Why We Opened a Kite School in El Gouna — The Kitepower Story

How Kitepower El Gouna began in 2004, moved to its current northern base in 2016, and came to be co-owned and run by Lukáš and Andrea in 2023.

Kitepower’s school story in El Gouna began in 2004, making it the town’s oldest kite school. The current lagoon base has operated since 2016. Across that history, instructors have taught thousands of people from more than 50 countries. But how did it all begin?

Why El Gouna

El Gouna is a self-contained, gated town on the Red Sea coast, 30–40 minutes from Hurghada airport. Our lagoon is 2–3 km long and about 1 km wide; in typical conditions, its first roughly 800 m forms a knee-to-waist-deep teaching area over sand, followed by separate riding and deeper foil zones.

The lagoon stretches 2–3 kilometres long and about one kilometre wide. Its first roughly 800 metres is knee-to-waist deep over sand, with flat water and no significant current. Beyond it are separate riding and dedicated deeper foil zones. Depth changes with tide and conditions, so the team plans sessions around the actual water level.

The lagoon is divided into three zones — a teaching zone for beginners, a zone for independent riding, and a zone for wingfoil and hydrofoil. This way, nobody gets in anyone else’s way and beginners can learn in peace. If you want the full breakdown, see our spot page.

Reason number two is the wind. El Gouna gets over 300 windy days a year — and we don’t just claim that, we measure it on our own weather station. It’s a predominantly north and northwest wind with strong thermal influence: the desert air heats up during the day, cooler air from the sea flows in, and that creates stable, predictable wind. We can tell our customers: come, and the wind will blow. In the vast majority of cases, it does.

From a Small Centre to What We Have Today

In 2004, it was a simple kite stand on Mangroovy Beach — at the time one of the few spots in El Gouna where you could kite. A few kites, a few boards, enthusiasm, and wind.

The centre grew gradually — adding equipment, instructors and facilities. In 2009 it became the exclusive partner and largest test point for German kite manufacturer Flysurfer — and that transformed the whole approach to equipment, with access to some of the most technologically advanced kites on the market. In 2015 came a partnership with Levitaz — German hydrofoils now used for both wingfoil and kite foil courses.

In 2016, the school moved from Mangroovy Beach to the northern end of El Gouna. The town was expanding, and the old location no longer offered enough space. The new position gives the team a broad upwind area and lets it organise separate teaching, independent-riding and foil zones.

Today the centre runs more than 250 Flysurfer kites in sizes from 3 to 21 m² — LEI kites Indie, Stoke and ERA, foil kites Soul, Sonic and Hybrid — plus 60+ kiteboards. The rental centre uses its rentable 4–21 m² range to match suitable available equipment to rider and measured conditions; fleet size does not guarantee a session when conditions are unsafe or unrideable. A beach restaurant sits right on the sand. There is also an air-conditioned coworking space with sea views, a kids’ corner and a large wooden playground for accompanying families, without supervised childcare. Pool table, foosball, table tennis, darts. And a team of up to 25 instructors during peak season who, between them, speak Czech, Slovak, English, German, Polish, Russian, Italian and Arabic.

Lukáš and Andrea

My name is Lukáš Vogeltanz. I started kitesurfing professionally in 2009 and today I’m an IKO Head Instructor. Together with my wife Andrea, we are the co-owners of Kitepower El Gouna — owner-operated since 2023. We didn’t found the school; we took over the oldest kite base in El Gouna and built on more than two decades of history here.

Andrea manages customer service, lesson coordination and centre operations. If you’ve ever emailed us, you’ve communicated with her — and most likely got a reply within a few hours. I handle strategy, marketing, IT, and of course teaching on the water.

It’s not just a job. El Gouna is our home. We live here, we kite here, our friends are here. And that carries over into the atmosphere at the centre — people say it feels like a community, not a faceless rental desk. That means more to us than anything else.

What Sets Us Apart

There are several kite schools in El Gouna. So why should you choose us?

Experience. Oldest in El Gouna, founded in 2004. The school started on Mangroovy Beach and moved to its current northern location in 2016, where the wide upwind area supports separated riding zones.

Equipment. 250+ Flysurfer kites in sizes from 3 to 21 m². The range gives our team broad options to match rider weight, level and measured wind, subject to availability and safe rideability. We rotate the fleet regularly and track flight hours.

Two-way helmet coaching. Every student wears a two-way BB Talkin Bluetooth helmet, so the instructor can both talk to you and hear you in real time, right there on the water. They tell you instantly what to correct — kite position, board edge, body weight — and you can ask questions without coming back to the beach. It makes an enormous difference to how fast you progress.

Straight into the water. We don’t park beginners on the beach flying a trainer kite for a day. After a short safety briefing and rigging on the sand, initial drills move into the first roughly 800 m knee-to-waist-deep teaching area when conditions suit — body-dragging and working towards first water starts. The water is where you actually learn.

Realistic progression. The 8-hour Zero to Hero course is typically spread over 3–5 days. Its plan moves from body-drag and water-start work towards controlled riding, but wind, fitness and demonstrated skills set the pace. Hours do not guarantee independent-rider status. Read the detailed progression in how long it takes to learn kitesurfing.

Included IKO certification. The instructor records the level you actually demonstrate. An independent-rider record can support a rental request elsewhere, but every centre still checks skills, local rules, conditions and availability.

Rescue support. Rescue support is available during operating hours, but continuous boat presence, a specific intervention and a response time cannot be guaranteed.

Kids. Children may start from around 5–6 years old and 20 kg after an individual assessment. Their programme and pace are adapted to the child. The play areas are not supervised childcare; an accompanying adult remains responsible and available.

What About Wingfoiling?

Kitesurfing is our DNA, but the sport is evolving — which is why we added wingfoil courses. Wing handling can begin in the first roughly 800 m teaching area, while foil work uses the separate deeper zone when the actual tide, water level, wind and mast clearance suit. If you’re weighing the two, here’s kitesurfing vs wingfoiling.

We run a full wingfoil setup — Flysurfer wings and Levitaz hydrofoils — and our instructors teach both. The beginner wingfoil course is 5 hours.

When to Visit

We operate year-round, with lesson times set by daylight, bookings and safe conditions. Use our month-by-month wind guide, built on four years of station data, to compare measured seasonal patterns without treating them as a forecast for a specific day:

Summer into early autumn has the highest measured rideable-day percentages in our current data. That is a historical pattern, not a promise for a particular week or session.

Winter has its charm too. December to February are the coolest months and usually call for a full wetsuit, which we provide. The measured share of rideable days is lower than in summer, and actual wind still decides every session. Crowds and accommodation prices vary by dates and provider.

Autumn combines warm water with strong historical rideable-day percentages. The northern position gives the centre a broad upwind area, while usable space still depends on the day’s zones and traffic.

8 Out of 10 Guests Come Back

This number speaks louder than any advertisement. The majority of our guests are returning customers — people who came once and keep coming back, year after year. Some store their equipment with us year-round. Some bring their families. Some come for a week and stay a month.

Guests have come from more than 50 countries. The largest groups are Germans, then Czechs, Swiss and Poles — but you’ll meet people from everywhere.

If this sounds like your kind of place, take a look at our courses or go straight to online booking. And if you have questions, get in touch.

We look forward to seeing you on the beach.

Lukáš & Andrea Vogeltanz Kitepower El Gouna