Quote:
Originally Posted by hollandkiter
Hello guys,
I am a kiter from holland and this summer i'm coming to Florida (new smyrna beach) for my holiday. Is there any chance that i can kitesurf? Is there wind enough?
Is there another forum to get more information?
Nice topic you have on the forum: I hate sharks.......................... 
thnx, Sam  |
Hello Sam,
What are the dates you plan to be in New Smyrna? Typically, our winds fade over much of the summer, often after mid to late May, perhaps with some lighter thermal winds returning in parts of July and then turning off again in August. Usually tropical systems (depressions, hurricanes) are excessively hazardous with embedded powerful squalls. At times there are large holes in such storm systems in which alert kiters monitoring radar might be able to get out. Our wind season is on currently, this week in particular is pretty good too. We try to kite year round in Florida, we just have to rig bigger in the summer and wait longer between sessions. If you can bring your kites, say for 10 to 20 kts. and hope for the best. It is often 5 to 10 kts (below usual riding winds) with the odd bout of 15 kts.
Sharks are in the natural order of things and quite common. Very fortunate for us, attacks against kiters are not common unlike with swimmers and surfers. I haven't heard of any fatal kiter shark attacks worldwide yet and there have been approaching 40 kiter fatalities due to squalls/excessively gusty weather. For everyone of those there may be many more non-fatal, serious accidents in poor weather conditions.
Know your enemy, in our sport it may be less likely to wear a grey suit and dorsel fin and more likely to come in the form of dark clouds in the sky and/or with high gusts instead!