Soma Bay is a coastal resort on the Red Sea in Egypt. It is around 30 miles (45 minute transfer) from Hurghada International airport.
The bay provides relatively flat water and cross/offshore winds. The wind is very reliable from March to October. Kitesurfing and Windsurfing are also very popular here and Scuba Diving in the Red Sea is renowned.
We went there in October 2024 and had a great time. We stayed at the Steigenberger Hotel using the KBC Kite Centre for Winging. This area is actually known as Ras Soma.
In a nutshell
Pros:
- Warm climate and water with reliable cross/off shore winds
- Flat water with very easy entry and no shore break
- Large riding area with plenty of space
- Further out and across the bay you can find small waves to get some feel for surfing
- Well equipped watersports centre offers equipment hire, storage, lessons and a place to chill between sessions
- Watersports staff are very friendly and helpful and will carry your board back and forth and hose stuff down
- Safety cover through watersports centre if things go wrong
- Good quality accommodation close by with a regular shuttle service to the watersports centre
- 5 hour flight from UK and 2 hour time difference
- Egypt represents very good value for money
- Egypt has a wonderful climate when it is still cold/getting cold in Northern Europe
Cons:
- 5 hours is still quite a long time on a budget airline
- Egypt will be very very hot for summer months so be careful when you book
- There is not a huge amount to do for non watersports partners (like my long suffering wife)
- There is development going on in Ras Soma so there is some (fairly distant) noise from that
Where is it ?
Soma Bay is in the Red Sea in Egypt.
Hurghada International airport is less than an hour away. Easyjet and TUI both fly to Hurghada on a daily basis from the UK. It is a 5 hour flight. There are many flights from other European countries in particular Germany. (I haven’t linked to TUI as my only experience of them was disastrous.)
March to October are the most wind assured months, with Spring and Autumn having a really lovely climate.
We stayed at the Steigenberger Hotel. This is a relatively new all inclusive hotel which both my wife and I really liked. The accommodation was great and the food very varied and good. The hotel isn’t cheap, but Egypt does represent very good value for money overall and I rated the Steigenberger excellent value for money on my guest survey. You can walk to the watersports centre from the hotel, but the shuttle runs every hour on the hour (departing from the watersports centre back to the hotel at quarter to the hour). I walked back once and found that it was not especially scenic as there is quite a bit of development going on. After that I took the shuttle.
Costs
Flights and hotel are the main costs, I will leave you to explore those at your leisure. We flew Easyjet and they provide a good basic service in my view. One especially good feature is Easyjet’s sporting equipment (windsurf board) option. This allows you to pack up to 32 kg and meant I took everything I needed.
The KBC RAS Soma watersports centre has its own charges. There is a full price list available on their website but as I had my own gear my main costs were:
- €105 to store my board, wings, wet suit and other gear for 7 days
- €55 for the “Diamond Service” where one of the team would carry my board to and from the water and hose it down at the end of the day (well worth the money as explained below)
- €10 for a locker with a padlock for valuables for 7 days
- I also spent €35 on about thirty photos that the pro-photographer took
What did I take
As mentioned earlier I had a dedicated 32kg checked windsurfer bag allowance (we had one conventional 23kg checked bag in addition between us.)
I have the Manera 5′ Wing Bag with wheels which allowed me to take:
- A Gong Hipe Cruzader inflatable board
- Duotone Unit DLab 5.5 m Wing
- Duotone Unit 4.0 m Wing
- Slingshot Phantasm Foil setup with mast, fuselage, G1000 front wing and two alternative stabs
- Light wetsuit and booties
- Waistbelt and harness
- Impact vest and helmet
- Rashie and knee guards
- Bags for wings
A slight downturn in the wind forecast got me worried at the last minute, so my wife gave up a bit of space in her suitcase! and I also managed to take my Duotone Ventis 7.0 m (which I didn’t use after all).
Rigging and Launching
The KBC centre is a 5 minute ride from the hotel. Most people will go there and if doing multiple sessions chill out at the centre rather than going back.
I was able to leave my board and foil constructed so there was no set up needed. They have an area with some astro-turf and inflators for wings just in front of the centre where you can inflate your wing and leave it during breaks to avoid it rubbing on the sand.
Note that the inflators do not have pressure gauges, the guys go by feel. For kites I’m sure they get it right but I don’t think they pump wings quite enough. I took my own electric pump so I knew I was pumping to the right level.
It is worth paying attention to the tides. At high tide it’s less than 100 metres to the water. However, this then requires wading out through knee deep water for 200 metres or more before you get to deep enough water to foil. At low tide on the other hand, it’s further to the water but it’s deep enough to launch after around 20 metres. I was quite lucky with tides and planned my sessions so that I was starting around an hour before low tide and ending an hour after. If/when we go again I would take that into account in planning my dates. It’s at low tide that the diamond service transport of the board to/from the edge of the water is well worth the money.
The KBC guys have marked a channel to launch through, avoiding a couple of coral reefs. This is pretty straightforward (see video above) for anyone who can taxi confidently and stay cross wind. Because the water is shallow there is no shore-break to worry about either leaving or returning. The launch point drop off is quite steep, so when you return it’s pretty clear where to dismount. The bottom is also very soft and sandy so if you do get it slightly wrong it’s pretty forgiving on the foil.
On the Water
The prevailing wind is cross-off shore. The whole week I was there it was sufficiently cross shore that I had zero concerns about getting in and out. There were less experienced wingers there at the same time and even a total beginner was able to pretty much go straight out and back to shore.
The wind at the end of the bay where KBC are benefits from very little in the way of wind-shadow. In general we had the upper end or even above what windguru forecast for the whole week. For someone like me who is used to gusty in-land conditions the clean 15 to 18 knots we had for most most of the week was absolute heaven. I just rigged my 5.5 m wing, never felt under or overpowered hooked into my harness and relaxed.
The bay is pretty large. As you get further out into the bay, or as you head north you find deeper water. You will find small waves here, they aren’t big enough to flag out on but you can certainly play around using a combination of wave power and the wing power to get a bit of a feel for surfing them.
If you want the photographer to get some shots of your wing foiling exploits then mention it to him. He will then periodically be standing in the shallow kite training area as you get closer to shore. You can head closer to him whilst staying deep enough and he’ll get some great shots (there are multiple examples on this page). You just select the ones you want at the end.
One last thing that doesn’t happen at my own spot is the occasional turtle surfacing. Look out for these cute creatures which I saw popping up multiple times most days.
Other water users
Aside from the turtles there are obviously lots of kiters from KBC, some other wingers but we are still a minority. There were also a few windsurfers hammering around who I think come from the hotel on the northern edge of the bay.
Generally it seems the kiters prefer the flatter water closer to shore, so once you get a little further out you’ll find you largely have the place to yourself. When launching and returning to shore it’s worth noting that beginner kiters are having lessons upwind of the wing foiling channel. Mostly they will be in the shallow water so you’ll dismount before they are a concern, but it pays to keep an eye out and be considerate in particular of those learning. The experienced kiters can obviously sail all the way in and can avoid you.
Taking your own kit
It might be worth a quick word on taking your own gear. I took my Gong Hipe Cruzader inflatable, my full complement of wings and my foil set up. The Hipe is my downwind board that I specifically bought for lighter wind winging. As the whole point of going to Soma Bay was to find wind, I had some doubts as to whether this was the best choice. However I decided that even airport baggage handlers couldn’t break an inflatable board and if I found it wasn’t suited to conditions I could always rent a board.
In fact the Hipe worked great. There is no doubt in my mind that inflatable boards have disadvantages to hard boards. The fat profile makes them more unstable and they tend to stick more to the water, becoming a bit harder to get flying. Although the Hipe is narrow, which takes some getting used to, the narrowness and greater length make it relatively easier to take off. Given that the water was mostly very flat I got comfortable on the Hipe quickly. Since there was enough wind to take off easily I was mainly up on foil. Once foiling the sensation is little different to a hard board, since you are riding the foil and the board is just a platform.
As I mentioned earlier I didn’t need my 7m wing and wouldn’t bother taking it in future (I’d rent if it was marginal). I also didn’t need my wetsuit in October, the air was 25 degrees C and the water similar. I did use a long sleeved rash guard and long legged rash pants to protect my legs from board rash climbing on and off the board. In addition and learning from a previous trip I got some Gill Knee Pads that worked great in preventing sore knees.
The gear that was available to rent at KBC seemed good, but I am familiar with my own kit, I really don’t believe you can beat the Duotone wings for power and performance and I’m comfortable on my foil. So my conclusion is that it was well worth the Easyjet fee for taking everything with me.
Safety
The watersports centre provides safety cover so long as you are renting either gear or storage space. The boat is out and manned most of the time people are on the water. They seem to keep a pretty good eye out, I had a wing harness line issue that I spent a couple of minutes in the water resolving and the safety guy came to check everything was ok. That’s pretty comforting.
Weather
KBC don’t have live weather but there is a live weather station further up the bay which should show current conditions. The guys at KBC are good at judging conditions, so its a good idea to ask. On a couple of days I felt the wind had dropped a little and both times was correctly persuaded to stay with what I’d been using.
The wind forecast by Windguru was very good for the time I was there. If anything we got the upper end of the forecast or even a little more.
Ready to go?
If you are suitably enthused and ready to find out more I can certainly recommend the team at Planet Wingfoil. I have been on a number of wing foiling holidays with them and they have great knowledge to help you choose.