The kite week

The Velika Plaža kite week closed safely: no kite injuries, major improvement, 20-knot final wind, patient Kiteriders coaching, new water friends, and a simple lesson: stop fighting the kite and listen to the wind.

The middle of the trip is a kite week. Velika Plaža is the base: a long sandy beach in southern Montenegro that tends to deliver a usable afternoon thermal most days from late spring onward, which is exactly what a beginner needs.

The honest goal

The honest goal is not “leave Montenegro as a kitesurfer.” The honest goal is to come back to Pirna with three things:

1. The kite-control basics (flying, depowering, relaunching from water, and understanding the wind window) actually internalised, not just heard.
2. Several genuine attempts at body drag and waterstart, with enough repetitions to know what it feels like, not just what the YouTube video looks like.
3. No emergency headlines.

If a real ride happens, that is a postcard. If it doesn’t, the trip is still a success.

Week status

The week is no longer hypothetical. Day one started with theory, safety habits, and the useful reminder that YouTube confidence is not the same thing as kite control. Day two brought around 14 knots and real water time. The third water day cancelled the planned pause: 16 knots, a full sky, face-first landings, and a very clear message that wind has its own teaching method. Day four widened the frame: a morning walk to the Bojana River border, the whole long beach in view, then another afternoon of kite negotiations and recovery talks by bike. Day five narrowed the mission again: almost no wind until midday, proper onshore flow from around 13:00, and the discovery that neoprene timing and dark sand mobility are both serious fields of applied science. The final day closed the chapter safely in stronger wind: around 20 knots, a 12 m kite, calm coaching from Kiteriders, and the important lesson that kiting is less fighting and more listening.

The beach culture is part of the training now too. Argentina, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Spain, France: different accents, same forecast-checking reflex. The mission has moved from “start properly” to “repeat properly, stay safe, enjoy the water, and survive my own ambitions.”

How the week was shaped

Lessons on most days, with quiet mornings and fallback days when the wind did not cooperate. The wind windows at Velika Plaža were almost always in the afternoon, which left the rest of the day for coffee, walks, photos and reading the forecast. The mid-week rest day was lost to wind, and that was fine.