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About this spot
Shoal Bay on the North Shore is described by the local school that teaches here as one of the safest learner beaches in Auckland. It is a shallow tidal bay that works well in the prevailing south-westerly, and you need to be on the water roughly two hours either side of high (or low) tide — miss the window and the water runs out.
Beginners should stay on the upwind side of the sandbar and keep out of the deeper channel, where the tide runs harder. In the worst case, kiters drift into mud flats or mangroves rather than open water.
3-day forecast
Speed / gusts in knots. Colour = rideability for this spot. Bottom row = recommended kite size for your weight — not recommended outside this spot's 12–25 kn range.
Conditions
- Water
- flat, choppy
- Depth
- Very shallow; deeper tidal channel beyond the sandbar
- Seabed
- sand, mud
- Skill
- beginner, intermediate
- Beginners
- Beginner friendly
- Wind range
- 12 kn – 25 kn
Access & parking
On Auckland's North Shore; schools meet at Lansdowne Street, Bayswater.
Parking: Street parking around Lansdowne Street.
Amenities
- Used regularly by an Auckland kite school for lessons
Needs local verification: Compiled in October 2026 from the Auckland school Wings & Waves' own beach guide, Aerial Kiteboarding's Auckland notes, Kite Insider and Kiteforum. Council rules, launch space, tide windows and school meeting points change, so everything here needs confirming on site and the coordinates are approximate, not verified launch points. No verified live webcam was found, so the camera links open Windy's webcam search instead of a local feed.
Local hazards
- Narrow tide window — the bay empties outside it
- Deeper channel with stronger tidal current beyond the sandbar
- Mud flats and mangroves downwind