Understand · The method
How KiteReady calculates the score
Not a crystal ball — a transparent recipe. Here's exactly what turns a spot green, amber or red, for your level.
The rule
The score in one sentence
KiteReady scores every spot out of 100, for each three-hour slot. One question sits behind that number: is it worth heading out, right here, right now, for my level?
≥ 70GOHead out.
45 – 70BORDERLINEUp for debate.
< 45NOT RECOMMENDEDLet it pass.
Nothing more, nothing less: one score per slot, one colour, one decision.
Before anything else
Safety first: the hard cut-offs
Two situations are non-negotiable. When either one shows up, the score drops to zero and turns red — no matter how good the wind looks.
Thunderstormhigh CAPE
0 / rougeStorm risk (measured by CAPE) cuts everything off. Great wind under a stormy sky is still a trap.
Dangerous offshore windoffshore
0 / rougeAn offshore that pushes you out to sea, with no way back, sends the spot straight to zero. You don't gamble with that.
These cut-offs override everything. That's the baseline: a dangerous spot is never just 'borderline'.
The recipe
The four ingredients
Once safety is green, the score is built from four elements. Three earn points; the fourth redistributes everything.
40pts
Wind
Strength first. Below a certain floor the wind is too light for your window: the score collapses, and a perfect direction can't save it (direction is multiplied by strength, not added to it).
40pts
Directionvalidated by hand
The angle to the shore, validated by hand spot by spot. Clean side-shore is gold; offshore drags the score down. But it only counts as far as there's usable wind.
10pts
Steadiness / gustsnever kills alone
Steady wind reassures, choppy wind wears you out. But gusts never kill a session on their own.
∞filtre
Your levelwindow reaches lower
Not points: the window itself. Light wind is harder to ride, not easier — the kite stalls, you have to fly it to make power. An advanced rider gets going where a beginner stays on the beach: their window reaches lower.
Wind and direction carry the weight (40 + 40). Steadiness fine-tunes. Your level shifts the window.
Points / 40Beg.Inter.Adv.
Side-onshoreAngled in from the sea. The gold standard: it always brings you back to shore.404040
Side-shoreParallel to the coast. Excellent too: you ride along the beach without drifting out.353639
OnshoreStraight from sea to beach. Safe, but it pins you to shore and can feel heavy.203135
Side-offshoreAngled out to sea. Caution: it slowly pulls you away from the coast.02435
OffshoreFrom the land, straight out. Nothing brings you back: dangerous.0020
The nuances
Two guardrails
Even when the numbers look good, two situations can knock a green down to amber. Caution comes before the score.
- Moderate storm risk
- Not enough to cut off, enough to doubt. A green under an unstable sky drops a notch.
- Beginner in deep water or in the waves
- Decent conditions, but demanding terrain: for a beginner, a green turns cautiously amber.
The confidence
Forecast reliability
A score is only as good as the forecast behind it. KiteReady cross-checks several weather models and looks at whether they agree.
When the models converge, confidence is high. When they diverge, we tell you plainly rather than fake certainty. An uncertain score is still an honest one.
The day
The daily badge
Above the slots, a badge sums up the day at a glance. It's demanding.
It only turns green if there are at least three green slots in a row. A one-hour break in the clouds isn't enough: we're looking for a real window, not a lucky streak.
Fri11
Sat12
Sun13
Mon14
Green only if ≥ 3 green slots in a row.
The limit
What the score doesn't do
The score helps you decide. It doesn't decide for you.
It replaces neither your own eyes on the water, nor the buddy check, nor common sense. Conditions change fast; the algorithm sees the weather, not the sea in front of you.
Never ride alone.