17 Nudos live cams

17 Nudos ("17 knots") is a website run for the water-sports community of Castelldefels, the long beach just south-west of Barcelona. It brings together everything a sailor, windsurfer or kitesurfer wants to know before going out: a live webcam on the beach, an online weather station with its readings for wind speed and direction, a chart of how the wind has changed over the last 12 hours, links to wind forecasts, and a message board where regulars post about the conditions.

Its weather station and cameras are at the Club Nàutic Castelldefels. The main camera looks towards Escola Garbí, a sailing school and water-sports centre next door on the beach, over its catamarans, dinghies and rescue boats to the sea; a second one points along the coast towards Sitges. The Escola Garbí view is streamed live on the 17 Nudos channel on YouTube, which allows the video to be shown on other websites, and that stream is the one on this site.

Because it is run by and for people who sail on that very beach, the camera is aimed at what they need to see: the state of the water, the flags and the masts that show the wind. People who come close to the lens are blurred to protect their privacy, and the school's offers occasionally appear as a banner across the top of the picture.