Kitesurf Season Opens From El Gouna to Lahami Bay, With Winds of 17–22 Knots on the Good Days
Autumn wind has brought kitesurfers and windsurfers back to the coast from El Gouna down to Lahami Bay, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports, with watersports visitors put at 10–15 per cent of Red Sea arrivals and an instructor warning that enthusiasm alone is not enough.
9 October 2026
The autumn wind season has started on the Red Sea coast, and the beaches from El Gouna in the north down to Lahami Bay in the south are filling with kitesurfers, windsurfers and board surfers, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on Friday.
The paper runs through the spots in use: El Gouna at the top, then the Al-Ahyaa area north of Hurghada, Makadi, Abu Soma — Soma Bay — and Lahami in the far south. On suitable days the wind reaches the strength these sports need, which the report puts at between 17 and 22 knots, varying with the weather, the location and the time of day. Wide, open beaches and wind at different points in the year are what make the coast work for it.
Estimates circulating among watersports centres suggest people who come for these sports make up 10 to 15 per cent of Red Sea visitors, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported, with the share differing from one area and season to the next. Demand is strongest among European visitors, where the paper says the watersports culture is most established.
Ahmed Hassan, a kitesurf instructor quoted in the report, said wanting to try it is not enough on its own. A beginner needs to learn how wind, water and equipment behave together, follow the instructions of instructors and activity centres, and take account of the weather and the state of the sea before going in. Centres run beginner programmes that start on land — the equipment, the safety rules, controlling the board and the kite or sail — before moving gradually into the water.
Hassan said the centres are seeing more young people of different nationalities as the autumn winds improve. Some come to carry on a sport they already do, some put learning one into the trip, and others mix beach days with a few sessions. For part of that group, he said, Hurghada is no longer simply somewhere to take a beach holiday but a destination chosen for the sport itself.
His point about reading the sea and the sky is worth keeping in mind this week: Hurghada News reported separately that thundery rain and lightning struck the southern Red Sea coast on Friday morning. The report gives no prices for lessons or board hire and names no centres.