The Red Sea Scene

If you’ve ever tried wind surfing, marvelled at the experts and wondered how on earth you’d ever have the time to get as good as them, then kite-surfing is the quick fix for you. After just three days in Ras Sudr, assuming the wind blows, you’ll be speeding along, carving through the water, performing jibe turns and generally feeling pretty chuffed with yourself.

There can be few better places to learn than in Ras Sudr, on the Gulf of Suez in Egypt. The beach stretches for a couple of miles, the water is never more than chest-deep at most, the sea floor are made of the softest sand (no stubbed toes or mysterious knocks and scrapes) and the prevailing wind blows constantly cross-shore so you are neither blown out to sea nor headlong onto the beach. Added to this the charming instructors prepare all your kit and pack it away at the end of the day, so there’s no kafuffle. Admittedly when the wind doesn’t blow there’s not much to do, and the hotels are short on charm, but if you go with the sole aim of learning to kite surf then there can’t be many better places in the world to learn. I’ve been back a couple of weeks now and last week tried kite surfing in rainy Norfolk. Kiting in freezing cold chocolate-brown water just didn’t quite have the charm of the Red Sea! NN