Għadira Bay, the beginner beach at Mellieħa
Surfing Malta, a wing foiling, windsurfing and SUP school, has its base at Għadira Bay in the north of the island. Għadira and Mellieħa Bay are two names for one stretch of sand. Readers new to the wing itself will find the gear and the first steps in our wingfoil guide.
VisitMalta counts thirteen pocket beaches around Mellieħa and calls this one the largest, sheltered between two headlands. Low gradient sand and clear, shallow water have made it the most popular family beach on the island. It flies a Blue Flag, and from June to September lifeguards and a first aid post are on duty.
Parts of the bay are designated for water sports and windsurfing. Together with the shallow, sandy entry, that makes it what we would call a beginner bay. You can stand up after a fall, the walk out with the board is over sand, and the sports area has its own patch of water. Surfing Malta says it specializes in teaching beginners, and this is the bay it teaches from.
Lessons meet on Triq il-Marfa in Mellieħa. The school's office is inland at Mosta (phone +356 7975 2108). That address is an office only; the beach base stays at Għadira.
Salini, St Thomas Bay and Qalet Marku
Away from Għadira, Surfing Malta works as a mobile school. Its instructors teach along the north coast from Qalet Marku Bay to Mellieħa Bay, at Salini and at Marsaskala, and its wing, windsurf and SUP gear can be hired out to any location on Malta and Gozo. Malta covers just over 300 km² and has very little tide. The school reckons you can get round the best spots in a few days.
Its spots run from flat calm water for beginners to rocky, windier areas. Mellieħa Bay in the north and St Thomas Bay at Marsaskala, at the other end of the island, get one description between them: similar and varied conditions, fine for all levels.
Qalet Marku lies on the north coast between Salina and Mellieħa. Surfing Malta calls it one of the most famous windsurfing spots on Malta, with favorable winds common. We would save it, along with the rocky and windier stretches, for the day you can ride upwind and back without help.
No operator names a wing foil bay on Gozo, so agree a Gozo session with Surfing Malta before you buy the ferry ticket.
Each bay and the rider it suits
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| Bay | What you find there | Level, our reading |
|---|---|---|
| Għadira Bay (Mellieħa Bay) | Sheltered sand, shallow water, a water sports area, the school's base | First lessons and first flights |
| Salini | A venue of the mobile school | Lessons with an instructor |
| St Thomas Bay, Marsaskala | Conditions the school compares to Mellieħa Bay | Lessons, all levels |
| Qalet Marku | A well known windsurf spot with favorable winds | Riders who get upwind and back alone |
| Rocky, windier stretches | The far end of the school's range | Independent riders only |
Majjistral, gregale and the Luqa wind record
Maltese has its own names for two of the winds. Majjistral is the north westerly, the mistral of the wider Mediterranean. Grigal is the gregale, a strong and cool north easterly that blows when a low pressure system passes south of the island.
The long term figures come from the National Statistics Office report The Climate of Malta 1951 to 2010, built on the weather station at Luqa airport. Over 1961 to 1990 it gives a mean annual wind of 8.8 knots (16.3 km/h). Over 1997 to 2006 the north westerly was the most common direction, on about 21 per cent of days, ahead of west and west southwest at about 9 per cent. A pure northerly was the rarest wind, about 3 per cent of days, and dead calm was logged on 2 per cent.
The months differ more than the annual mean suggests. April has the highest mean monthly wind, 10.3 knots. January has the highest extreme monthly mean, 14.1 knots, swings more than any other month and carries the highest average peak gust, 47 knots. March and December recorded the most gale days, meaning gusts of Beaufort 8 or more, and July the fewest. October is the month whose gusts vary most, and the strongest gust of that period, 72 knots from the northwest, came on 11 October 1982. Luqa sits inland, so its record describes the island in general and no beach in particular. The lesson day is set by the forecast and the school.
Wing foil seasons in Malta, month by month
Surfing Malta sells the island on a warm climate all year, with long hot summers and mild winters, and says wing foiling gains riders every summer. For wind, the airport record points to other months.
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| Month | Sea temperature | Daytime high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16 °C | 15 °C | 13 |
| February | 15 °C | 15 °C | 10 |
| March | 15 °C | 16 °C | 9 |
| April | 16 °C | 19 °C | 6 |
| May | 18 °C | 23 °C | - |
| June | 22 °C | 27 °C | - |
| July | 25 °C | 30 °C | - |
| August | 26 °C | 30 °C | - |
| September | 26 °C | 28 °C | - |
| October | 24 °C | 24 °C | 10 |
| November | 21 °C | 20 °C | 10 |
| December | 18 °C | 17 °C | 13 |
June to September gives you sea between 22 and 26 °C, lifeguards on Mellieħa Bay and the busiest beaches. July has the fewest gale days, and as we read the record, summer brings the lighter average wind. A summer week suits a beginner who wants warm water and does not mind waiting for a breeze.
Spring and autumn look like the windier holiday windows to us. April has the highest mean wind of the year, with the sea at 15 to 18 °C from March to May. October and early November are the warm shoulder months, sea at 24 and then 21 °C.
December to February look to us like the strongest days and the least predictable ones, with 13 rain days in both January and December and the sea at 15 to 18 °C. Come in winter only if you handle gusts well, and bring spare days for the ones too rough to ride.
Wing foil lessons in Malta with Surfing Malta
Surfing Malta calls all of its instructors fully certified, and safety equipment and buoyancy aids come with its courses. Every wing lesson is for riders of 16 and over and depends on the weather, so a booking is a plan the school can move. The three formats differ in how far they take you toward the foil.
The Wing Foiling Course, 6 hours over three lessons
- Lesson one opens with an hour on land covering theory, setting up the gear and controlling the wing. The second hour is in the water on a big SUP board, where you learn to balance and steer the wing while standing.
- Lesson two is about moving where you mean to go on the board: upwind, downwind and turns.
- Lesson three spends both hours on the foil board and ends with your first flights.
Tacking, jibing and setting up the foil come in along the way. Since each lesson depends on the wind, we read the course as three wind days that need not follow one another.
The 2 hour lesson
Half an hour of theory, wing set up, safety and wing flying on land comes first. Next comes half an hour on a SUP that does not foil, for power and depower, kneeling to a water start, basic sailing and a basic jibe. The second hour covers upwind, crosswind and downwind legs, tacks and jibes, foil set up, pumping and first flights on a foil board. The school pitches it at complete novices as well as windsurfers and kiteboarders.
The 1 hour lesson
About 40 minutes are spent on land, followed by a short session on a paddle board without a foil. You will not fly. For a first try the school recommends the 2 hour lesson; the single hour suits a rider who already wing foils and wants to work on a jibe or on getting upwind.
Booked through an activity platform, a Surfing Malta session adds a few conditions. You must be able to swim, weigh at least 35 kg and stand at least 150 cm tall, and a minor needs a parent's permission. Instructor, wing, board and life vest are included; a hotel transfer is not.
Surfing Malta's price list for lessons and rental
Surfing Malta quotes every price in euros, the currency of Malta, and charges lessons per person. Private tuition costs more on every format.
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| Format | Group or private | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| Wing Foiling Course, 3 × 2 hours | Group | €350 |
| Wing Foiling Course, 3 × 2 hours | Private | €490 |
| 2 hour lesson | Group | €140 |
| 2 hour lesson | Private | €175 |
| 1 hour lesson | Group | €75 |
| 1 hour lesson | Private | €100 |
The group course at €350 costs less than three separate 2 hour lessons at €420. Going private adds €140 to the course and €35 to a single 2 hour lesson.
Wing rental and hour blocks
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| What you hire | For how long | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Full kit | 1 hour | €40 |
| Full kit | 1 day, 10am to 4pm | €160 |
| Full kit | 2 days or more | €110 |
| Wing only | 1 hour | €30 |
| Wing only | 1 day, 10am to 4pm | €100 |
| Wing only | 2 days or more | €90 |
| Board and foil | 1 hour | €30 |
| Board and foil | 1 day, 10am to 4pm | €110 |
| Board and foil | 2 days or more | €90 |
| Wing membership | 5 hours, valid 3 months | €180 |
| Wing membership | 10 hours, valid 1 year | €330 |
| Wing membership | 20 hours, valid 1 year | €500 |
The school's rate for two days or more does not say whether it is per day. We take it as a day rate from the second day; confirm it when you book. A full kit for the day costs as much as four single hours, so the day rate pays once you ride four. The hour blocks bring an hour down from €40 to roughly €36 with 5 hours, €33 with 10 and €25 with 20. For a holiday week, the 5 hour block, valid three months, is the one that fits. Windsurf rental is €35 an hour and a SUP €20.
Planning a week around weather dependent lessons
Every wing lesson on Malta waits for the right wind. Book the course for the start of your stay and leave spare days behind it, for light wind in summer and for gale days from December to March. A flat day moves lesson two, and lesson three still fits before the flight home. On a light wind day, a windsurfing taster, SUP lessons, a SUP tour or kayaking with the same school fill the slot.
After the course, rent by the hour, by the day if the wind holds, or take the 5 hour block for the rest of the week. Stay at Għadira until you can get upwind and back on your own; Qalet Marku can wait for a later trip.
What to pack
- A wetsuit from December to May, or ask the school whether it can provide one. The sea is 15 to 18 °C in those months.
- Sun protection, and booties for rocky entries at the windier spots.
- A parent's permission for a rider of 16 or 17, the only minors the wing lessons take.
Swimmer zones, launching lanes and the Small Ships Regulations
No Maltese law names wing foiling or kites. The text closest to the subject is the Small Ships Regulations, Subsidiary Legislation 499.52 (Legal Notice 183 of 2008, 1 August 2008, amended up to Legal Notice 317 of 2019). Regulation 2 defines a small ship as a craft under 24 m that navigates only in Malta's territorial waters, “whether mechanically driven or not”. Its open list of types names paddleboats and canoes, not wings, kites or boards.
The rules that touch a wing rider directly come from Transport Malta. Each season it reserves swimmer zones around Malta and Gozo; for 2026 that is Local Notice to Mariners No. 076 of 2026, issued in April and in force until further notice, with the zones shown on the Transport Malta website. Its swimmer zone notices bar any craft or object that may endanger bathers from inside a zone. Local Notice to Mariners No. 130 of 2026 (16 July 2026) adds launching lanes and tells mariners to keep at least 20 m from swimmer zones, cut to 5 m at a few named bays, among them Blue Lagoon, Santa Marija Bay, Mġarr ix-Xini and Xlendi.
The Third Schedule of S.L. 499.52 (regulation 45) fixes the fines: obstructing a launching lane costs €100, and mooring to swimmer zone marker buoys €200. Two further rules are written for mechanically driven small ships. Regulation 25 sets a limit of ten knots inside any harbor, within 300 m of the foreshore of a sandy beach and within 200 m of any other foreshore, with a fixed fine of €600 for breaking it. Regulation 29 requires a nautical license from the Authority, issued from age 18, plus third party insurance, and the fine for riding without the license is €500. As we read them, neither binds a wing, which has no motor.
For a wing rider the list is short. Stay out of swimmer zones, keep launching lanes clear, launch from the lane or from the school's area and never through a buoyed zone, and follow the school's own rules on where to ride. That is how we read the texts, and it is no substitute for legal advice; Transport Malta decides, and its notices change from season to season.
eFoil in Malta: demos for buyers
On Malta, as far as we can see, eFoils are for buyers only, with nobody hiring them out by the hour. Ritz Marine sells eFoils (Lift Foils, Fliteboard and Awake) through an enquiry form, keeps a showroom at Marsaskala and arranges Fliteboard demos there and at St Paul's Bay for buyers on request, with a briefing from a Malta based instructor and no public rental or lesson price. It treats an eFoil as an electric powered vessel that keeps clear of swimming zones and buoyed areas. In our reading the ten knot bands of regulation 25 can bind an eFoil. Whether the license rule of regulation 29 reaches a low power board is a question for Transport Malta. For an eFoil holiday with a rental desk, our eFoil spots list the places that have one.
Bus to Mellieħa, ferry to Gozo and the documents you need
Buses X1 and TD1 run from Malta International Airport to Ċirkewwa, and both pass through Mellieħa. The airport bus station is 100 m from arrivals. The full ride to the ferry takes one to two hours depending on the time of day. From Ċirkewwa, Gozo Channel runs the ferry to Mġarr on Gozo, 25 minutes on a seasonal timetable. If you hire a car, traffic keeps to the left.
Malta is in the Schengen area. A British citizen can stay without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180, on a passport issued less than 10 years before arrival and valid for at least 3 months after leaving the Schengen area. Under the EU Entry/Exit System the border may take your fingerprints and a photo, which costs nothing.
The emergency number is 112; ask for an ambulance. Medically necessary state healthcare needs a GHIC or EHIC, which covers no repatriation or private care and does not replace travel insurance. The public hospitals are Mater Dei in Msida and Gozo General Hospital. Ask your insurer whether wing foiling is covered. Sockets take the three pin rectangular plug used in Britain (230 V, 50 Hz), and adapters are easy to find.
For a trade wind trip with a reef lagoon in place of a Maltese bay, see wing foiling in Zanzibar; the board and wing you would buy after a course are covered in our wingfoil gear guide.