Oum Labouir is where Dakhla reveals its other face. While the lagoon to the south is all about flat water and freestyle, the Atlantic coast just north of town delivers proper ocean waves that have earned international recognition. Oum Labouir is a right-hand point break located only five kilometers from Dakhla town center, and it has hosted stops of the GKA Kite-Surf World Tour, drawing the best strapless wave riders on the planet. Long, peeling walls of clean Atlantic swell break along a sand-and-reef bottom, creating waves that are both powerful enough to be thrilling and organized enough to be rideable. For any kitesurfer with wave ambitions, this is one of the defining spots in all of Africa.
Conditions & Best Time
Oum Labouir works best from October to March, the opposite of lagoon season. During these months, Atlantic swells generated by low-pressure systems in the North Atlantic push south along the Moroccan coast, delivering consistent 1 to 3 meter waves to the Dakhla peninsula. The wind at Oum Labouir blows side-offshore, which is the ideal direction for wave riding. It holds the face of the wave open, gives you clean lips for turns, and keeps the surface from getting blown out.
The bottom is a mix of sand and reef. The reef creates the consistent wave shape that makes the point break so reliable, while the sand channels provide safe entry and exit points. Mid to high tide produces the best conditions, as the reef is well covered and the waves break with a longer, more rideable wall. At low tide, the waves become shorter and break closer to the reef, which is less forgiving for mistakes.
Water temperature ranges from 18 to 22 degrees Celsius, slightly cooler than the lagoon due to the open Atlantic exposure. A full wetsuit (3/2mm) is recommended during the core wave season. The air stays warm year-round, so the wetsuit is purely for the water.
- Wind: Side-offshore
- Water: Ocean waves, 1–3m swells
- Bottom: Sand and reef
- Best tide: Mid to high tide
- Best months: October to March
- Water temperature: 18–22°C
Who Should Ride Here?
Oum Labouir is strictly for advanced to expert riders. You need to be comfortable riding in ocean swells, managing your kite in variable and gusty conditions, and navigating a lineup with other riders. Wave etiquette matters here, especially on bigger days when the local crew and visiting pros share the peak.
The primary discipline is strapless wave riding in the GKA style. Riders use directional surfboards without foot straps, carving bottom turns, throwing spray off the lip, and linking cutbacks on the long right-hand walls. The wave quality here rewards smooth, flowing style over aggressive hacking. If you have a surfing background and are transitioning to kite-strapless, Oum Labouir is one of the best places on earth to develop that craft.
Twin-tip wave riding is possible but less common here. The wave faces are suited to directional boards, and the side-offshore wind makes strapless technique far more natural. Riders looking for their first wave experience should consider starting with smaller days or with Amine's coaching to learn wave selection and positioning before tackling the bigger sets.
How to Get There
Oum Labouir is one of the most accessible spots in Dakhla. It sits just five kilometers north of town along the coast road, making it a quick 10-minute drive from most hotels and accommodations in the city center. The road is paved all the way, and parking is available near the beach. Unlike the lagoon spots that require a 30-minute drive south, you can check the conditions at Oum Labouir from the cliff above before committing to a session.
For ProKite Coaching wave coaching sessions, Amine meets students at the spot with all necessary wave gear. The proximity to town means you can easily fit in a morning wave session before lunch, check the forecast, and decide whether to return for an afternoon session or head to the lagoon for flat water work instead. This flexibility between ocean waves and lagoon flat water, all within 30 minutes of each other, is what makes Dakhla unique among global kite destinations.
Our Coaching at Oum Labouir
Amine's wave coaching at Oum Labouir draws on decades of reading this exact break. He knows which sets will produce the cleanest walls, where to sit in the lineup for the best takeoff position, and how the wave shape changes through the tidal cycle. This local knowledge is not something you can learn from a YouTube video or a wave-riding tutorial. It comes from years of riding the same reef and watching thousands of swells hit the same point.
Sessions at Oum Labouir focus on the fundamentals of wave riding that transfer across every ocean spot in the world: wave selection, timing your takeoff, rail-to-rail bottom turns, carving cutbacks, and reading the shoulder to know when to kick out versus when to keep riding. Amine coaches from the water alongside you, riding the same waves and demonstrating technique in real time. Between sets, he reviews what worked and what needs adjustment, building your wave-reading instinct session by session.
The fact that Oum Labouir has hosted GKA World Tour events is not just a marketing point. It means the wave quality here has been validated at the highest level of competitive strapless riding. When you learn wave technique at this break, you are learning on world-class waves. That quality accelerates your progression because the waves themselves are consistent and predictable enough for repeated practice of specific maneuvers.
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