Koper – Žusterna

About this spot

Žusterna is the long bay just south of Koper's old town, and the launch is on the left-hand side of it, beside the surf club's containers. KJD Bum keeps a base here, and that matters more than it sounds: on the Slovenian coast you ride where a water-sports organisation provides rescue, and this is one of the few bays where that actually exists.

The comfortable wind is the summer maestral from W–NW. It is thermal, so it builds through the afternoon, usually only nudges 12–15 kn, and makes for relaxed freeriding rather than powered sessions — bring a bigger kite than you would at home. Bora from the north-east quarter is stronger but rough and gusty on this fetch; once it goes past about 30 kn the local advice is to retreat a couple of kilometres south to the sheltered bay of Fiesa, where a tired or broken rider gets blown back to the beach — just avoid the dead-wind zone at the foot of the cliffs there.

Watch the reef upwind of the launch: it is shallow, it is sharp and it has claimed a few fins. The bay also sits under Koper's port and marina, so boat traffic is a permanent part of the picture, and the rule along this stretch of the Koper municipality is that water sports happen only in zones where they don't collide with swimmers and where rescue is provided. A bus from Koper train station reaches the water, and the stadium car park at Šmarne 17 is the usual place to leave the car.