Summer trade winds?
 

I rode 4 days last week, once so far this week, and maybe today. It would be sweet if this pattern holds for a while. Anybody else been getting out?

Yeah. :)

It's been pretty decent for a summer here. I think maybe it's because the high pressure hasn't moved (and stayed) over on the east coast yet. My bet is that once the Bermuda High sets in that it will start to rain again and the wind will shut off around here. Might make St. Augustine better though.. who knows.

It's been nice with the NW sea breezes. Not so common this time of year, usually.
Going out now, it's white capping. :D

I see it hitting around 14 on clearwater beach some days, but not ridable IMO.

What size kites/boards are your guys rockin?

I keep missing them. By the time the seabreeze is kicked in, I'm either at work, or immersed in some annoying project that takes precedence. Any secrets to picking the right day that the seabreeze will be rideable that you want to share. It seems the days I'm blowing off as not likely rideable are actually the right day way too often. I should become a meteorologist

these have been some of the best summer sea breezes we have had. Rode the 12 speed II everyday but Sunday. Blowing in the high teens right now gusting to 20. Headed out.

It blows different depending on where you are. I have seen it blowing really good at PaG and only be blowing 8 knots at Treasure Island. Also, the sensors are meaningless for Wests/NWs, imo. Most of them along the beach don't do a good job of reporting wind, or report it 2 hours too late. I haven't looked at a sensor for NW in over 6 years. Chris Moore knows that ;)
You have to be at the beach or use the beach cams. I live close and use the beach cams.

It just blew solid 17+ plus at least (probably hovering around 20) from the NW to NNW for a few hours and is still blowing at PaG/Upham.
I was actually overpowered (in terms of unhooking) on my 13m 'Roo. That happens right at 20. I would have been better on an 11m or even 9m for unhooking. Obviously you could hold on to anything hooked in, but why? :).

The cam is better with moving pics, because you get a feel for how many whitecaps there are. But here is a single frame.

http://www.fksa.org/attachment.php?a...7&d=1245270442

I think the sensors are my downfall. I'm gonna have to stop relying on them. I hate dropping what I'm supposed to be doing at home or work to drive out and get skunked. It seems to happen enough to where I'm not heading out unless the sensor reads good. Guess that's the mistake. I'm just gonna have to take the drive.

locate some sensors that are around you but not on the computer. I have a stand of Australian pines across from my office and I have learned that if they are moving one third down from the top it is good to go ride. The big flag on the corner of US 19 and Curlew Rd can be a tell tale sign of what we will find at the beach, not always but pretty close.

I rode TI on Monday late afternoon on a 15m Waroo and today on an 11m Waroo. I did not see many people out likely due to the borderline readings on the meters. The sea breezes are difficult to predict and often don't last very long. As Scott has said you have to be Johnny on the spot - I have been lucky this week but have also sat watching the meters and missed it or have gone out and been skunked. It might be helpful to have a session report section or use this part of the forum to provide some information that people can use to correlate with the meters or whatever they are using to try to make a decision on if it is rideable.

I think the camera is the most reliable. You guys down is St. Pete area are lucky to have that.

I think Whitey's idea is spot on in the absence of a camera. Look at some trees, a flag, something to monitor. I have a big flag outside the window of the shop, and that is the best sensor I have for a seabreeze on Indian Rocks Beach.

It was pretty obvious today that it was going to blow, got started early and cranked right along. Agreed that the high pressure is helping it.

I have always had a rule of thumb for a seabreeze however.....if I have to drive more than 30 minutes to get to it, I usually don't even try. That's just me though. You don't know if you don't go. Try not to beat yourself up over it. Luckily, we get to ride this place hard almost year round. It could be worse.

I have rode my 12 meter with a big board probaly 4-5 times in the past week. The wind direction is perfect for a little downwinder on the beach but haven't go to that yet. It usually kicks in around 4:30 or a tad later, about 13-15 sometimes 15-17 knots, usually a little underpowered but plenty to ride/small jumps which is always a good time imo. This is my first summer which I heard there is No wind, but so far i have been riding alot and I hope it stays this way!

With today's technology, wind sensors are way out dated. Our sensors especially. iKite's current wind observations map is no more than an ad scheme surrounding misinformation, imo.

Vid cams would be the way to go around here if we could get them up in a couple places. I have been saying that for 6 years and had an offer of 250 bucks up if anyone was interested in matching some funds. It never happened. I just rely on the BN9 cam now for info about the beach and call people.

I too Richard, drove out to the beach (PaG) SO many times one season about 5 years ago due to false high readings from the PaG sensor. I was getting pissed seeing 15-18 on iKite and finding less than 8 when I got there. I did it about 20 times. Old(er) timers like Chris Moore remember that happening. Save gas was one of iKite's slogans at the time.. yeah right. I still get mad thinking of it. :mrgreen:

Luckily that sensor got ripped off the Hurricane restaurant during a storm (or sumtin like that). Then, BayNews9 installed a beach cam shortly thereafter, so that was sweet :) . The cam is decent (but not great). Good ones would be zoomed in a little more on the water in order to see white caps clearly. Oddly, the cam only needs to snap a pic about once a minute. It doesn't have to be 20 fps or anything. "White caps don't lie, wind sensors do" is how I feel about it.

Here is a great beach cam. Imagine having this in a few spots. It has presets that show where kiters/windsurfers ride and the ability to zoom in and pan. Overkill for what would work, but pretty cool. I was zoomed in on Bob one day while he was out there and we were talking on the cell. Pretty cool.
http://cams.exploratorium.edu:8010/

If you are up early like me, wait for sun to come up. It's only 3:30 am where that cam is (at the moment).

It's been blowing about 17 NW for the last 3 hours at Upham.
Very odd for summer, but I ain't complaining. :D

It's white capping and foggy off of Chrissy Field. ;)

http://www.fksa.org/attachment.php?a...8&d=1245356198

I'm setting up the same cam tech over by my house.

theoretically if you have the IP address , you'll be able to PTZ in on the
conditions in a five degree slice of the waters on the west side of tampa bay. But, if I mount it 40 feet high I can get most of the bay.

Or , I can point it at my yard as well...........

My kid is looking for a job. How about I give her my wind meter & a compass, I post her cell phone number. She can go where you ask her to go and get a wind reading for you and email a photo from her cell phone. It will be way more accurate than ikite and with a couple dozen clients she can break even on gas costs and get a tan working.

I guess it'll just take time and alot of getting skunked until I finally start to figure it out. The bay news 9 cam is a good idea, but does it coordinate well with what I would find at the same time at the backside?
I'd throw in for a cam setup in some places. I just wonder how expensive it would be and what kind of maintenance would be needed.

PTZ IP Network Cameras are anywhere from $200 to $1000.

The only real maintenance is the IP address the wiring the router and the modem

Richard,

In general for NW sea breezes, the breeze will happen at the beach up to 2 hours before it reaches the b.s. skyway. So the skyway sensor is a waste for what's happening at the beach, and vice versa, it could be cranking at the beach and blowing zero at the skyway. That happens A LOT more than many people might believe.

However, the skyway sensor is fairly reliable for what's happening at the skyway on NW winds. So if it says 17 NW, it's probably close. The Skyway sensor (called C -cut now) is just not so accurate on due Norths and NNEs. It's pretty good on Easts and Ws and NWs. This sounds odd, but the sensor itself is fine, it's more the fact that the wind blows much more out in the bay (where the sensor is) than it does where we ride when it is blowing N, NNE and sometimes NE.

It takes quite a while to pick up on all these little nuances and nothing is written in stone. Cams showing the spots would be the way to go in a perfect world. If you saw caps, you'd know you would be good to go.
As mentioned though, there is cost involved and possible maintenance head aches.
Raul, that'd be cool. I would love to see the outcome.

We have a few people that live along the beaches right now (including my mom). So we have places to mount cams. I don't need one personally, but I can see it helping out a lot of other riders.

Just setup some cams pointing at wind socks. Cant go wrong. You could get a decent idea on what the wind is doing from just a cheap web cam.

Not a bad idea. Where are the windsocks? :p

Thanks. It's alot of little things that affect each spot differently. I'm still amazed that 10 minutes up the beach, it can be a totally different scene.

Well... I will be dam$ed if it ain't blowing again at Upham/Swigwam.
I think that's 5 days in a row NW.

Bob, its not really fair to call ikite misinformation. Its the only place where you can see all sensors at 1 glance. By the way, web cams won't show the kind of conditions you're describing. Sea breezes rarely are strong enough to cause whitecaps. I agree that a better array of sensors on the beach would be better but until then, ikite shows me all the sensors on one page and im not even a member. Best sensor for sea breezez is Clearwater.

H.R.

In fact a good sea breeze will almost always produce white caps, factors such as depth of water and current considered. White caps will start on the water in breezes that you can not even ride in, 7- 10 kts. But don't take my word for it, check out the oldest system for determining wind speeds with out any tools or meters (over 200 years in use).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale

At beaufort 3 white caps are seen on the water and we usually need beaufort 4 before we can enjoy our sport.

Keep in mind the location of the Clearwater sensor is out on the pier. It is located about 3/4 of the way out, in between two roofed structures. One to the east of it and one to the west of it. These both have hip roofs on them. The proxcimity to these roofs can result in a disturbed flow to the sensor on east and west winds and a venturi effect on north and south winds. Hense the numbers you get on east and west are usually less than actual and the numbers you see on north and south winds are usually greater than acutal. Keeping this in mind the Clearwater sensor is very helpful in our area, right now it is our best sensor untill they get Howard Park up and running again. The Howard park sensor was the best indicator of a sea breeze that I have found.

Clifford C. Clavin, Jr.

In terms of a good sea breeze rarely causing a whitecap... never heard that argument. Hard to discuss a web cam's value if you actually believe that assumption. Glad you like iKite. ;)

I see both sides useful. If you live down south, use the cam. If you live up north, use Clearwater sensor.

I have found the Clearwater sensor to be quite useful when hunting a sea breeze up this way. It is a pretty damn good indicator of what is happening out there as far as rideable wind or not.

Check out www.sailflow.com

Less addvertisement and in knots. Same gobalee goo however. :smile::smile::smile:

I do like to use the sensors to see if wind is on the increase or decrease. I use that info a ton when deciding to go or not.

Whatever works, but I definately don't consider Ikite or sailflow to be useless. Take what works and leave the rest.

iKite is the best. It should be a kiter's number one source for accurate, updated wind information. :p

I only use sailflow, it is not always right to the exact speed but you can sure tell if the wind will hold true or just die off. I use sailflow everyday :D

sayl floe, i kyte .....who cares?
watch the birds bro.

C'mon Bri, iKite is the best.
Just like East Beach is the only place to ride. ;)

Ok, point taken, sea breezes do produce scattered whitecaps. Full on whitecaps don't start until about 17 kts. Our typical seabreezes don't usually get to 17, otherwise we would be riding every day of the summer. Our seabreezes tend to get us riding when we are really jonesing, but usually find us on our larger kites.

Bob, didn't mean to offend you to the point of your senseless sarcasism. For me, i'll keep watching the birds with WG.

H.R.

Its true, I kite does blow, big ones! Can't tell you how many times I have been burned by imight...

I pay attention to wind direction on the sensors and usually the trendline on the forecast. unless its holding steady at 20+ and its obviously blowing outside I give them 0 weight.

Wind is wind too so if there are white caps it doesn't matter if its a seabreeze or not, it should be enough to ride :)

You didn't offend me, HR. I did a quick check though, to make sure I wasn't coming from left field in my assumptions about white caps.

"Full on whitecaps" does not appear to be a classification in the Beaufort scale. Numerous whitecaps is a classification though, and 14 knots is easily enough to produce them.

Scattered whitecaps appear to start fairly shy of 17 knots (like 10 or so).
It's just a chart with numbers on it, though.
Prolly best to watch the birds, not the water surface (via cam or live) for sure.

http://www.fksa.org/attachment.php?a...9&d=1245603510

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/beaufort.html

And yes, I can be sarcastic. ;)

Simply Amazing!
 

Just rode a bunch of times this week as well. I'm riding Contra3 14m and 135 x 41 and I'm 195lbs. Today was great and had to quit from exhaustion even though it was still blowing. Getting much closer on the front rolls!

As for forecasting, I usually look at Accuweather and Ikite and have done pretty well. Cypress is on the way home so I can see from 275. Many times it has been light but rideable and then it picks up for an hour or two and gets good.

I ride Cypress or Picnic Island and it's usually just me and maybe one other kiter. Picnic had 4 guys today. Surprised there haven't been more people out. Has it been sparse on the Gulf side?

I only saw a couple of people out in the Gulf on the on the days I rode TI last week. I will be at TI or Cypress tomorrow afternoon depending on what time I get off work.

It's been really sparse on the Gulf side considering how decent it has been.
The numbers of riders that show up consistently really started to drop off about 2 years ago, imo, at least where I ride. It's noticeable. Not complaining, btw.

It's nuking right now on the BN9 Sky Cam. Trees getting blown all over, white caps galore and decent sized wave-lets (for the Gulf).
It's blowing at least 17 knots, NW. Very strange, but Shweet. ;)

It was pretty windy. Hot though. I must be getting old or it's really hot... or both.

Something just hit me. I knew i had heard this all before but now with the "its so hot" comment i'm confident enough to say it. I don't think that Bob is the one posting. I think it's skyway scott.
I know i'm right cuz it's a page out of SS history.

Yep, it's Scott. Said it on here for about a month at the end of every post. But then I realized it didn't matter and stopped clarifying b/c so many post with pseudonyms ;) I have zero idea who you are, for example, and it doesn't really matter.
Really windy this morning out at Madeira. Nice waves, solid 20. Perfect for the surf board.
No idea what iBite maps reported... :eek:

Getting ready for round 2. :p

Yup, just how I like it.

H.R.