Greeeeeeece

Karpathos must be considered the most windy island of the Mediterranean!
As one of the southern islands of the Dodekanese, next to well-known Rhodes, in summer it attracts again and again surfers from all around Europe.

The island is characterised by it's stunningly varying landscape. On the one hand the lonesome stony part in the south, where windsurfers meet, at the other hand the east coast with marvelous beaches and in the west the wild and rocky coastline. The locals in the villages live traditionally, breed goats, collect herbs or go fishing.
In  Pigadia on the other side also young people mingle in the shops, restaurants and nightclubs..
In the summer the island is mostly visited by Scandinavians and the so-called "Frisbees" , Greek-Americans, who come back into their homecountry.
Only a small part of the guests are surfers!

The island in summertime is spoiled by the Meltemi and/or north winds and offers  strong wind conditions in the months between April and October.
In Afiartis,  the Windmekka, the Meltemi is extremely accelerated by a mountain chain ( 7-9 Bft).

Windsurfing

On Karpathos there are 4  Spots.

1 Devil's Bay: Constant strong wind. The water is flat. Here in 2006 the speed Worldcup takes place. Pro Center Chris Schill.

2 Gun Bay: The wind is gustier, but there is a beautiful steep windwave outside!
The Spot is suitable for Freestyle. In the Gun Bay are the  centers of Happy Surfpool with Hotel Irini and the Club m° and Bar "Anemos".

2 Lagoon: In the lagoon the wind is gusty and more weak. Because of  the shallow water it's the spot for advanced beginners  and it is super popular for Freestylers. In the high season it's getting busy but in the early morning hours or in the evening the water is not too crowded. In the lagoon all centers are represented.

At all above-mentioned spots the wind is northwest direction  off-shore from the left.


4. (Punta) Spot: The  spot is on the west side of the island and has side to sideoffshore conditions with wind from the right. If it is windy for a long time, the wave break on a reef, which makes it possible for good riders to jump and also do backsideriding. The spot  works well if in Afiartis the wind is simply too strong, because here usually it blows less. If the wind becomes too strong, like 8 Bft., also here the water becomes flat again.
Directly at the spot is also the only center, Pro Center Chris Schill and a bar.

The Luvspot is approx. 15 minutes travel from the other spots.
For surfers is important to know: You should be able to manage small waves and be a safe surfer, on big days the rescue doesn't work.
Even if there is no wind come see the sunset!!!
 

Dining

In Afiartis the possibilities are limited,  Restaurants and Bars as well as Hotels can be found in the Town Pigadia (approx. 20 min. drive)

In Afiartis there are the following restaurants:

"Windrose",  Irini, Gun Bay in the Hotel.

"Anemos", at the Club m°, Gun Bay

"Sokrates", Lagoon

In addition there is the Bar "Vassilis"


Lodging

If you want to live on spot:
Hotel Irini:
The only hotel directly at the beach, it has 30 rooms.
It is  80m from the beach directly at the Spot Gun Bay. You can rent MTBs, Motorbikes and Cars at the Surfcenter. More info surfpoolkarpathos@web.de

Pigadia offers numerous possibilities for dining, shopping and nightlife.
Surfers meet in Nik's Internetcafé "Galileo".
Discos are  Enigma, Amnesia and the Fever.

Learn more about Karpathos on greeka.com
 

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