GENERAL INFORMATION
Nice and quiet beach comparing with the bussy neightbour Hua Hin. I rather come here for kiting than Hua Hin where the beach is crowded. I would chose this destination if your are looking for a quiet place and you want to have a few of days off per week.
LOCATION
SAFETY
Safty on water: Side on wind wich is great for teaching. Big beach to land and launching from Feb-April in front of the 2 kitesurfing schools. Don’ t need water shoes.
From Nov-Jan you can not teach in front of the schools because the tide is to hight and there is no sand for setting up the kite, but do not worry, you will go teaching to norther beach (5 min ride). This beach is really dirty, so I recommend you to wear water shoes for teaching here, and if you can clean your teaching area before setting up the kite it would help.
Safty on land: Really safe and quiet village. Just be careful riding your scooter.
LEVELS
Begginers: perfect conditions to learn kitesurfing from February to April. I think this spot is better than Hua Hin for learning. Long beach for doing your first lesson and a lot of room on the water.
Intermediate: good place to improve your upwind from Feb-April.
Advanced: remember that the wind is light but if you like riding with foil or surf bords this is a good spot to improve your skills. Bring big kites.
WINDY SEASON
- November-January: side on shore. A bit of waves and deep water , NE, 15 knots, wind 3 days per week. Wind not stable and the beach is not big enought for teaching in front of school, so you have to ride 5 min to another beach.
- From end of January to beggining of February the wind drops down completely and change direcctions from NE to SE.
- Middle Feb-April: side on shore. Thermal wind, flat shallow water. SE, stable wind, 4 days of wind per week, but not all day long. Huge big beach for teaching. 12-17 knots.
WETSUITS
Warm water but you should wear a long sleeved Lycra swimwear and bodysuits to protect you from jellyfish and sun.
WAVES
From November to January you will find waves to ride and deep water.
TIDES
You have 4 tides per day but also you will from November to January the tide will be higher than the rest of the year, so the beach will almost disappears. From February to April the tide is lower so you will have planty of room on the beach to set up your kite.
SEA LIFE
There are jellyfish and some of them are dangerous so be smart and use bodysuits.
TAXES FOR KITING
You do not have to pay for kiting there, you can kite wherever you want.
WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS NO WIND
There is not much to do in Pak Nam Pran but you can go to the Cable Park , visit Hua Hin, go to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and enjoy the amazing caves.
NIGHT LIFE
Forget it. If you want to have night life you should go to Hua Hin or if you want to party you should go to work and kite to Koh Phangan.
TRAVEL WITH FRIENDS/FAMILY THAT DO NOT KITE
If you look for quiet place is great destination, but better ģo from February to April when they can enjoy the beach too.
RECOMMENDED BOOK
Bangkok tattoo, John Burdett.
KITESURFING SCHOOLS
- Kite Thailand: I did my second IKO kitesurfing instuctor course here ( I have to do it because I had not paid the IKO fees the last 5 years) and the atmosphere of the school is really chill and relaxing. Manu, the manager, he is such a nice guy, and he would help you with everything. It is a small school and shop, they are 2-3 instructors. There are a few students so do not plan in making a lot of money. They are an IKO school and they follow all the IKO plan: short lines, just one kite on the air… They work with Cabrinha, Airush, Cabrinha, Slingshot, F-one and Mystic.You will get give 30% comission on lessons. They will help with you with 3000 bht/month. They give also 5% comission on equipment sale and 20% discount on equipment for the instructors for anything they buy here at school.You can use the school equipment so you just need to bring your own harness.It is the only IKO Certified school that does the IKO Instructor course in Thailand.
- Airstylers: Small shop and kite center located next to the beach. Ocean rodeo kites and custom boards. Radio helmets are used for teaching.
KITESURFING INSTRUCTORS
This is a really quiet place with not much to do. If you are looking for a peaceful place this is the right chose. Do not expect to have wind and students everyday and be sure that you will have some weeks with no wind at all. I think this destination is good for couples kitesurfing instructors. You will be making around 700 euros/month.
I would chose this place for 1 month and then go to Koh Phangan to work another month.
15 September, 2017 at 12:27 pm
Pak Nam Pran is a well kept secret among (light Wind) kiters. Best wind conditions for the whole of Thailand. NO TOURISTS ON THE BEACH! Only a few Thai people from Bankok spending the weekends and holidays here. And Thai don’t kite. With one big exception of Mister Yoda himself, the Asian Kite Champion. The IKO course here is top! You can do your shadoing hours on Koh Phangan. Do wear lycra. I got stung by a jelly fish and that is about the most painful thing ever. And it left an ugly scar. But I compensated it with lots of really really good Thai massages on the beach.
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