The difference between a perfect day's paddling and a bad time is almost never luck: it is having checked (and understood) the forecast before setting out. The good news is you don't need to be a meteorologist. With five concepts and five minutes the night before, you will know whether it is a kayak day or a beach-bar day.
Wind rules everything
In kayaking and paddle boarding, factor number one is not the waves: it is the wind. Our practical scale, tuned to the bay of Benidorm:
- 0-8 knots: perfect day. Calm or rippled sea, any reasonable route is on.
- 8-12 knots: paddleable with experience. With kids or beginners, stay in sheltered spots like Cala de Finestrat.
- 12-15 knots: only for fit paddlers, hugging the coast and watching the wind closely. No open water towards the island.
- Over 15 knots: a day for the beach, a stroll and an ice cream. The sea will still be there tomorrow.
Watch the gusts too: a 10-knot forecast with 20-knot gusts is a 20-knot forecast, not a 10-knot one.
Offshore wind: the silent enemy
More important than strength is direction. Onshore wind (in Benidorm, easterly and southerly components) pushes you back towards the beach: annoying, but safe. Offshore wind (westerly and northerly components) is the treacherous one: near the shore you barely feel it, but further out it strengthens and carries you away from the coast. It is the classic cause of inflatable and SUP rescues. With offshore wind, always paddle into the wind on the way out, stay close to shore, and distrust the apparent calm.
The summer thermal wind
In summer the pattern repeats almost daily: calm morning, breeze arriving at midday, established wind by the afternoon. That is the thermal wind. Which is why all our guides repeat the same advice: start early. Summer's best paddling hours run from 9:30 to 13:00. After that, beach time. More on the local climate in the best time of year to paddle.
Waves and groundswell
For paddle craft, swell above 0.5-0.7 metres stops being comfortable, and near cliffs (as along Serra Gelada) the backwash off the wall makes it unpleasant even at lower heights. Groundswell (long waves arriving from a distant storm) is deceptive: you can have sizeable waves with zero wind.
Where to check the forecast
Any serious marine weather app will do: wind maps with hourly forecasts are ideal for spotting what time the thermal breeze arrives, and it always pays to compare two sources and check twice — the night before and again that morning. If the two sources disagree, assume the worse of the two.
And the final rule, the same one we apply ourselves: if in doubt, don't go out. If the sea isn't safe on the day of your booking, we change the date free of charge or refund you. The plan is to enjoy it, not to endure it.