Looking for recommendations for best spots with swell/waves/strong wind in Paros, Greece. Looking to rent gear. Thanks!
Select to expand quoteWindoc said..
Looking for recommendations for best spots with swell/waves/strong wind in Paros, Greece. Looking to rent gear. Thanks!
The main spot is in Pounda (Punta) where the ferry to Antiparos is.
There are two schools, one with Core and one with Eleveight.
Very expensive schools to rent gear from and the gear is ok at best.
The spot is flat water / chop and the wind is v strong. I been there half dozen time and the 3.5m was the wing I used the most (90kg).
If you want some waves then you can go to Golden Beach. Wind is side-off. It can get really windy. They have couple of schools there although mostly for windsurfing.
All things considered I'd advise you to pack your gear and maybe travel with a small, performance oriented inflatable board, one foil and two wings. You'd save money compared to the cost of renting and, more importantly, will have better gear.
A place I'd really love to explore more for wing foiling is AntiParos, there is a place I have been Livadia Beach which, with the right conditions, can be really epic for wave riding.
I kited in the area years ago. There are a ton of beaches along the southern stretch of the island where you can launch, and given that that side of the island curves, you can tailor your spot to the wind. The whole stretch from Kite Beach to Tsoukalia can work well.
The bigger concern is that June can be pretty early for the good wind there. My recollection is that things really only start to crank in early/mid July. Good news is that it won't be very crowded.
Many thanks for the replies! I'm there for a family oriented trip to island hop a bit and would love to squeeze in a session or two while on Paros, so bringing gear not a huge priority. Yes, from what I've seen it's very expensive to rent!
I was there last year but was injured so didn't wing. Lots of beaches to launch from . Golden beach is beautiful and windy but didn't see any waves. You can rent Equipment there but the gear was not great. I would bring foil and 2 wings and rent a board if you can't bring one.
Oh man....bringing back memories of Paros on my honeymoom 30 years ago. Long before foiling--just windsurfing. Golden Beach, cool vibe, mediocre windsurfing gear. Some topless action. I convinced my new bride to sail topless and suddenly there was a swarm of other windsurfers around her. Wind came up offshore and she got blown out. I asked the rental guy to rescue her but he had no boat and directed me to a German guy with a boat, warning me the guy had a bad attitude but would help because he loves to rescue women. So the German guy just cursed, "F**king tourists get into trouble...." I begged him to rescue my wife and offered him money but he wouldn't take any and went out and returned my wife to me.
But I wouldn't go back to Paros unless they've upgraded their plumbing. Even the honeymoon suite at a nice resort had a sign on the toilet: "Do not flush used toilet paper down the toilet. Place it in the waste basket." Are you kidding me? After a day of Greek food and plenty use of the bathroom, and a swarm of flies, I didn't care if I caused a plug--TP was going into the toilet. I would take a latrine over that rule any day.
YMMV
I wingfoiled at Paralia Nea Chrisi Akti (just north of Golden Beach) for a week in late August ast year. This is a link to the rental shop at the beach: maps.app.goo.gl/b6uCnnGfSQz5P2bR7
It was brilliant. Amazing setting, lovely water, windy every day (wind was basically NNE coming down the channel between Naxos and Paros). Gear was decent and not cheap but what can you do? If I recall correctly it was about 100 euros for a day or 70 euros for 2 hours. Edit: no surf waves, you get some wind chop rolling out in the channel particularly if you go further out between Paros and Naxos.
I never took lessons there but I'd taken 2 lessons back home in Sydney and just got my own board & wing that I'd never got a chance to use before leaving, so Paros was my first time up on foil on a wing. Having the big floaty beginner board and massive learner foil was really helpful.
2nd Edit: comments about plumbing & not being able to flush toilet paper. This is still the case and is basically true all across Greece. You can actually get away with flushing paper, especially if you're staying in a modern hotel, unless you use a third of a roll per wipe. Don't flush paper on the ferries as they've got snags in the pipe that prevent flushing paper.
