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About this spot
Yvonand is the spot the Association Romande de Kitesurf points at when it wants a well-run Swiss launch: the club negotiates the water-entry zone with the commune, publishes the current opening on its own blog, and the local rules are printed on a board at the beach and downloadable as a PDF. The beach is wide sand at the edge of the Camping de la Menthue, with showers, drinking water, toilets and a rescue ring nearby and a phone at the campsite — the kind of infrastructure that makes a self-managed session reasonable.
The timing is the unusual part. The spot is closed to kiters from 15 June to 15 August, when the bathing crowd is too dense, and open for the rest of the year — the club's own page gives the window as 16 August to 14 June, and warns that the permission depends on riders respecting the rules. Inside that window the wind is the classic Lake Neuchâtel set: the joran from the north-west works, a plain westerly works, and the bise from the north-east is the perfect wind here — with one catch the club spells out, that if the bise veers to east the beach falls into the lee and the spot is dead. For the launch itself the club is specific: prepare your gear on the west side inside the orange cones, fly the kite low near the water, prefer the left-hand zone furthest from the campsite because it is less gusty and holds fewer bathers, and stack kites and roll lines rather than leaving them lying about.
The hazards are drawn on the club's own sketch of the beach. Trees border the zone and gust the wind; the right-hand end is sheltered by them and reserved for sunbathers; the whole right side of the point is bird reserve, because Yvonand sits in the middle of the federally listed OROEM Grande Cariçaie reserve, so the yellow buoys are a boundary you do not cross; and you keep your distance from the harbour outlet and the breakwater, giving way to boats and passing downwind of them. It is a shared beach in every sense — lines, canopies and riders all have to fit around the people swimming.
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 11–30 kn range.
Conditions
- Water
- flat, choppy
- Depth
- No standing depth to rely on
- Seabed
- sand, gravel on the bank, reeds along the reserve
- Skill
- intermediate, expert
- Beginners
- Not for beginners — intermediate and up
- Wind range
- 11 kn – 30 kn
Access & parking
Exit Yverdon-Sud on the A1, follow signs to Yvonand and the Camping de la Menthue; the beach is reached from Chemin de la Plage. Closed to kiters from 15 June to 15 August.
Parking: Parking at Chemin de la Plage — respect the areas reserved for the campsite and its restaurant.
Amenities
- Association Romande de Kitesurf spot with a negotiated water-entry zone, printed rules and a posted opening schedule
- Showers, drinking water, toilets and a rescue ring near the beach, with a phone at the campsite
- Camping de la Menthue beside the spot, restaurants and shops in Yvonand
- Rail link to Yverdon-les-Bains and Neuchâtel, and the A1 exit at Yverdon-Sud
Needs local verification: Compiled in October 2026 from the federal inland-navigation ordinance as summarised by the Swiss kiting club, cantonal police notices, the federal waterbird-reserve inventory and club and municipal spot pages; launch corridors, reserve perimeters and seasonal closures change and must be checked on site before you rig. Water temperature is the published lake average — the marine model has no inland-lake data.
Local hazards
- Closed to kiters from 15 June to 15 August because of the bathing crowd — ride only inside the open window the club publishes
- The whole right-hand side of the point is the OROEM Grande Cariçaie bird reserve: stay clear of the yellow buoys
- Trees along the zone gust the wind, and the right end of the beach lies in their lee
- Launch and land only in the marked corridor at the left-hand end; gear is staged in the cones on the west side and the zone is shared with bathers
- Keep clear of the harbour outlet and the breakwater — kiters give way to every other craft on the lake