ION Club Dakhla Lassarga

The Moroccan presence of the ION Club network — formerly Club Mistral, founded in 1985, fourteen water sports centres worldwide — at Lassarga, on the southern tip of the Dakhla peninsula, 15.5 km from the airport along the southbound road. ION Club describes a multi-activity centre for kitesurfing, wingfoiling, surfing and stand up paddle, set on the beach facing the spot, a two-minute walk from the water and next to the lodge restaurant: lessons and rental of kite, wing, surf and paddle gear, a smaller amount of windsurf equipment, a rescue boat, lockers, instructors speaking French, English and Arabic, and Duotone and ION equipment. Children are taken from the age of twelve; the network reckons on twelve hours of lessons for a complete beginner.

Two stretches of water: on the ocean side, a right-hander peeling for almost a kilometre in front of the bungalows from November to March, with a walk back to the peak; on the lagoon side, beyond the fishing village and ten minutes away by 4×4, flat shallow water with side-shore wind, made for beginners. Wind is announced all year round, flat water in front of the centre from April to October. ION Club sells the stay as an 8-day, 7-night package including accommodation, full board, activity and airport transfers, and turns hours lost to a lack of wind into a credit note valid for 24 months across all its destinations.

Worth noting: ION Club no longer presents Lassarga as one of its own stations. Its site files the place among the « ION Club & Friends » centres under the name « OV Dakhla Lassarga », alongside its two Moroccan stations proper — Dakhla Oasis 212 and Dakhla White Dune Canyon — and points contact requests to « Ocean Vagabond Lassarga ». On site the base trades as Salt Water Elements and the accommodation as Océan Vagabond: ION Club acts here as a booking network and tour operator, not as the operator of the base.