Damn, you guys still up!! :) I saw you posted before I hit the button.

Yeah, an outgoing (opposing) current of 3 knots will make it feel like it is blowing at least 5 knots more. So, when we are out there in the pass (if the wind is coming straight down the channel and we are tacking back and forth) 15 knots is going to "feel like" about 20. I have seen people ride in 4 knots of wind with 3 knot opposing current.

As you said, Conch, if the tide was going with the wind, (an incoming tide) the opposite effect would hold true.
Now 15 would feel like 10 :(

That only happens when you are directly in the pass. 100 yards north of it feels very little, if any, impact from that pass in terms of current and it's effect on our apparent wind. In the pass though, it's pretty unreal.

The guys in St. Augustine are always keenly aware of this phenomenon, and plan accordingly with the tides. I talked to Daryl today about 20 minutes before he got off work and he was looking at the tide charts and bummed that he had no opposing current in Matanzas Inlet. It was blowing 30 there, but the side shore current was about 6 knots. That makes it tough to hold ground.

What makes the pass so awesome is that when the tide is going out, it also stacks the waves, as Sam said.
So, we get better waves, apparently more wind, AND we are being pulled upwind the whole time in the pass. It rocks.

Just beware, if you have a failure, you are going to drift out to sea, quickly. It's no joke. I have swum back in twice (have to swim perpendicular at first, and then in) and each time took at least 1.5 hours. I feel better out there with my surfboard (buoyancy) I can tell you that.

You are right Sam, tomorrow night should rock. I will be riding for sure. Going to try to get Donna out for her first night ride. :)

By no means disagreeing with you Scott....I think you are spot on with everything down there. Your theories have a strong sense of time on the water.

The situation up north vs. down south is very interesting to me as the conditions can be so different yet less than an hour drive apart.

The easterlies in the bay vs. what takes place up north is a no brainer.

But the sometimes huge difference in wind speeds this time of year on the afternoon searbreezes is fascinating.

Check this out....Sunday we left Clearwater to head to 3 rooker. It was white capping pretty good in the intercoastal. As we were heading north the caps got less and less. When we arrived at 3 rooker the wind was pretty much 6-8mph. It was a 4.5 mile ride.

So south got a classic sea breeze yesterday. Up at three rooker felt like a typical cold front day, just not cold. It was no light switch. Windy out of the NE in the AM and just filled in throughout the day with a due North.

I definately think the proximity of the bay as it relates to the southern beaches helps fuel the wind....and I have no doughts the tide has something to do to accelerate things as well.....riding currents aside. Cool water vs. warm land.....yup.

I have noticed that too. I think John Skemp gets some killer sessions at Picnic on the East side where were getting not alot on the gulf.

It will be interesting to see if it sea breezes here today. It started off WAY stronger out of the NE this morning than yesterday.... AND NOAA predicts a sea breeze (usually a bad thing, not kidding).

If it does, it will have to do one of two things (most likely... always an exception) before it can.

1) Drop to dead zero at the SW... if/when it does, I start driving to PaG.
I don't even care what the other sensors say if the SW goes from strong NE to zero this time of year, it will blow within 20 minutes of me arriving at PaG, 8 out of 10 times.

2) Go due north at SW and drop to about 10 knots. (really means five or less, cuz sensor reads high).



Either way today, I am probably just going to night ride tonight anyway.
That seems like the best bet for some serious wind, and the moon is near full. Should be awesome out there.

I use to spend a lot more time theorizing about winds because our sensor situation is so lame here. The sensors along the beach are way off, and most only update on iKite every two hours. So, I had to start trying to learn what the wind was going to do before hand, if I didn't want to miss it.

Then I lucked out and found a beach cam. Now I don't think about it too much because all I do is look at the beach cam. If I see white caps, I start driving. :)

It still makes me feel better if it's blowing next to nada at the SW, though.

I meant the neglected overlooked bastard child which is the EAST SIDE OF TAMPA BAY , not the north or middle north of tampa bay.

There are usually big temperature differentials in spring which drive this, esp. at the mouth of the rivers, i.e. alafia and little manatee etc.

Can anyone report if there was a seabreeze down south today in the afternoon around 4pm (Thurs). It got pretty good at IRB for a few hours and then shut off in classic sea breeze fashion. For the beaches, that makes four in a row this week.

Nothing here.
Just the east after sun set.

Rode 3 days in this week! Not bad for a working man.
Got in a couple of hours at SW after 6 p.m. Started out with my Dimitri Pro on a 15m Flexi and could not stay upwind. Watched Tom for about 30 min or so on a 12m and surf board riding back and forth efortlessly. I was than offered am older Anomoly and immediatly rode upwind. Hmmmm interesting, my D-Pro was clearly out performed. Rode untill the sun went down and even did a couple of barrell rolls on the big board.

I heard all about that one today :)

I haven't taken the Glide out of my truck since Al sold me his directional.

Gary, you might want to try a directional and see if you think it's fun.
I simply can't believe how high upwind I can go on mine and in how little wind. I can easily ride it on a 9m in 10 knots.
In 12 knots, I am pretty much powered up, especially on a bigger kite.
You may not like the directional, but you might. Feel free to ask me to try mine.
Donna really liked it, a few others did too, and some people found it lame.

Last night it went from about 10/11 knots straight to about 17/18. I came in from about a 1/4 mile out at Lassing and hit the glass flat water for some speed runs on the directional, unstrapped. That was a first for me (riding a directional litt in butter). MAN, it was a blast. I was doing powered jibes and hauling butt. I reminded me of windsurfing. I know a bunch of guys have been doing this for quite some time now, especially guys into racing, but it was a first for me. All I was thinking is how much fun it would have been to race another guy on a strapless board, being forced to jibe about every 30 seconds. It would have been a battle of the the high speed jibes (if forced to not be allowed to ride toe-side).

I told Tom today I feel sort of stupid for waiting this long to try the directionals out. I have been really enjoying it for the past couple months.

Anyway, many like Dennis, Raul, Al and others have been riding a dirctl for a while now, just saying you might like it. :)

Many of the boards have unreal low end (the one Al sold me does), that's why I brought it up here.