Does anyone kite Lake Okeechobee FLorida?
 

Always been curious. Figured this crew would know if its being done.

I would think some folks have at some time or another. I would avoid it myself. The coasts aren't that far away along with wind shadow free water. Lakes are usually fairly gusty due to land effects. This came up a few years ago in another post:

http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=675

True but it does offer riding from any wind direction. I google earthed it and some some launches may work.

Always looking for an oppurtunity to open up another kiting location. I would think this would offer a swimmer free access and as long as you dont tick off the bass fisherman it would be just fine.

And gators. Try wakeboarding in the Swanee River a few times. You will either lose your fear or become afraid of your own shadow.

Lakes can also be rather murky and funky along the shoreline. But you know there are plenty of midwest water kiters that are very successful on lakes.

Any other lakes in Florida?

Lakes and Gators
 

I actually live on Lake Conway in Orlando, but I almost always kite on the coast (45 minute drive) to minimize the wind turbulence and congested shorelines. Okeechobee is larger and more open than Conway, but you'd probably still get the inland turbulence.

Interesting story about lakes and gators......I moved to Florida 16 years ago and was into windsurfing. Being clueless but adventuresome, I picked a nice lake location on a local map and headed out. I had a nice 30-45 minute session on a long board (I noticed a major thump at one point, but didn't see anything). I later found out that I was windsurfing on Lake Jessup, which has more gators than any other lake in Central Florida. On a calm day, you can see dozens of them cruising all over the lake. I wouldn't do it again, but it wasn't a bad day on the water for a clueless out-of-stater. ;)

I use to live in east Orlando and would take 417 across that lake everyday on my way to work. I heard they use to dump nuisance gators in that lake before they started their practice of destroying them.

I have actually kited on lake Jackson in Sebring without much turbulance. At what I would consider the main launch site the water is knee to waste deep and pretty clear for the most part. This is mostly due to the water level being low.

Back to the original topic, I would not kite lake Okeechobee, especially when the coast is a short drive away.