Visiting Fort Lauderdale - Newbie

[Citispider]

Hello everyone. I just finished my course up in CT. I was given gear early this year and finally decided to take a course. Next week (15th) I'll be in Fort Lauderdale (Coral Springs) for a week and I'll be taking my gear with me. Any spots anyone recommends for newbies like myself? I also may want to take another water course just to ensure my safe riding down there. Any recommendations?

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,
CitiSpider

[ricki]

Originally Posted by Citispider

Hello everyone. I just finished my course up in CT. I was given gear early this year and finally decided to take a course. Next week (15th) I'll be in Fort Lauderdale (Coral Springs) for a week and I'll be taking my gear with me. Any spots anyone recommends for newbies like myself? I also may want to take another water course just to ensure my safe riding down there. Any recommendations?

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,
CitiSpider

Ft. Lauderdale is limited for new rider launch areas. There is a tenuous balance between kiters and the City/Beach Patrol currently. Neil Hutchison, boardercross organizer has picked up the beach concession from Chris Kjos at South Beach, near Bahia Mar. Neil's operation is called Tikibeach. He offers instruction there from wave runner support offshore. Neil is getting a new website put togther, in the meantime there is the old site, http://kitesurfusa.com/ that provides details and contact information.

You might consider a sea taxi jaunt down in Biscayne Bay at some point. If the wind is on, it is possible to progress quite rapidly in all that sheltered water well away from land. Delray Beach, the south end, may present one of the closer new rider areas. There is a law governing kiting there, explained at:

http://fksa.org/viewtopic.php?t=454

Basically, you want to launch and land about 200 ft. to the south of Casurina Rd., going no further north of that point. Beaches between Ft. Lauderdale and Delray have a number of restrictions and some tricky areas, minimal beach width, expose rocks, etc..

Have a good trip,