Nearby Dervio 25 km · Cremia 27 km · Dongo 31 km · Colico 31 km · Domaso 33 km · Gera Lario 35 km · straight-line distance
Tivano
05:00 · 09:00 · 10:30 · 11:00
Tivano from before dawn to mid-morning, commonly 05:00-09:00 and finished by 10:30-11:00 at the outside. It builds a few hours after sunset, which is why the meadow fills in the dark. Afternoons come only from post-storm ricaduta, and that is not something a forecast gives you.
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.
The wind
locals call it Tivano / ricaduta
Direction
Kite sizes
metres · typical quiver highlighted
Character
mixed
fills in: Tivano from before dawn to mid-morning, commonly 05:00-09:00 and finished by 10:30-11:00 at the outside. It builds a few hours after sunset, which is why the meadow fills in the dark. Afternoons come only from post-storm ricaduta, and that is not something a forecast gives you.
Typical strength
15-18 in the Tivano, which is the wind the spot is ridden for. North wind outside the thermal is sporadic and gusty, quoted between 15 and 40.
Thermal or synoptic
thermal and storm outflow
The quiver, in words
Indicative for 75-85 kg, scaled from the 15-18 knot Tivano rather than from local logs: 9-11 m through the heart of it, 12 m for the tail end as it fades toward mid-morning, 7-8 m if a north-wind event is running instead of the thermal. A ricaduta after a storm is not a wind you rig for in advance. No measured kite sizes for Pare are published.
Direction to shore
Sideshore.
Dominant direction
N to NE, with NW also given as usable.
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
riding season from the spot record · no wind series here is trusted enough to name a season
- Jan2
- Feb2
- Mar, riders' month2
- Apr, riders' month7
- May, riders' month0
- Jun, riders' month0
- Jul, riders' month0
- Aug, riders' month2
- Sep, riders' month0
- Oct, riders' month2
- Nov, riders' month2
- Dec2
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, Nov.
The model is wrong here
The model reads 7% of days at its best month, which does not sit with the season this record states. The figures are kept and drawn as hatching so no wind colour can be read off them, and the ringed months are the ones riders name.
| Month | Windy days | Force 4+ | 12 kn or more | Knots | From | Peaks at | Air | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4.4 kt | S | 12:00 | 5.9°C | 62 |
| Feb | 2% | 5% | 5% | 5.1 kt | S | 14:00 | 7.7°C | 57 |
| Mar | 2% | 6% | 5% | 5.7 kt | S | 15:00 | 9.6°C | 62 |
| Apr | 7% | 8% | 8% | 7.1 kt | S | 15:00 | 12.4°C | 60 |
| May | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6.3 kt | NW | 14:00 | 17.4°C | 62 |
| Jun | 0% | 8% | 8% | 6.5 kt | S | 15:00 | 21.9°C | 60 |
| Jul | 0% | 5% | 5% | 6.1 kt | S | 14:00 | 24.9°C | 62 |
| Aug | 2% | 10% | 10% | 6.4 kt | S | 14:00 | 24.6°C | 62 |
| Sep | 0% | 5% | 5% | 5.8 kt | NW | 14:00 | 19.2°C | 60 |
| Oct | 2% | 3% | 3% | 4.5 kt | S | 14:00 | 16.6°C | 62 |
| Nov | 2% | 10% | 5% | 5.3 kt | S | 14:00 | 9.5°C | 60 |
| Dec | 2% | 8% | 8% | 4.8 kt | S | 14:00 | 6.5°C | 62 |
riders' months
Riders and schools name these months. The model reads lower here, and both are shown rather than averaged.
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
lake
Standing depth
false
Tides
false
Temperature
23.1°C summer · 6.6°C winter
Wetsuit
Shorty in June-August, semi-dry in April-May, warm wetsuit in the coldest months. Lecco water averages about 23.1 C in summer and 6.6 C in winter.
Your level
The scene
What riders come here for
Launch and rules
three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you
With a school or a boat
4 schools name this spot
On your own
Room to launch: useful meadow for rigging but technical and constrained water access
Somewhere else
Dervio, 25 km
Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.
Rescue
Launch
Rigging is on the pratone, the meadow by the small harbour at Pare. Getting in is the hard part: a ramp built for kitesurfers in 2017, concrete steps, and bare stone alongside, and which of them you actually walk down depends on the lake level. At low water there are 20-30 m of slimy, sharp small stones to cross.Exits use the little harbour or the quarry. About 50 m downwind of the water access sits a rock, so the first hundred metres have to go upwind.
Space
useful meadow for rigging but technical and constrained water access
Rules & access
- 1997: navigation on Lake Como runs under the OPGR of 3 July 1997 n. 58600 and the Codice della Navigazione (R.D. 30 March 1942 n. 327) — motorboats keep 150 m off the coast and 27 knots maximum, and any comune can layer its own ordinance on top.
- 2026: no Valmadrera kite ordinance and no posted rule sheet at Pare could be traced. The rules that actually bite here are local practice: body-drag out from the ramp rather than riding off it, keep the kite low because the gusts at the shore are hard, leave the upwind zone to the windsurfers, give way to other craft, and ask the regulars before your first session.
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Be at Parè before sunrise if you want the Tivano; it is finished by mid-morning.
- Do not launch unless you can ride upwind immediately off the steps.
- Check the lake level first: low water uncovers slimy, sharp stones on the entry.
- Park before dawn, because there are very few spaces at the harbor.
- No municipal kite ordinance for Parè was found, so ask local riders or the Comune before you rig.
- Be at Pare before sunrise if you want the Tivano; it is finished by mid-morning.
- Do not launch unless you can ride upwind immediately off the ramp.
- Park before dawn, because there are very few spaces at the harbour.
- No municipal kite ordinance for Pare was found, so ask local riders or the Comune before you rig.
- Body-drag out from the ramp instead of riding off it, and keep the kite low in the shore gusts.
- The windsurfers sit upwind of the kite zone; go round them, not through.
Getting there
Airport
Milan Bergamo (BGY) or Milan Linate (LIN); Milan Malpensa (MXP) is also a Lake Como gateway
Route
Reach Lecco, carry on toward Valmadrera and exit toward the harbor area. From Milan, take the Valassina toward Lecco, then Valmadrera.
Staying
Stay in Lecco, Valmadrera, or elsewhere on the Lake Como branch depending on whether early-morning access or tourism is the priority.
No-wind days
Lake Como sightseeing · SUP · hiking around Lecco and Resegone · visiting Varenna/Bellagio by ferry
Photos
FAQ
Is Valmadrera suitable for beginners?
No, it is described as suitable only for autonomous or expert riders because water entry and exit are technical.
What is the wind like?
The Tivano, a north-to-northeast morning wind, blows roughly dawn to mid-morning at 10-40 knots.
What makes the launch difficult?
Water entry is by narrow steps, a ramp or rocks rather than a beach, with little room for a failed first tack.
When is the best time to go?
March through November covers the thermal season, with Tivano more frequent in spring and summer.
Last updated: August 2026