There are places where kiting is something you do, and places where it is simply what the landscape asks of you. Atins is the second kind.
The village sits at the edge of the Lençóis Maranhenses, a desert of white dunes that floods with rainwater and then slowly gives it back to the sea. By late September the lagoons have settled into glass. The trade winds arrive in the early afternoon with a reliability that borders on rude. There is no boardwalk, no strip of kite schools, no queue. There is sand, water, wind, and whoever you brought with you.
Why Beto is back
Last season we ran two weeks in Atins with Beto Gómez. Both filled, both worked, and both ended with the same conversation on the last evening — that this had been the most productive riding week people had had in years, and when could they do it again.
So he is coming back. One week, 27 September to 3 October.
What Beto does well is not spectacle. It is diagnosis. He watches for a session, tells you the one thing that is actually holding you back, and then stays with you until it changes. Riders who have spent years plateauing tend to find that unsettling at first and then quite difficult to argue with. Freestyle, strapless, or simply making your first properly clean toeside turn — the work adapts to the rider in front of him, not the other way round.
Because we cap the group at eight, that attention is real rather than theoretical. Eight riders is not a marketing number. It is the maximum at which one coach can still know exactly what each person did in the last hour.
The week
Mornings tend to start slowly, because the wind does. Coffee at Charme Atins, our own boutique hotel in the village, and then whatever the conditions have decided to offer.
Some days we ride the flat lagoons inland — knee-deep, wind-blown butter, no chop, no consequence. This is where technique gets rebuilt. Some days we take the downwinder along the Rio Preguiças, through the mangroves and out past the dunes toward Caburé, where the river meets the Atlantic and the sandbank narrows to something you can walk across in a minute. There are afternoons on the open beach at Atins for anyone who wants swell and space.
Between sessions: the small boat up to the lighthouse at Mandacaru, the dunes at sunset when the flooded lagoons go copper, dinner that involves a great deal of fish and very little ceremony. Video review when there is something worth reviewing.
Nothing about the week is scripted, because the wind does not read scripts. Everything about it is prepared.
What makes this hard to replicate
Access to Atins is genuinely difficult, and that difficulty is the entire point. It is a long journey — São Luís, then Barreirinhas, then hours across sand in a 4x4 or up the river by boat. There are no direct arrivals and no day-trippers with kites. The result is a world-class flat-water venue that has stayed almost empty during the best months of the year.
We have been operating here long enough to own a hotel in the village and to know which lagoon holds water in which week. That is not something you can book on a platform.
Practical
- Dates
- 27 September – 3 October 2026
- Location
- Atins, Lençóis Maranhenses, Maranhão, Brazil
- Group size
- 8 riders maximum
- Coaching
- Beto Gómez, all week
- Accommodation
- Charme Atins, boutique, in the village
- Level
- Intermediate through advanced. Comfortable riding upwind is the entry point.
- Included
- Accommodation, meals, coaching, all riding logistics and transfers within the region, video analysis.
A few spots remain. When they are gone the week is closed — we do not add a ninth rider, and we do not run a second coach to make the numbers work.
If you want one of them, write to martha@localsecretsxp.com and tell me where you are with your riding.
The lagoons will be full by the end of September. It would be a shame to spend that week somewhere else.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Atins kite trip with Beto Gómez?
One week, 27 September to 3 October 2026, in Atins, Lençóis Maranhenses, in the Brazilian state of Maranhão.
Where is Atins and how do you get there?
Atins sits at the edge of the Lençóis Maranhenses in northeastern Brazil. There are no direct arrivals: you travel via São Luís, then Barreirinhas, then either hours across sand in a 4x4 or up the Rio Preguiças by boat. That difficulty is why a world-class flat-water venue has stayed almost empty during the best months of the year.
How many riders are on the trip?
Eight riders maximum. The group is capped at eight so one coach can still know exactly what each person did in the last hour. We do not add a ninth rider and we do not run a second coach to make the numbers work.
What level do I need to join?
Intermediate through advanced. Riding upwind comfortably is the entry point. The coaching adapts to the rider — freestyle, strapless, or simply a first clean toeside turn.
What is included and how do I book?
Included: accommodation at Charme Atins (our boutique hotel in the village), all meals, coaching with Beto Gómez all week, video analysis, and all riding logistics and transfers within the region. To book one of the remaining spots, write to martha@localsecretsxp.com and say where you are with your riding.
A few spots remain
Atins with Beto Gómez, 27 September – 3 October 2026. Eight riders, one coach, one boutique hotel.
