Banana River kitesurfing ... (Cocoa Beach/Melbourne/Orlando)

[davramenko]

I made a mistake in my previous post.. I meant to ask everybody about kiting at Banana River..

Does anybody know good spots there to kite?

Is it a kite destination at all?

http://www.bananariverresort.com/

I guess I should have said Banana River..

Is there kitesurfing there? Or anywhere close?

Thanks for your replay..

[davramenko]

So I found where it is.. Banana River is next to Cape Canaveral

close to Merrit Island etc..

So can anybody point out where the good kite spots there?

Also, is mid april a good time to go there? Is there wind during that time?

thanks to everybody in advance..

Hello all,

Can anybody tell me if Banana beach is good for kitesurfing..

0. Is mid April a good time to go? Is there wind during April?


1. Do people kiteboard there? (I know they windsurf). Any restrictions for kiteboarders there?

2. How to get there? Any tips on what to do, where to camp? stay hotels?

3. Night life?

4. Any other tips..

5. Any kiteboarding schools there?

Tnanks,

Dmitry.

[ricki]

http://www.bananariverresort.com/

I guess I should have said Banana River..

Is there kitesurfing there? Or anywhere close?

Thanks for your replay..

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album12/Northern_Florida_s.jpg

Oh, wondered if that might have been it. Although mapquest.com says there is a Banana Beach, INLAND in one of the more thinly populated areas of the west coast. No obvious beach in sight though.

Anyway, the Cocoa Beach/Melbourne/Merritt Island area, got it. There are two primary riding areas, the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), including Banana River and the ocean. The ocean when the wind is on from the N to E to SSE can have some excellent wind and better still waves for riding. Cocoa Beach is world famous for surf going way back. The other wind directions are offshore and to be avoided in the ocean. The ICW may work for all the directions subject to launch location limitations.

The ICW up that way is HUGE and offers a lot of riding area. It is largely calm as well. As the wind must pass over the land, it is often less full and steady than in the ocean. You DON"T want to annoy existing and often long standing windsurfing operations (like Kelly Park where efforts to BAN kitesurfing have been underway by the concession owner, with some cause sad to say, for YEARS. I just spoke with the folks at Banana River Windsurfing Resort about their policy regarding kitesurfing. They said that they border Patrick AFB and as such kiteboarding is not allowed. They did say folks ride about five miles up A1A from their facility. Sorry, but you don't want to hassle with the miltary on this one. I know they have had issues in past years on the ocean side near the AFB with kitesurfers.

There is a wealth of information about area kiteboarding launches at:
http://321kite.com/news.htm

You could get in touch with AJ for more area information/lessons at:
http://www.kitetricity.com/

General winter wind and water conditions:
http://fksa.org/viewtopic.php?t=1096

More about the area launches at:
http://www.kitebeaches.com/kitebeaches/viewspot.php?id=1604

For weather forecasts:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/

For realtime and historical wind records:
http://www.ikitesurf.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=226

There are quite a few hotels throughout the area. Checkout:
http://travel.yahoo.com/?qs=h

For nightlife, well that's relative. Some information appears at:
http://cape-canaveral-hotels.onlinehotels.com/cocoa-beach-attractions.htm
http://cape-canaveral-hotels.onlinehotels.com/melbourne-beach-attractions.htm

[ricki]

I made a mistake in my previous post.. I meant to ask everybody about kiting at Banana River..

Does anybody know good spots there to kite?

Is it a kite destination at all?

No. It's a windsurfing destination. But there are kiteable areas within about five miles. There are quite a few riders up that way.