Live wind
Water & wetsuit
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About this spot
Somerset Long Bay often has the flattest water you will find anywhere on Bermuda, and at low tide you can stand in waist-high water up to 100 m off the beach. That is why the school uses this bay for its kids' lessons and sends beginners here when the wind is too strong or the waves too big at Elbow Beach.
The school's spot guide makes it the go-to beach when the wind comes from the west-north-west round to the north-west, and says it can also work from the north-north-east — though on that direction the wind arrives over the point of land at Cambridge Beaches and is gusty close to the shore. The independent spot database takes a harder line on the north-east, calling it directly onshore here and saying you have to ride upwind to get out, so ask locally before you rig up on a north-east day.
The beach itself is thin and the sand soft, with grass nearby for rigging and a tree line sitting right on the sand. The spot database warns that launching can be tricky with the trees and nearby empty houses, that a rider or launcher may have to stand in the water, and that there is broken glass on the beach; it lists the spot as intermediate to expert.
Five minutes' kite out lies the wreck of the Vixen, sunk in 1897 to guard the Royal Navy dockyard and now a marine protected area — kiters ride around it among the turtles and rays rather than over it.
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 12–28 kn range.
Conditions
- Water
- flat, choppy
- Depth
- Waist-deep to about 100 m out at low tide
- Seabed
- sand
- Skill
- beginner, intermediate
- Beginners
- Beginner friendly
- Wind range
- 12 kn – 28 kn
Access & parking
Somerset, Sandys Parish — keep going past the market place and the filling station and follow the road down to the bay; a short walk from the road to the sand.
Parking: On the approach road above the bay.
Amenities
- Kite lessons and kids' lessons run from this sheltered bay (Graykite)
- Flattest water on the island, with standing depth a long way out at low tide
- Grass beside the sand for rigging without getting sand everywhere
- Turtles, rays and fish around the nearby wreck
Needs local verification: Sources: https://bermuda.graykite.surf/bermuda-kite-spots/ (often the flattest water on the island, waist-high standing water up to 100 m off at low tide, go-to beach for wind WNW to NW and can work NNE but gusty close in because of the Cambridge Beaches point, the Vixen wreck is a marine protected area 5 minutes' kite away), https://bermuda.graykite.surf/packages/kids-kitesurfing/ (the sheltered spot used as the alternative to Elbow Beach when conditions are too strong for children) and https://se.kiteforum.com/kitesurf/spot/somerset_long_bay (shallow/flat/chop depending on direction, best direction N and main direction S listed, westerly tricky to launch, north-east directly onshore and not possible to ride upwind from here, thin soft sandy beach with trees and a tree line right on the sand, broken glass reported, rider ability intermediate/expert). The beginner label follows the school teaching children in this bay — but the same independent database rates it intermediate to expert because of the awkward launch, so learn with the school rather than alone. Coordinates are approximate: the bay is long and the launch point moves with the wind. Water table: seatemperature.org Hamilton averages. Windy links are searches and maps, not verified local webcams.
Local hazards
- Thin, soft sand with a tree line right on the beach — launching is awkward and the launcher may have to stand in the water
- Broken glass reported on the beach — check the area where you lay out your kite
- Gusty wind close in when it comes from the north-east over the Cambridge Beaches point
- The Vixen wreck field is a marine protected area — ride around it, not over it
- The flats change a lot with the tide — check the tide table before planning a session