Kitesurfing Lessons

Watching kitesurfers is fascinating and you can get absorbed for hours as they test themselves over and over against the conditions, doing jumps and stunts. Just as interesting is watching someone have a kitesurfing lesson.

At the very beginning they might just be asked to get used to the feel of a small kite using a harness and the bar with the lines attached.

Later when they take to the water they will have their kitesurfing teacher close by. Here is a great example of that - Okke Engel with one of his students on Zandvoort beach just after finishing a kitesurfing lesson.

Okke has his own kitesurfing school in Zandvoort.

Kitesurfing & Walking The Kite

One of the most popular pastimes in Zandvoort is kitesurfing. We started covering this topic in our Zandvoort Blog a while ago when we did our first post about kitesurfing in Zandvoort.

Classed as an 'extreme sport' it attracts many kitesurfers to the Zandvoort beach every year. We always enjoy watching them and this summer we took more photos than usual, even filming a kitesurfing teacher Okke Engel (photographed below walking his kite after a long kitesurfing session). You can watch Okke showing how it's done in our kitesurfing video.

Below is an interesting picture of a girl who was learning to kitesurf last summer - she was able to kitesurf downwind (towards the north beach) but had not yet learned how to sail into the wind and return back southwards. So every time she went as far north as she could within the kitesurfing zone, she had to come in to shore and walk her kite back up.


Kitesurfers always keep a keen eye on the weather and with Zandvoort weather you have to know what you are doing. The winds can be very strong and the weather sometimes unpredictable. Understanding the weather conditions is crucial to safe kitesurfing.

Read more about kitesurfing - check out the some kitesurfing FAQs (kindly written for us by Okke Engel).

Here is a list of kitesurfing locations around the world.

Zandvoort Kitesurfing Interview

It's not often you get to talk to an expert kitesurfer - they are usually too busy out on the water!

As mentioned in our previous Kitesurfing In Zandvoort post, one of the regular Zandvoort kitesurfers Okke Engel gave us an interview this summer. He had just finished a session kitesurfing in Zandvoort when we caught up with him over a cup of coffee and chatted about what life is like in the 'fast lane' of this extreme sport.


In the interview he describes the all important weather conditions on the day, tells us a little about his background (he started windsurfing at the age of 12) and how he is now running his own kitesurfing school.

Watch the whole kitesurfing interview with Okke exclusively made for zandvoort-holland.com

Photo: Okke with a kitesurfing student on Zandvoort beach