Cumbuco.
good for: surf · kite
About
Cumbuco is a fishing village 25 km north-west of Fortaleza, on the Caucaia stretch of Brazil’s north-east coast. A four-kilometre arc of white sand sits between coconut groves and a wide field of mobile dunes; the dunes channel the trade winds and amplify them along the beach. As a surf spot, unremarkable. As a kite and windsurf address, one of the most reliable in the world.
The beach faces roughly north-north-east, swell window from north-west through east-south-east. Swell is almost always short-period equatorial wind swell, 0.4 to 1.5 m. The story is the wind. South-east trade winds (alísios) blow July through January, with August through October the windiest stretch: usable wind 94 to 98% of the time, 16 to 25 knots side-onshore most afternoons. Low tide flattens the chop; surf shows briefly between trade seasons, March through May.
It’s a kite spot first, a surf spot somewhere distant. The wave is small, mushy, and almost always blown to bits by mid-morning. Treat it as flat-water and freestyle terrain. Lagoa do Cauípe, ten kilometres downwind, is where most kitesurfers end the day. All levels by trade: beginners stay close to the village, advanced riders run downwinders to the lagoon. Real hazards are sun, equatorial heat, and a longshore current at low tide that drifts beginners further down the beach than they realise.
swell window offshore wind, centred on 205°
- Type
- Sand-bottom beach break, small chop most of the year
- Level
- All levels
- Tide
- Low for flat kite water; dawn surf before the wind fills
- Crowd
- Mostly kiters and windsurfers; light surf crowd at sunrise
- Best swell
- Short-period NE to E windswell; rare NE groundswells Dec–Mar
When to score
% of hours scoreable per month, hindcast 2021–2026.
- jan46%
- feb43%
- mar59%
- apr78%
- may49%
- jun28%
- jul14%
- aug5%
- sep3%
- oct14%
- nov39%
- dec23%