I have been promising myself a trip to a decent windsurfing venue for many years now.

After two successive Decembers in the Cape and Langebaan without wind, frustration reached critical levels and the planning for the trip to Dahab was set in motion. Invitations were extended to the Bronks gust busters crew but only Glyn and Johan took up the offer. Jules would rather sit at home dreaming of 11 sq.m sails and Konas whilst Gabi was too afraid that the water in Dahab would be too deep to stand in. The rest of the plonkers used an array of pathetic excuses ranging from money (as usual) to general disinterest.

Anyway, we departed SA at 11PM on 10 June to the reverberating sounds of Vuvuselas at OR Tambo airport. Mode of travel was EgyptAir A330. The flight to Cairo is 8 hours, so not too long. One good snooze and you’re there. One word of advice on the toilets on the plane – don’t try a #2 – the seat may just fall out of the bulkhead. The aircraft was like a typical internal SAA flight full of Saffas. Most of them were wearing T-shirts advertising the fact that they can’t windsurf i.e. a bunch of divers.

Two days in Cairo doing the tourist thing – well worth the visit to see things like the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Nile, the crazy Egyptian drivers, the Egyptian Museum etc.

Anyway, after two days in Cairo, we depart for Sharm el Sheik, a diving hotspot on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Sharm is at the confluence of the Gulf of Suez to the west and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east (both extensions of the Red Sea). It’s a one hour flight from Cairo on a natty little Brazilian job. The aerial views of the Sinai desert are spectacular – barren sandy wadis surrounded by rugged red-hued mountains. As we descend for the airport at Sharm, green and blue oases dot the landscape where intrepid hoteliers have established holiday havens for the northern Europeans and neuvo-riche Russians. We are met by our friendly Sylvia Tours operator who takes us by mini-bus to Dahab, 1 hour away via a double lane highway winding its way through the scorched Sinai Mountains.

As we leave Sharm, we encounter our first police road block. This is good. The towns in Sinai are run by the tourist police and paramilitary units as the Egyptians are very wary of the possibility of extremists targeting the Sinai tourism industry – Dahab experienced a bombing about 3 years ago, but has been quiet since. Our tour guide gives us some interesting facts about the local Bedouin culture, the importance of camels in their society and the reasons why Egyptian women all drive fancy cars.

Entry to Dahab town is through a military checkpoint. We wind our way through a gap in the mountains and suddenly there it is – the Gulf of Aqaba, azure blue waters framed by the Sinai Mountains on one side and the Saudi mainland on the other – we’re officially in Asia. And what is this ? Kites to the right and windsurfers to the left. The bay is full of around 120 bright sails and long drawn out wakes. It’s blowing around 15 knots from the NNE, the prevailing wind direction. The excitement builds and manifests itself in the form of several prairie dog sightings.

Now for the important bit – the Dahab set up – Dahab has two main centers. The southern part bordering on the sailing bay consists of the major hotels and windsurf rental centers. The northern part is the original town of Dahab where most of the Diving schools are located as well as the town market. Further south of the bay are a number of separate hotels, one of which seems to cater for kiters. I recall reading somewhere that kiting is frowned upon in the main bay and the speed strip. It’s actually a good thing to separate the two – I counted around 150 windsurfers on one day – can you imagine the chaos if you threw in a couple of kiters.

Speed strip – at the western edge of the strip there is a patchy reef running north south which must be avoided at low tide. Markers are provided indicating sailing routes through this reef. A floating platform is provided near the speed strip for R&R if required. The speed strip runs parallel to a shallow reef for about 1 km. One starts out on a broad reach to get speed up and then gradually reorient onto a reach as you head up the strip. At high tide, you can actually sail over the reef which is quite spectacular as the crystal clear water makes everything look a whole lot shallower than it actually is. At low tide, the reef becomes exposed and the water becomes really flat.

Blue Lagoon – the wind in Blue Lagoon is quite gusty and can lead to some serious Superman moments as you try to control the wildly flaying rig as a 20 knot gust hits. Gustiness is care of the hotels located along the beach. The further south into the bay one ventures, the more consistent the wind becomes.

There are around 10 windsurf rental centers in the bay. We rented kit from Harry Nass Center 2 (looked like the largest center in Dahab) which was conveniently located at our hotel (Iberotel Dahabaya) perfectly situated for a 1 km reach across the bay directly onto the speed strip. Boards consist of the full range of JP boards from large (145 liter), slalom, freestyle and wave. Sails are Neil Pryde ranging from 8.2 to 4 sq.m. I used the following rigs :

Harry Nass opens every morning at 9AM and closes at 5PM (at which stage one is well and truly stuffed anyway). The manager is a bloke by the name of Said who with his three helpers provide a sterling service to the finicky (and at times, arrogant) German sailors (who seem to be in the majority here). Neither Said nor his crew sail, but they were always spot on with their board and sail size recommendations. Harry Nass allows one to reserve a board for the entire week, but you can swap depending on conditions. They’ve got a really well thought out peg board system which sailors use to indicate what kit they’ve taken. There’s enough equipment there to keep an army of sailors happy. Board rental for 7 days was R2,000 which I think is very reasonable. Most of the visiting sailors at Dahab are in the beginner/intermediate class - the Bronks gust busters kicked arse on the speed strip. Either that, or the Germans sail really slow. The center is on the beach in front of the hotel and has it’s own chill area a mere 10 meters from the beach bar – can things get any more comfortable than this ?! Radios are available for those heading off to the speed strip or past Napoleon Reef as a safety consideration. There are numerous rubber ducks doing the rounds in the bay picking up wayward sailors. All in all, Dahab has been set up to make one’s sailing trip as pleasant as possible.

Water temperature is around 25 deg C, air temperature between 30 and 35 deg C, no humidity, so quite comfortable. Beach is sandy. There are roped off designated swimming areas so that the swimmers don’t surface with a fin embedded in their head. For non-sailors, there’s a bunch of stuff to do, from just chilling on the beach, snorkeling the many reefs (including the renowned Blue Hole) to desert quad biking or camel rides. For the ladies, there’s the Dahab market in which all sorts of trinkets are found and haggling is the name of the game – it’s quite fun and all done in good spirit with the locals (who are friendly). Generally, you can buy something for 30 to 40% of the original asking price, so don’t feel bad about haggling.

I can recommend the Iberotel Dahabaya to anyone planning a trip to Dahab. The deal is full board i.e. all inclusive breakfast, lunch, dinner (snacks in between at the bars), free drinks (local beer which is not bad and cold drinks; wine and sprits are extra). I must have single handedly drunk around R5,000 worth of drinks at SA hotel prices (it’s hot so you are always consuming fluids) without paying anything extra. The hotel has recently been renovated and is very nice indeed. There is a large pool for the kids as well as a pool side bar – you can sit waist deep in the water and order your favorite drink. There is a beach bar next to the Harry Nass center which is great for a post session sit-down and chat while watching the action in the bay. Nothing quite like drinking an ice cold beer whilst laughing at a beginner doing a catapult! The hotel and beach setup has been designed for those who do not like wind i.e. a windsurfer’s spouse – there are a bunch of half moon bamboo shelters behind which one can lie whilst still getting a view of the sea and not being sand blasted. The hotel is definitely set up as a family venue with many daily activities for kids and wives.

According to the locals the off season in Dahab is during the Egyptian summer. Peak season coincides with the European winter when those with spare cash head for the warmth of the Sinai. According to the Harry Nass web-site, the really windy season is May through to September, although Dahab is known as a windy spot all year round.

Anyway, some notable moments from this trip :

Alas, all to soon, the trip was over. But, I’ll be back for sure.

In summary then – Dahab kicks Langenbaan’s arse, even in summer ! It’s an awesome spot for those wanting to learn how to sail a small board or get gybes right.