Sunday Downwinder
 

If anyone doesn't have a gameplan or someone to ride with tomorrow, we currently have about ten riders doing a downwinder tomorrow from John's Pass (or further north) to the Undertow.

Anyone else want to join?
Any one have an idea on where to start from that has plenty of parking (assuming 8 or more cars show up)?

John's Pass is usually a good place to start, but sometimes we run out of parking.

We are going to be meeting relatively early, like 10am (weather permitting) and getting on the water by 10:30.
People that want to then eat at the Undertow, and then do another DW, can that way.

Will post again as things get firmed up.
It might really nuke tomorrow. BN9 is saying 16 to 30. They hardly ever say more than 25.
Typical.. it's ten minutes later and now it say 20 to 25, lol. Anyway, it should be good, I hope.

Today was pretty awesome in between EB and backside SW. I was totally litt on a 9 and then switched to the 7m.
Felt like solid low 20s going to high twenties out there. Nice.

jpass to tow?
lets go up to irb/sand key and ride to the tow.
really nice waves up north!
come on scott, lets haul ass!
l8r

I have no problems with that. :)
Where can we go with reasonable parking?
IRB is sometimes a nightmare in terms of getting a lot of cars in a spot, cuz it has all these little off street spots that hold 2 cars.
Sand key park is a long walk from the road. :(
You know a decent sized lot?

plenty of space up there to park for free.
j pass has a bunch of contruction
that south jetty is hard latley to find parking.
there is the north jetty but you gotta pay to play.
most will park at the landing spot right?
count me in for the looooong haul.
-bryan727-251-7904

It does make sense to take the trolley when dry and drive less.
Do you just leave your pump up at the launch site?

Is it a wetsuit day or is a shorty enough for Sunday? What about today?

I would say a shorty if you have one. Baynews9 says water temp. 72.

Pretty crazy isn't it?
Air temp should be in the mid 60s.
Shorty seems fine for me.
I only had shorts and a shirt on today. Insane for mid December. :)

Scott,

As far as parking goes in IRB, yes the streets are small, but with weather like tomorrow they will be empty. You can get 6-8 cars per street. Two streets should cover it. I don't think you will have any problems parking on 26th and 27th Ave. I plan to be there in the morning to go downwind. Got Doug and some others on board.

Maybe we'll meet up. 727-542-8022

dude.

Sounds good.
Will you guys have a kite pump we can borrow? :D
If so, we could take the trolley up to IRB and not have to worry about kite pumps.

Killing me
 

Man you guys are killing me with talks of shorts in mid December. I'm so freaking jealous. Can't wait to get down there.

I'm currently kitesurfing in Lake Biwa in Japan near Kyoto. Air temp is 7 deg C and water about 4 Deg C. 7mm semi dry suit. I HATE IT :mad:

Good luck this weekend.

they are calling for gusts to gale force


everyone, be careful out there

clearwater bch just hit 45-48 kts S @ 4:45am!!!

78 !!!

I can bring a bunch a pumps. Probably have 6 or so. What time you think you guys will arrive???

IRB sounds good to me. Some one pick a street and a time frame. I see a lot at 1st Ave IRB, but it might be metered. Lets just stay out of indian shores, no trolly stops and aggresive policing.

heaing towards the beaches now 8an
 

looking to hook up with someone heading to IRB now someone up for an downwinder call me 727 420 0598....thanks....Al-Kite-Ah

where are you guys going to end your downwinder?

Okay.
How's this?
IRB. Meet around 25th Ave as suggested.
Go down to (as far as you want, really) but the Undertow to eat, and then those that want, go further to see the Eclipse kites and hang with Toby.

Would like to meet by 10 am and be on water by 10:30 am or so.

Sounds like many of us could park somewhere near Undertow and take trolley North, thanks to Steve and his pumps.

Al-kite Ah, call me if you need a ride.

LET"S DO THIS>..... friggin' beautiful day and it's blowing. :)

doo it doo it
 

Guess Ill Park at PG, and take the trolley up to 26th. Probably take an hour to get up to 26th, but I would rather do it dry, and with a clean kite ;) Should be killer day with clear skies, big waves, and solid wind. Im leaving now if anyone wants to join.

Sorry I didn't post a tad earlier this morning.
I am doing the math in my head and realizing this may be a bit of a rush for some. Let's still aim for leaving the setup sight (IRB around 25th) by 10:45.

From phone calls sounds like a possibly big turnout.
Many on the road right now.

Were on our way...pumps in tow...will wait for the crew to arrive.

Should be there around 9:30

Let's do this!!!!!!!!!!!

That was neat seeing all the kiters along the beach today.
How far did most of you guys go?
Saw lots of you guys at the start, then lost sight of many.
It was pretty windy, huh? Donna, Bob and myself were all on 7m kites, totally litt. :)
Next time though, I am just gonna do John's Pass to PaG. That was pretty far and the waves didn't even get that good until we got to JP, anyway.

Great day. We got lucky that our first winds were on a weekend.

Agreed, waves really started to get some good quality south of Redington Pier. Did anyone experience side-off conditions as they headed south of the pier?

Bayflite mentioned that at the 'Tow.
I never noticed, but he did.
The other side of Blind Pass, close to shore got REAL crappy, but that almost always happens. The TI area was friggin' awesome. ;)

speaking of the tow,
it's no longer cool to park there and ride.
maybe bongos would be cool.
now i see why its called under tow
you might get towed
but yeah steve, ditto that bro on the sketch factor at redington
i was almost wishing i didn't chop off my donkey dick with all the sketch
l8r

Is there a "better" place to go than the 'tow?
That guy is too negative to be getting our money, imo.
He should be happy when 15 guys (and gals) show up on a SHIT day (biziness wize) to pay him and his staff.
Some days that aren't football, we are the only ones there when it is blowing 30 and its 55 degrees outside.
You think he would say "Hey and welcome". But instead he walks around like Mr. Grumpy asking for I.D., etc.

What's his deal? I have been going there for years with no problems.
Then about 6 months ago...

Anyway, a more kite friendly place would be great.
Is Bongo's more kiter friendly?

Was the wind really gusty in st pete? It was so gusty in Sarasota that it wasnt even fun. it would go from like 22 to 35 and back down again in 10 seconds. yesterday was great out of the south-nice and steady 12 m weather.

i might be thinking of caddy's
the place where gulf blvd and sunset beach intersect by the seven 11.

Yeah, I usually go to Bongos because I’ve noticed that it’s convenient to park my car there and access to the beach is right there.

Around three months ago I went on a breeze Friday afternoon to The Undertow and had a couple of drinks while I was waiting for the strong wind to show up. When the wind came I kited for around 2 hours and when came back to my car there a note in the windshield of my car saying that The Undertow was not a place to kite. WTF?? I just had a couple of drinks there!!

Anyway I don’t frequent that place that often anymore.

Caddys is the shizit and they are kiter friendly. We caught some slack from the guy at the Under Ho today. Screw em'... its their loss. That place can sit empty on the cold windy days!

I agree Jayson and Erick. Thanks for the inputs.
I only named it as a meeting spot today because, to be honest, I don't know all the other options.
Some one else pick Bongos or Caddy's next time.


http://caddysonthebeach.com/

well,
i have to say
i kinda see why they don't like us.
i mean, we come in soaked and stoked
drip water and sand all over and they only have 24 parking spots.
plus i think the owner is a pole sufer az well.
l8

Jim,

I don't feel that the wind was overly gusty. It wasn't steady by any stretch, but it was pretty good overall.

Ditto, what Scott said earlier, very cool to see so many kites up and down the beach as far as the eye could see. I saw more kites today than surfers. That's a first for me.

I felt like it was 25 to 35. But more like 25 to 30, with occasional 35's.
You should have been here with us, Jim.
What size kite were you on?
I think the closer you are to the top end of a kite, the more obvious the gusts and it makes it feel more gusty, is my experience. But, maybe the wind just sucked where you were, too.
Thing is, a rider here on an 08 9m Waroo (very powerful low end) told me he was hating life. I was on a 7m Waroo, loving life. :)
We rode the exact same stretch of beach.

Downwinder was great today and it was good to see everyone out.

Steve-O good call on the 9m. I think my 12 would have kicked my ass even more!

Yeah Danny.....great riding with you today. By the way here is the real story with Wild Bill and Redington pier. Billy was riding with one of his friends who was still new to the sport, and a little over his head today. As they approached the pier, the friend was a bit sketched to go around it, so he went in north of the pier. Billy followed. A bit pissed and wanting to ride further, Billy went up on the sand dune and lofted himself onto the pier...lofted to the other side of the pier...and lofted back down to the sand. Then landed kite....walked under...grabbed friends kite and did the same thing with his kite. Minutes later both kites back in the air and on their way. And on the way out boosted a huge air followed by a triple kite loop. Sick!!!

I looked back and just saw him soooo freakin high I couldn't believe it! Crazy!

We should have let Billy go before us so we could have watch the show more!

Steve-O and Scott-I was on a 9 atom. We were riding a flat on the inside of longboat key and that may be why the wind was so gusty. I would like to have come up, but was a bit intimidated by the amount of wind to ride in the gulf. (only been out in lighter wind in the gulf so far)