Windsurfing near Island View Beach
- Cattle Point (16 km)
- Willows (16 km)
- Esquimalt lagoon (18 km)
- Cook St. (18 km)
- Gordons Beach (42 km)
Place-of-choice for Victoria newbie kiters to learn with relatively few hazards (but these include parked cars, a gazebo, power lines inland of the parking lot, loose dogs, .....). Lots of parking, big grassy field to rig in, public washroom (big outhouse, no running water). Best on SE through NE during winter, also summer lighter thermal sea breeze can set up here. Winter offers some gnarly conditions with big winds and big wind waves, sometime going overhead on the sandbar that parallels the beach about 100 m offshore. During big winter storms the shorebreak and strong longshore currents can make launches difficult, especially for less skilled windsurfers. Be careful of SE winds veering S, if it goes SW or W the wind can take you offshore very quickly. Can be good flatwater blasting on winter NE through E, but this is usually during cold snaps and it can be COLD. Check the wind cam on bigwavedave.ca