA-2 reanalysis climatology, not a single ground station)

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Shallow enough to stand across most of the riding area, but the usable width moves a lot with the tide: at low water the bottom comes close enough to catch a board, and broken shell on the seabed is the reason booties are standard here rather than optional.

Tides

Estuarine and tide-driven in effect more than in range. Spring tides can put water across the sand access road and strand vehicles, and low water shrinks the rideable area and brings the board close to the bottom. Check the San Clemente del Tuyu tide table before you drive in, not after.

Temperature

22.5 °C summer · 11.3 °C winter

Wetsuit

Shorty or light full suit in summer; normal/full suit in spring and autumn; thick full suit with hood/gloves/boots in winter. Booties are also recommended for sharp shells.

Currents

Estuarine current and wind-driven drift are the real danger here. A kitesurfer disappeared off this coast in 2021, and in 2006 a rider was carried offshore after a wind shift.

Conditions

Punta Rasa is the southern end of Bahia Samborombon and the northern end of Cabo San Antonio, where the Rio de la Plata estuary meets the Argentine Sea and the Atlantic. The water is cloudy, muddy-looking at times, nothing like the photos of the Caribbean. It is a Ramsar wetland and reserve, and the sand carries migratory bird flocks.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Flat, shallow water and local schools make this a workable place to learn and to progress. Beginners should still be with a school or under some kind of cover, because offshore drift, gusty directions, shell, rock, tide and the state of the access road are all real. Advanced riders use it for freestyle, freeride and the stronger days.

The scene

What riders come here for

flat waterfreestylebeginner lessonsfreeridewing foilkite foilbirdwatching no-wind days

Who it suitsbeginner

Small Atlantic-coast resort town with a local school scene. Weekdays are the advice from the operators here, because a good-forecast weekend brings kiters, schools, fishers, other beach users and cars onto the same sand.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

6 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

No neighbour on record

No other spot in the atlas sits within reach of this one.

Rescue

Rescue services

No lifeguard, no standby boat and no kite-specific cover on the beach.

Maritime emergencies anywhere on the Argentine coast go to Prefectura Naval Argentina on 106, a free line answered around the clock; Prefectura has run boat, jet-ski, aircraft and helicopter searches for kiters on this coast, including the 2021 search off San Clemente for a rider who did not come back and 2024 pickups of kiters who could not return to shore further south.

Treat that as the backstop, not as cover - ride with someone who can raise the alarm from the beach.

Launch

Wide sandy beach and headland inside the Punta Rasa reserve, with flat shallow water and far more rigging space than you will ever need. There are no services of any kind - no toilets, no shade, no water, no shop - and cars, fishers and other beach users share the sand on good summer weekends.

Hazards riders report 16 reported

Wind

S and SE are reportedly very gusty and not advisable, and an offshore SSO has been associated with riders drifting out to sea.
S and SW winds are gusty here and are the directions local operators tell you to skip; a southerly shift has been associated with riders being carried away from shore.
Directions outside the N-NW-NE arc can push you offshore into the estuary, where the drift is with you and the swim back is not.

Crowds and zones

Cars and many beach users can be present on busy summer days and weekends.
Cars drive on the beach and summer weekends mix kiters, schools, fishers and swimmers on the same sand.

Bottom

Sharp shells/conchillas on the shoreline; booties recommended.
Rock and broken shell on the bottom and along the waterline.
Broken shell on the seabed and along the waterline cuts feet - booties are standard kit at this spot, not a nicety.
Low water brings the bottom close enough to damage a board or a fin.

Waves and currents

Tide, rain and south-wind surge can flood or cut the sandy access road; low-clearance vehicles may get stuck.
Estuary and ocean current together with a wind shift can carry a rider away from shore; serious kitesurf searches and rescues have happened on this coast.
Spring tides, heavy rain and south-wind surge can flood or cut the sand access road; vehicles have been stranded on the crossings.
Estuary and wind-driven currents can carry a rider away from shore; there is no rescue boat on the beach and the nearest response is Prefectura Naval on 106.

Protected areas and rules

The area is a Ramsar wetland/municipal reserve with migratory birds; avoid disturbing wildlife and verify current access restrictions.
Ramsar wetland and municipal reserve with migratory bird flocks - disturbing them is the one thing that would put kite access here at risk.

Other

S and SE are the directions this beach does not work in.

Rules & access

1 min read

1991: Punta Rasa is a municipal natural reserve of the Partido de La Costa, declared by Ordenanza 1023 and Decreto 380 after being run as a biological station from 1984. The surrounding Bahia Samborombon wetland was listed under the Ramsar convention in 1997.
2026: no kitesurf-specific permit, zone, time limit or seasonal closure is published by the municipality or the reserve for Punta Rasa. What constrains you here is the reserve context and the tidal access road, not paperwork - but that also means nothing is signposted for you.
2026: the reserve has no services. Bring your own water, food and sun protection, and carry your rubbish back out with you.
2026: the point is a staging site for migratory shorebirds and that is the reason it is protected. Keep off resting and feeding flocks on the sand, and do not walk or drive through them to reach a launch.
2026: the final approach is an unsealed sand road through the reserve, reached by taking calle 2 in San Clemente towards Termas Marinas; a high-clearance or 4x4 vehicle is the sensible choice and low cars do get stuck.

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

Wait for 16-22 kt from N, NW or NE. That is the window the local courses run on, and the arc that keeps the wind along the beach instead of out into the estuary.
Check the San Clemente del Tuyu tide table before you drive in, not after: spring tides put water across the sand access road and cars have been stranded on the crossings.
Take calle 2 towards Termas Marinas, then the dirt road about 400 m past the second roundabout, in a high-clearance car or a 4x4.
Pack neoprene booties even in high summer. The seabed and the waterline are full of broken shell.
Carry in water, food and sun protection and carry the rubbish back out, and give the resting bird flocks a wide berth on foot and in the car.
Save 106 in your phone before you launch. It is the free 24-hour Prefectura Naval line, and it is the only rescue this beach has.

Getting there

Airport

Buenos Aires airports, especially Ministro Pistarini International Airport (EZE) for international arrivals; Aeroparque (AEP) may also be practical for domestic/regional arrivals.

Route

Drive from Buenos Aires on Ruta 2 then Ruta 11 to San Clemente del Tuyu, roughly four to five hours; long-distance buses serve the town.In San Clemente take calle 2 and follow the signs for Termas Marinas, then continue onto the dirt road about 400 m past the second roundabout.The last stretch is sand through the reserve and is tidal - a high-clearance or 4x4 vehicle is the sensible choice.

Transfer

270 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Stay in San Clemente del Tuyu for hotels, apartments and beach-town services; Punta Rasa itself is a reserve/headland rather than a built-up lodging zone.

No-wind days

Reserva Natural Punta Rasa birdwatching, Bahia Samborombon/Ramsar wetland visits, San Antonio lighthouse area, Termas Marinas, Mundo Marino, San Clemente pier/fishing and beaches.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kitesurf at Punta Rasa?

November through March is the most cited best-months window, with one course operator extending the season October to April.

Is Punta Rasa suitable for beginners?

Yes, with caution. The flat, shallow estuary water and local schools support lessons and progression, but offshore drift, gusty directions and tide-affected access are real hazards for independent beginners.

What is the wind like?

Southwest, west, north, northeast and east winds are navigable and generally good, while south and southeast are reported by local riders as very gusty and are linked to past drift incidents.

Are there kite schools or rental?

Rasa Kite, Aventura Kitesurf, Punta Rasa Kite/PRK School and Natural Kite School all operate at the spot; Rasa Kite is described locally as the longest-running and best-rated option.

What hazards should I know about?

Sharp shells on the shoreline can cut feet, the sandy access road can flood or be cut by tide, rain or south-wind surge, and wind shifts have been linked to serious offshore-drift incidents.

The bigger pictureEverything about Punta Rasa - San Clemente

Last updated: August 2026