Hayling

These reviews tend not to be for the "beginner", if they still exist in windsurfing, and Hayling can offer conditions to suit all abilities, Langstone Harbour with it's gentle sloping mud flats is ideal, though only at certain times due to tides - low tide is not good due to the vast quantities of mud! So if you are a beginner / intermediate check on the tide times and tide heights.

As for the beach itself, Hayling again is like many other S Coast locations, pebble beach with sand at low tide Fair amount of sea defenses, usual high tide launching problems, which is good for Andy Biggs turnover, though not his hire kit!

And local summer sea breezes from May through to September make this a classic bump n'jump / freestyle, or what ever you're into location!

Anything from the North West, through to SE will work, though in the winter and early spring anything with East in them should have a health warning as quite a considerable wind chill goes with them.

Best conditions as always is a westerly with a slight bit of North in it, and again after a couple of days of strong South Westerlies - that will provide very good clean waves and down the line riding if the swell is at all decent, so I am informed! Vast majority of windsurfers and kiters that will visit Hayling will never see the above conditions in their full glory, as they will either be at work or at home on a cold February Sunday morning!

Hayling is also a great location at low tide for intermediates keen to progress.

The Car pak area - as usual pay n'display

Looking down along the beach into the sunlight!

One of the best situated "pubs" on a beach !

Andy Biggs Wind & Kitesurfing - just before you turn up to the beach

And yes there are other shops providing helpful information and more than ready to relieve you of your hard earned cash - and it's not just Andy Biggs.

Zero Gravity are well worth a look too.

Hayling is now one of the major South Coast Kite locations, and Andy Biggs one of the few on beach centres to offer instruction and rental kit (mad fool).

That said, the kiters have been upsetting people, or is it the other way round, the dog walkers and golfers have been upsetting the kitesurfers. Anyway they will do well not to get banned this season from the beach.

All kitesurfers, and there are many, are fine model citizens and they can now be seen helping old grannies with their terriers to walk over their lines.

It will be interesting to see how the above situation works out, because there is no doubt Hayling is a great kitesurfing venue, and attracts large numbers, and as so often happens its very own success might be its demise!

Other beaches will be looking on with interest.

STOP PRESS from HKA

The low down is that the golf club at Hayling (who own the beach) have written to Phil (Chairman of the HKA) advising that the local byelaw banning kitesurfing will be upheld this year..........

Basically we (the members of the HKA) are putting proposals to the golf club- the proposals are summarised as follows:

1. members & signed in guests only
2. guests have to be checked for proficiency and pay a day fee
3. all members, guests & probationers to be identified by rash vests
4. members & probationers to pay an annual fee to cover costs of running the HKA & affiliation to the BKSA
5. Learning, probationers & members kitesurf areas to be strictly controlled & marked on the beach - basically, members can go from the usual launch area (but this will be clearly marked out), probationers to go from the area close to where Phil runs his lessons ie well out of the way

Remember.these are the draft proposals only & await the agreement of the golf club......we really are at their mercy!! Apparently they have had lots of complaints from non watersport beach users throughout the year & reading between the lines are losing their sense of humour