First Kite Trip: Why Beginners Pick El Gouna (Pros & Cons)

Why El Gouna works for kitesurfing beginners: a first roughly 800 m sandy teaching area, structured IKO instruction and measured wind data.

Short answer: El Gouna can suit a beginner when the actual wind, water level, teaching zone, instructor ratio and equipment are appropriate. Here are the measurable advantages and the limits that still matter.

A Lagoon That Forgives Mistakes

When you’re learning to kitesurf, you’re going to fall. A lot. And here’s the crucial difference between learning in El Gouna versus, say, the Atlantic or Tarifa.

Our lagoon is 2–3 km long and about 1 km wide. The first roughly 800 m from our beach is knee-to-waist deep over sand, where learners can often stand and reset after a fall. Beyond it are independent-riding and dedicated deeper foil zones. Depth changes with tide and conditions.

This might sound like a minor detail, but it’s absolutely fundamental. In deep water, after every fall you’re swimming, retrieving your board, getting set up again, and by the time you start riding you’re already exhausted. In shallow water, you stand up, reposition your kite, put the board on, and go. In the same amount of water time, you get twice as many attempts.

The lagoon is about 2–3 kilometres long and roughly a kilometre wide, so there’s plenty of space. And because it’s divided into three zones — a teaching zone, a zone for independent riders, and a zone for wingfoil and hydrofoil — nobody’s flying around your head while you’re learning. If you want the full breakdown, see our spot page.

Rescue Support During Operating Hours

Rescue support is available during operating hours, but continuous boat presence, a specific intervention and a response time cannot be guaranteed. Every rider still needs to follow the safety briefing, zone rules and self-rescue requirements.

For a beginner, it matters to understand both the available support and its limits. The instructor teaches self-rescue and the spot briefing explains how to alert the team; no rider should enter the water assuming that a boat will always come or arrive within a fixed time.

Two-Way Helmet Coaching — Your Instructor Talks Directly to You

This is something most schools don’t offer. During your lesson on the water, you wear a two-way BB Talkin Bluetooth helmet, so the instructor can both talk to you and hear you in real time. Not after the run back on the beach, but right at the moment you need it.

“Kite higher. Now back foot on the board. Extend your front arm. Excellent, you’re riding!”

The difference is enormous. Instead of coming back to shore after twenty seconds and having the instructor tell you what you should have done differently, you hear the correction instantly — and you can ask your own questions without leaving the water.

How Quickly Will You Learn to Ride

I’ll be honest here — it depends on the individual. Some people have a natural talent for board sports, others don’t. But thanks to the conditions in El Gouna, progression is significantly faster than at most spots.

A typical progression looks like this:

Day 1: Theory and safety systems, then straight into the water. After a short briefing and rigging on the sand, initial drills move into the first roughly 800 m knee-to-waist-deep teaching area when conditions suit — learning kite control, body-dragging (being pulled through the water by the kite without a board), and working towards your first water starts. The water is where you actually learn.

Next phase: Water starts and first controlled-riding attempts. Some people make their first metres here; others need more repetitions.

Then: Work towards longer rides and both directions. The instructor advances the plan only when kite control and safety skills are repeatable.

Later goal: Work on riding upwind. Independent-rider level is recorded only after you can also demonstrate the required control and safety skills; it is not awarded by reaching a calendar day.

The 8-hour course is typically planned across 3–5 days, but purchased hours do not determine the final level. The instructor records the skills you actually demonstrate, and independent rental remains subject to a centre’s own assessment, local rules, conditions and availability. For the honest skill-by-skill version, read how long it takes to learn kitesurfing.

A full overview of courses is on our kite courses page, and you can read more about how we teach.

Your Demonstrated IKO Level, Recorded at No Extra Charge

As an IKO Pro Center, we include IKO certification and record the level you actually demonstrate. An independent-rider record can support a later rental request, but each centre still checks skills, local rules, conditions and equipment availability.

The IKO system has clearly defined levels — from complete beginner to independent rider. At the end of the sessions, your instructor records only the level and skills you actually demonstrated. Completing the package does not automatically produce an independent-rider card or rental approval.

Who Teaches at Our School

Our instructors are IKO certified professionals. Lukáš Vogeltanz, co-owner of the school, is an IKO Head Instructor and has been a professional kitesurfer since 2009. We take instruction very seriously — not because we’re strict, but because poor instruction in kitesurfing can be dangerous. And we keep groups small: a maximum of two students per instructor.

During peak season we have up to 25 instructors who, between them, speak 8 languages — Czech, Slovak, English, German, Arabic, Italian, Russian and Polish. So language barriers aren’t an issue.

What You’ll Learn On

We’ve been the official Flysurfer distributor and largest test point since 2009. For instruction we use the Indie kite — designed specifically for teaching, with excellent stability and forgiving characteristics. Our fleet of over 250 kites from 3 to 21 m² and 60+ boards gives the team broad matching options for rider and measured conditions. Equipment remains subject to availability, and sessions require safe, rideable conditions.

All equipment is included in the course — kite, board, harness, helmet, vest. You don’t need to buy or bring anything.

What If I’m a Complete Sports Beginner?

Kitesurfing doesn’t require any prior board sport experience. It helps if you’ve surfed, snowboarded or wakeboarded, but it’s not a requirement. We’ve taught people who had never stood on any kind of board in their lives, and after a few days they were riding.

What matters more than athletic experience: patience. Kitesurfing isn’t learned in an afternoon. You need a few days, plenty of falls, and willingness to listen to your instructor. If you have that, you’ll get there. If you want to understand the basics before you arrive, our beginner’s guide to kitesurfing walks you through what to expect.

Why Not Every Spot Is Suitable for Beginners

For comparison — imagine learning kitesurfing at a spot with:

• Deep water (you swim after every fall)
• Waves (your board floats away, your kite drops into the surf)
• Strong current (pulls you away from shore)
• Coral underneath (sharp pain with every contact)
• No rescue boat (you’re on your own)

At Kitepower, the first roughly 800 m is knee-to-waist deep over sand, with flat water and no significant current. Lessons use small ratios and rescue support is available during operating hours, without a guaranteed response time.

If you’re considering where to start learning kitesurfing, do yourself a favour and choose a spot that doesn’t make it harder than it needs to be. El Gouna is exactly that kind of place.

Got questions? Reach out via contact or take a look at the spot to see where it all happens.