Kite Beach

This guide to Kite Beach in Jumeirah follows the one public stretch of Dubai sand where kitesurfers, not swimmers, get the right of way, and traces how that culture arrived almost by accident in two thousand and two when a handful of European expats brought the sport to the Gulf's steady onshore winds. You'll hear about the Dubai Kite Club that still regulates the beach and calls off conditions when they turn dangerous, and about what's conspicuously missing here compared with the rest of the city: no resort towers, no gate, no velvet rope. The Burj Al Arab sits at eye level across the water the entire time, framing every session.