Ulf Blöcker, a kiter from northern Germany, tells us about one of his local spots, not far from well-known St. Peter Ording, on Germany’s northwest Schleswig-Holstein coast. He recently met up with Big Air competitor Simon Bruhn for a session there.
If you look at a map online of Perlebucht, Büsum you will see two big lagoons by the sea, and when you hear that this is a kite spot, your heart will probably already start jumping. Be warned however, only one of the lagoons, the northerly one, allows wind sports such as kitesurfing, windsurfing and wingfoiling. The other one is for swimmers only, and during the summer season there is even a kind of bathing platform in the middle, perfect for your non-kiting friends and family. The best wind directions are westerly and southerly directions. In northerly and easterly directions the wind comes over a high dike, which makes the wind pretty much unrideable, at least for kiting. The southwesterly wind is nice and steady, and blows offshore from a grassy bank so there is very little chop, which I hardly need tell you is perfect for riding fast, or for precise takeoffs. I have seen kiters jump well over 20 meters high on a stormy day here. It might be the best spot on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein. As you can see in the pictures you can really let loose her
When I arrived at the spot on the day I was there with Simon Bruhn, it was a cloudy but unusually warm November day. I’d packed two kite sizes and two bars with different line lengths. I went to the top of the dike overlooking the spot and could feel the wind was a little on the light side for kiteloops. But the lagoon looked pretty nice and there were already around 30 kiters on the water even though it was only about 2pm on a Friday. So I went on down to meet our photographer Jens and have a little chat. He was busy rigging up the lights and Simon was riding the lagoon. I was already impressed by his huge bag of Big Air tricks and they looked even better in real life than in video clips. I decided to rig my 10m with the shorter lines, but was quite underpowered so after a few tries of underpowered loops I decided to pump the 12m.
After a few nice yanking loops Jens pulled us over to the side and told us that the light was decreasing faster than we thought and that it would not be possible to take pictures from downwind with the telephoto lens at the top of the dike. We decided to start using the flash and the fish-eye lens right away, and as Simon saw that I was having more fun on short lines, he also switched to much shorter 16m lines. Short lines bring higher risks and it is harder to control rotations, but the kite loops much more aggressively and catches earlier. Looking at the photos on Jens’s camera, the short lines definitely worked out great for this underpowered shoot. We had so much fun that we continued until way after sundown and could barely see our kites anymore. It was brilliant to see how much control Simon had during tricks, even head over feet in the air. After the session, we gathered in Simon’s van, had a look through the photos, and chatted about our awesome adrenaline-fueled day.
If you want to head here yourself you will need to be quite proficient in relaunching your kite as downwind there are rock fortifications waiting for your kite and not everywhere is shallow enough to stand up before your kite reaches those rocks. The lagoon is shallow for 10 to 20 meters around the sides but in the middle is deeper, enough that foiling is possible. There is a kite school at the spot, so when you arrive for the first time do pop in and ask them for directions and spot rules. On a good day there might be 30 to 50 kiters here so sometimes one needs to wait a little bit for space to send a jump or maneuver. After your session the grassy area between the lagoon and the sea is pretty nice for sundown drinks. From here you can also take a walk in the Wadden sea, but please be aware of the tide as the North Sea waters tend to rise really quickly and numerous tourists have had to be rescued by boat or helicopter in the past. So walk and ride safe and enjoy this wonderful spot!
Fly to Hamburg Airport (HAM) or drive from anywhere in Europe. You will need your own vehicle, so rent a car if you’re flying in. Head northwest on the Autobahn A23 from Hamburg.
Büsum has quite a lot of tourism so there are plenty of rooms for rent and a few hotels, but book early if coming in summer. I can recommend the Bretterbude which is part of an independent hotel chain and has a nice rustic flair.
Bring your 4/3 wetsuit. On a handful of days in the year you might be able to kite in a shorty,
but in autumn and winter go as warm as you can.
The most used size is 12m as the wind is mostly around 14 to 20 knots, but bring a smaller kite as the wind sometimes picks up quite nicely.
The local beer (tasty and on the dry side) is Dithmarscher Pilsener, from a small, traditional brewery nearby.
“Moin” which is the general word for hello and goodbye. It means roughly “have a good day” in one word.
Lots of other words – the northerners like to keep it short and crispy! Actually they are quite nice and helpful once you get to know them, but life at sea is hard and so there is no time for idle talk.
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