wind in miami/keys/bahamas???

[onepimpinsummer]

I'm doing a sailing trip down in the Keys/Bahamas for a month or two sometime around may I'm hoping. hopefully moving that way this coming winter. I know the wind starts to die down after April, how is the wind May through August? is it completely shot or is there hope to get out kiting? Up here(Dewey Beach Delaware) its sketchy in the summer, but with good luck we get out a few days a week. Is it similiar in the Keys/Bahamas during the summer? I hear the Bahamas sometimes get a 'little' bit more wind than Miami/Keys. that true? maybe I should spend most of my trip over that way? I'd like to head out in march, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So how are the winds May through August, and is it worth going or is it a complete waste of time and I should wait till Oct? and if you want to recommend some great flat water shallow riding spots that I should hit up, feel free. thanks............Tim

[onepimpinsummer]

I'm doing a sailing trip down in the Keys/Bahamas for a month or two sometime around may I'm hoping. hopefully moving that way this coming winter. I know the wind starts to die down after April, how is the wind May through August? is it completely shot or is there hope to get out kiting? Up here(Dewey Beach Delaware) its sketchy in the summer, but with good luck we get out a few days a week. Is it similiar in the Keys/Bahamas during the summer? I hear the Bahamas sometimes get a 'little' bit more wind than Miami/Keys. that true? maybe I should spend most of my trip over that way? I'd like to head out in march, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So how are the winds May through August, and is it worth going or is it a complete waste of time and I should wait till Oct? and if you want to recommend some great flat water shallow riding spots that I should hit up, feel free. thanks............Tim

[ricki]

I'm doing a sailing trip down in the Keys/Bahamas for a month or two sometime around may I'm hoping. hopefully moving that way this coming winter. I know the wind starts to die down after April, how is the wind May through August? is it completely shot or is there hope to get out kiting? Up here(Dewey Beach Delaware) its sketchy in the summer, but with good luck we get out a few days a week. Is it similiar in the Keys/Bahamas during the summer? I hear the Bahamas sometimes get a 'little' bit more wind than Miami/Keys. that true? maybe I should spend most of my trip over that way? I'd like to head out in march, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So how are the winds May through August, and is it worth going or is it a complete waste of time and I should wait till Oct? and if you want to recommend some great flat water shallow riding spots that I should hit up, feel free. thanks............Tim

In Florida, most years the wind is fairly good wind with the passage of cold fronts through the first half of May. After that you have what I have called the June Calms for a long time in the first half of June. This is cause for celebration for divers not so for wind junkies unfortunately.

The Keys may have slightly more wind than the mainland in Summer but not all that much in most years. I have been hearing about a trade wind-like phenomena in parts of the Bahamas. These areas are east of the Bimini's and western Bahamas. The wind turns on in late morning and goes to around sunset in the mid teen mph + range. I am not that familar with this wind condition in the Bahamas unfornately.

One thing I am well familar with however is our tropical weather season which extends through your proposed cruise. If you could choose between October and the summer for kiteboarding, I would think hard about going in October. We are in an El Nino cycle, weather events have been a bit stronger around the world this year. Our hurricane season last year was memorable to say the least. I sincerely hope the coming season is far more passive but I wouldn't bet on it yet. If you were thinking of diving and hanging out in the Bahamas summer is the time to do it, tropical storms excepted. For kiteboarding you might be better off once the cold fronts kick back into play in the fall.

[ricki]

I'm doing a sailing trip down in the Keys/Bahamas for a month or two sometime around may I'm hoping. hopefully moving that way this coming winter. I know the wind starts to die down after April, how is the wind May through August? is it completely shot or is there hope to get out kiting? Up here(Dewey Beach Delaware) its sketchy in the summer, but with good luck we get out a few days a week. Is it similiar in the Keys/Bahamas during the summer? I hear the Bahamas sometimes get a 'little' bit more wind than Miami/Keys. that true? maybe I should spend most of my trip over that way? I'd like to head out in march, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So how are the winds May through August, and is it worth going or is it a complete waste of time and I should wait till Oct? and if you want to recommend some great flat water shallow riding spots that I should hit up, feel free. thanks............Tim

In Florida, most years the wind is fairly good wind with the passage of cold fronts through the first half of May. After that you have what I have called the June Calms for a long time in the first half of June. This is cause for celebration for divers not so for wind junkies unfortunately.

The Keys may have slightly more wind than the mainland in Summer but not all that much in most years. I have been hearing about a trade wind-like phenomena in parts of the Bahamas. These areas are east of the Bimini's and western Bahamas. The wind turns on in late morning and goes to around sunset in the mid teen mph + range. I am not that familar with this wind condition in the Bahamas unfornately.

One thing I am well familar with however is our tropical weather season which extends through your proposed cruise. If you could choose between October and the summer for kiteboarding, I would think hard about going in October. We are in an El Nino cycle, weather events have been a bit stronger around the world this year. Our hurricane season last year was memorable to say the least. I sincerely hope the coming season is far more passive but I wouldn't bet on it yet. If you were thinking of diving and hanging out in the Bahamas summer is the time to do it, tropical storms excepted. For kiteboarding you might be better off once the cold fronts kick back into play in the fall.