SE Floirda in November?

[ricki]

I am coming down to Florida on Nov. 1st-8th to kite. I think I have communicated with you in the past about kiting there, but I was traveling with family back then. This time I am coming down with a kiting buddy and our only objective is to find wind. We are flying into West Palm Beach and will go wherever we need to. I have been tracking the wind and find that Jupiter is usually on for about 4 days and then off for about 3 or so. The same thing seems to apply for Ft. Pierce, Sabastian and the other "Gold Coast" sites. The most consistant reading I have noted are at Sombrero and Molasses Key. I am aware of the Kitehouse in Key West, and Seven in Islamorada, but do not know anything about Mollases. Are there launches there? Do we need a boat? Any help you can provide about the middle keys would be great. If you know about any events during that time, we will be up for that too. Thanks in advance for your informtation. BTW, keep up all the good work you do for the sport. I read as many of your post I can find with entusiasm.



The wind in mainland Florida, "normally" depends upon cold fronts blowing through from one to three times per week during November. So the frequency of useable winds out of the N to E to S are a function of the frequency and stength of the cold fronts as a rule in winter here. In the last two years tropical weather systems have been quite powerful and predominant. So, I am not quite certain what will come down this November. Hopefully, powerful cold fronts and no tropical systems to speak of. Stronger winds in mainland SE Florida seem to focus on Jupiter to some degree and in St. Aug./Jax in NE Florida. The stronger, more frequent frontal winds are generally more abundant in January through April, sometimes into mid May.

The Keys also benefit from cold fronts but also seem to have higher winds much of the year as you have noticed. It is important to note that several of those anemometer stations are 4 to 6 miles offshore and at 125 ft. high well into meteoric winds. The winds nearshore are generally 3 to 5 mph lower on average.

The Keys on the whole lack launching beaches. The Atlantic side however has hundreds of square miles of shallow water. You can preattach your bar and lines to your kite, keep the battens inflated, roll the kite up and you are good to go. Simply walk out into the shallows, pump up your leading edge with someone holding your bar, go back have your assistant launch and you're off. You will have problems in much of the Keys if you try to do a normal shoreside setup and launch. A boat would help throughout the Keys of course. You can power out to a convenient sand bar, setup and fly off.

The only event in the Keys to date has been the Islamorada Invitational which should come off in March or April. I don't know if the Jupiter Kite Invasion is planned this year or not.

There is a great deal more about the Keys, launches, weather, etc. at:

http://fksa.org/viewforum.php?f=67

Thanks for the encouragement and have a great trip!