asa Viento has many guests who return every year. They know the wind in Margarita is incredibly strong and consistent. The low wind season in Margarita is better than the high wind season in many locations. Of course, it’s possible to be skunked anywhere, but the odds of being skunked in Margarita are very low.

The wind statistics below should give you a good picture of the wind in El Yaque throughout the year. Some people find wind speeds from buoy readings on the Internet but we feel these measurements are more accurate because wind in El Yaque has a significant thermal component and is therefore localized. Anyone who has sailed half way to El Coche and felt the wind drop like a rock realizes the importance of the desert heat immediately to the west of El Yaque pulling in the cooler El Yaque air.

We are grateful to Kai Sandig and the rest of his staff at Happy
SurfPool for accurately recording these measurements daily at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m.; and to Atti Borberly for putting them into the graphic format below.

The wind statistics are expressed in the Beaufort scale. This scale is
in widespread use throughout the yachting world. For some reason,
windsurfers more commonly use miles per hour, or knots, to express wind speed. The chart below may prove helpful for those less familiar with Beaufort. The bottom line is that Force 4 should be solid planning conditions for anyone.

Beaufort Number	Wind Speed in Miles/hour(Km/hour)	Description
0	<1 (<1.6)	Calm: Still: Smoke will rise vertically. Water like a mirror.
1	1-3(1.6-4.8)	Light Air: Rising smoke drifts, weather vane is inactive. Ripples on the water.
2	4-7(6.4-11.3)	Light Breeze: Leaves rustle, can feel wind on your face, weather vane is inactive. Small wavelets.
3	8-12(12.9-19.3)	Gentle Breeze: Leaves and twigs move around. Light weight flags extend. Large wavelets, scattered whitecaps.
4	13-18 (20.9-29.0)	Moderate Breeze: Moves thin branches, raises dust and paper. Small waves, many whitecaps.
5	19-24 (30.6-38.6)	Fresh Breeze: Moves branches, trees sway. Moderate waves, whitecaps, some spray.
6	25-31(40.2-50.0)	Strong Breeze: Large tree branches move, open wires (such as telegraph wires) begin to "whistle", umbrellas are difficult to keep under control. Large waves, whitecaps everywhere, spray.
7	32-38 (51.5-61.2)	Moderate Gale: Large trees begin to sway, noticeably difficult to walk. Sea heaps up, white foamblown in streaks.
8	39-46(62.8-74.0)	Fresh Gale: Twigs and small branches are broken from trees, walking into the wind is very difficult. Waves of greater length, well-marked white streaks on surface.
9	47-54(75.6-86.9)	Strong Gale: Slight damage occurs to buildings, shingles are blown off of roofs. High waves, sea rolls, streaks everywhere, spray reduces visibility, walking difficult.
10	55-63 (88.5-101.4)	Whole Gale: Large trees are uprooted, building damage is considerable. Very high waves with overhanging crests, visibility reduced.
11	64-72 (103.0-115.9)	Storm: Extensive widespread damage. These typically occur only at sea, and rarely inland. Seek shelter!
12	>73 (>115.9)	Hurricane: Extreme destruction. Storm waves at sea.

NOTE: The Beaufort number is also referred to as a "Force" number, for example, "Force 10 Gale".
* To calculate knots, divide miles/hour by 1.15.
* Small craft advisories are usually issued when force 6 is reached.

The main columnar graph showing % of sailable days per month shows the percentage of days with sustained of winds of force 4 or more.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Wind speeds for any particular month can be more closely examined by clicking on the links below:

• April 2000 till July 2000
• August 2000 till November 2000
• December 2000 till March 2001
• April 2001 till July 2001
• August 2001 till November 2001
• December 2001 till March 2002
• April till July 2002
• August till November 2002
• December 2002 till January 2003
• April till July2003
• August till November 2003
• December 2003 till March 2004
• April till July 2004
• August 2004