About Essaouira On The Water

For lessons and prices we link to one local school, Essaouira Watersports (11 Av. Princesse Lalla Amina, Essaouira), an IKO-certified kitesurf school that also teaches surf and wingfoil. This site is connected to that school, which is why it's the only one we quote.

Everything else here (data, safety advice, caveats) is sourced and would be the same whoever you learn with.

Wind and air temperature: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API, ERA5 reanalysis, 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024, grid point 31.50° N, 9.77° W. For each day we average the wind at 10 m from 11:00 to 18:00 Moroccan clock time of the period (UTC+1 for most of 2015–2024, so ≈ 10:00–17:00 on today's UTC+0 clock); a month's figures are the mean of those daily values and the share of days at 12 kn and 15 kn or more. Directions count hours with at least 8 kn.

Morning vs afternoon: the same ERA5 series, mean hourly wind at 08–10 h and 14–17 h in UTC+0, which has been Morocco's clock time since 20 September 2026, per month.

Waves and sea temperature: Open-Meteo Marine API, 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024, offshore model cells at 31.50° N, 9.80° W (Essaouira) and 31.355° N, 9.82° W (Sidi Kaouki). Monthly means of hourly values.

"What's good this month": simple rules on the same data. Wind: "windy" when at least 55% of days reach 12 kn, "mixed" from 40%, "lighter" below. Swell: "bigger" from 2.0 m, "smaller" up to 1.6 m. Wetsuit: 3/2 mm from June to October and 4/3 mm from November to May, as a recommendation.

The scripts and data files are published with the site's source code.

• Model data (ERA5, a grid of roughly 25–30 km) smooths local thermal and coastal effects, so real beach winds are often stronger. Use it to compare months, not as a promise.
• Offshore model values (Open-Meteo Marine, 2022–2024). Wave height at the beach depends on the spot, the tide and the seabed.
• Essaouira and Moulay Bouzerktoun fall in the same ERA5 grid cell, so we only show Essaouira.
• Lesson prices come from the school's website on 20 October 2026 and can change.

We don't list boat trips, fishing trips, rental shops, restaurants or hotels we haven't verified, and we don't publish reviews, ratings or opening hours. Spotted a mistake? Write to essaouirawatersports@gmail.com and we'll fix it.

Last updated on 20 October 2026.