IKO Kiteboarding Lessons Cherry Beach, Toronto
CHERRY BEACH is the preferred location for advanced kiteboarders and foilboarders in downtown Toronto, Ontario. Located at the bottom of Cherry St, this beach offers near flat water due to the long stretching island arm of Tommy Thompson Park that curves out from a distance in the East and breaks all the incoming waves from the South!
Advanced
Flat Water
Nearby Parking
Local Amenities
How to use the Billy Bishop Toronto Island Airport real-time wind report to assess kiteboarding at Cherry Beach.
The Billy Bishop Island Airport real-time wind report is here:
https://atm.navcanada.ca/atm/iwv/CYTZ
Bookmark this link, and refer to it for all daily downtown Toronto kiteboarding sessions.
The real-time wind report looks like this.
And if we overlay that real-time wind report on a Google Map of Toronto Islands + Cherry Beach, we get the following information.
One of the Billy Bishop Toronto Island Airport runways is the same angle/direction as Cherry Beach. From that we can easily determine the real-time wind direction and speed at Cherry Beach! Massive!
And, BTW, the same process can be used to assessing the real-time wind at the two other most popular downtown Toronto kiteboarding locations Hanlan’s Point (Toronto Island) & Woodbine Beach.
The Challenges of Kiteboarding at Cherry Beach:
- The launch spot is both very short, and very narrow – with just a little more than 20m from treeline to shoreline there is minimal margin for error.
- The beach is very rocky when entering and exiting the water.
- The lake is immediately very deep.
- If the wind shifts direction from SW to W everyone is cut off by the Toronto Island wind shadow.
- Aside from Cherry Beach, there isn’t really any other spot to land safely with the kite in the air. Nearby beach has the treeline at the shoreline.
- On an East wind, if you fail to return to Cherry Beach, you will end up downwind on the Toronto Island.
- On a West wind, if you fail to return to Cherry Beach, you may end up in the marina.
- Being the preferred, accessible kite spot in downtown Toronto, when the wind is blowing there will be a lot of kiteboarders on the beach, on the water, and up in the air!
- On beautiful summer days Cherry Beach can be overrun with sun-seeking beach bums!
A significant degree of kiteboarding proficiency is required – staying upwind is essential to a successful session.
Once a student has achieved the proficiency required the accessible opportunity of Cherry Beach will multiply the number of kite sessions per season, and therefore the speed of progression as well. However, given the advanced challenges listed above Cherry Beach is for students who have already completed levels 1 & 2 and are now receiving IKO level 3 instruction.
Cherry Beach is also the preferred location for foilboarders – where on any given windy day you will find at least as many, or even more, foilboarders than kiteboarders in the water.
The drive to Cherry Beach from anywhere in the Toronto downtown core takes from 5 to 25 minutes, depending on traffic.
Ideal wind directions: E, SE, SW
Toronto Ontario Kiteboarding Blog
We Love Teaching At Cherry Beach
