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Ansa Vata Bay, Noumea (New Caledonia)

Windsurfing and Wing Foiling
Spot in
Asia Pacific
,
New Caledonia

Ansa Vata Bay, Noumea (New Caledonia) - At a Glance

Ansa Vata Bay, Noumea (New Caledonia)

Ansa Vata Bay in Noumea is one of the world’s best locations for flat water blasting, so much so, that in recent years, the PWA (professional windsurfing Association) has selected this location for its annual finale to the world cup slalom racing tour. Consistent trade winds and blue lagoon like water provide ideal conditions for flat-water blasting as well as long distance cruising to other nearby islands.
The horse-shoe shaped bay, which forms a lagoon, is blessed with South Easterly trade winds that blow across the lagoon from left to right. This prevailing wind direction points the sailor in the direction of Duck island, which lies a kilometre away. Three kilometres further on is the island of Ilot de Maitre, a 600m long island surrounded by a vast and shallow lagoon, ideal for long speed runs.
Although Anse Vata bay provides year round sailing, the winds are most consistent between October and April during the summer months, with an average air temperature of 27 to 29 degrees, and a water temperature of 26 degrees.

Pros

Flat water at low to mid tide
Blue water
Safety
Easy rigging on grass under palm trees
Easy launching
Close to the hotels
Cross shore trade winds

Cons

Seabed can be hard under foot
Keep an eye out for turtles

The generally flat waters of Ansa Vata bay are ideal for freeride gear, as well as full slalom race equipment, where there are many local sailors to test your speed against.

Live Wind in Noumea

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Abilities

Ansa Vata Bay is suited to all windsurfing and kitesurfing levels from beginner to advanced. Although it provides no waves for wave sailing, it is a world class area for freeride blasting, slalom racing and freestyle. It also provides the ideal location for those learning to use a harness, get planing, water-start and gybe. At Duck Island, the sailor can dismount in the shallows, rest, and look back at the view of the bay, before sailing back to shore.

Sailing

Palm trees provide cover over a thin layer of grass to rig up, or you can rig on the sandy beach. The weekends can get busy with windsurfers, particularly slalom sailors coming out to compare their relative speeds with other sailors but there is always room to rig up. The seabed at the launch point in Ansa Vata Bay is a mix of sand and fine pieces of loose coral which can be a little sharp under foot, so booties are recommended. There is no shore break and the grade of the sea bed is gradual making launching very easy. At low to mid tide, with a slight current from left to right, the water is flat when the south east trade wind is blowing. As the tide rises the lagoon becomes a little choppier, but for a given wind strength is relatively flat. The water can get very choppy in the expanse of water between Duck Island and Ilot de Maitre which is the shipping channel, although shipping traffic is fairly low. Once at Ilot de Maitre, the sailor is greeted with flat water for long speed runs. It should be noted that it is only possible to sail in the lagoon at Ilot de Maitre between mid and high tide, otherwise your fin is likely to hit the seabed. An alternative is to take one of the small ferries with your windsurfing equipment out to Ilot de Maitre, and rig up there.

Seasons

Although Anse Vata bay provides year round sailing, the winds are most consistent between October and April during the summer months, with an average air temperature of 27 to 29 degrees, and a water temperature of 26 degrees.

Water

The water in this massive lagoon is turquoise blue and generally quite warm with temps around 27 Deg C. You can expect some fabulous flat water for high-speed blasting as well as some chop as the winds gets up.

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Rigging

There are lots of rigging areas on the grass under palm trees or on the sandy beach

Launching

The sea bed can be tough on the feet so booties are advisable. Otherwise launching is straight forward with little to no shore-break.

Potential Hazards

Turtles frequent the waters surrounding New Caledonia. Many a local windsurfer will have a tale to tell of damaging their fin colliding with the shell of a turtle, so it pays to keep an eye out for them; same goes for foiling kite surfers. There is not a great difference between water depth at high and low tide, and in between the launching area and Duck Island there are no shallow areas on which to hit your fin although foilers may need to stick to deeper channels at low tide. The snorkelling area located a couple hundred metres from the main windsurfing launching area is rich in coral which lays just beneath the surface of the water however this is well cordoned off with the use of marker buoys so this shouldn’t present a hazard.

Nearby Services

Town,Accommodation,Bar,Restaurants

Where to Stay

Noumea Accommodation

There are a dozen or so hotels to chose from in and around Noumea however the best located hotels for those wanting to sail that are within walking distance to the main launching areas are as follows ….