Strange Wind!!!

[LSUkiter]

Originally Posted by wdewilde

I flew a 172 South out of Tampa

I fly out of Whitted. After seeing Rick's pics last month(on the main forum) on his flight out to some of the more less visited Bahamian islands, I've been dying to plan a trip out there . There may need to be an airborne kite caravan trip to the islands in the future. A group of kiters and a couple of planes would make for some fun

[Steve-O]

Gabe and I were hitting some beautiful waves on the EC with stand up's. We missed the wind but had a blast none the less. And yes we got fried.

As some of you know I have been surfing the FL waters for most my life. Gabe did his 3rd session in his life and he is dialed in. I was amazed at how quickly he picked up the sport of surfing with a stand up. Those things catch just about anything.

[Todd RT]

I'm still beat from yesterday. A five hour session in July?? WTF?? My hands are also red and swollen. Maybe after work today too???

I didn't see the plane over sunset beach, but the yellow and orange SB2 was me!!!

I tried to jump closer to you!! LOL!!

Yesterday was definitely nice. It really got good starting at about 4 til 6. I too got fried on my face, which wasn't too bright
considering I have already had two cancers removed. LMAO.
Accuweather pretty much nailed yesterday's wind (they tend to underestimate) and they have it blowing again this afternoon, so it's possible.

[Erick]

I saw the huge flag on Waters and Anderson pretty well extended and I couldn’t believe it so I went home grab all my stuff and double check that my kite was not rotten after not being used for quite a while. Drove to Picnic around 4pm and as usual nobody was at the beach. Blowing 15 – 18 knots until 6pm. Well powered on my 14 …Booya!!

[rigger]

Originally Posted by wdewilde

Gentlemen,
I Just wanted to add to this piece today. I saw the wind coming up this morning and figured it was more of the storm driven hype and decided to go flying instead. I flew a 172 South out of Tampa at 4pm and headed around some rain pockets towards Sarasota. As I traveled to the South East I was getting 20 knots off the nose at 1000-2000 Feet. I figured lets go check out the beaches. I crossed over the beach just south of Sarasota and the first thing I saw were 3 kiters ripping on a sand bar just to the West of Sarasota International. So I flew to the north towards the Skyway and the Northern parts of Tampa. Well, dead of Summer I counted no less than 60 Kiters from Sarasota to East Beach Desoto to St. Pete beach to Clear water. Flew all the way up to Sunset in Tarpon Springs and counted 8-10 Kiters. Looks like I missed a great day but I was fired up to see so many people in the area out and on the water in the dead of Summer.........So much for Sucker Wind!!!!

Did you see any big sharks? I hear you can see them everywhere from the air.

[wdewilde]

On my Flight yesterday I paid particular attention to see if I could spot any wildlife such as Sharks. I flew the entire route between 900 and 1000 feet to stay out of Tampa Intentional class B airspace and get a close look at the ground and water. Surprisingly I did not see any Sharks, just pods of Dolphins, You can tell the difference.

I was surprised to see a lot of kiting spots to the south of Tampa that never seem to get mentioned, down around Sarasota. Nice blue water sand bars that where populated yesterday with kiters.

Yes I did see the Yellow and Orange SB2 at Sunset....Nice Air!!

[Danimal8199]

Had a nice sesh at IRB, got out there around 6, wind turned on at 6:30 and was cracking at 9 when I left.

Wind was almost directly on shore with lots of swimmers so it was a little difficult getting away from shore but once I was out there was able to ride both ways up and down the beach for a good 1.5 hours, nice sunset session!

[Todd RT]

Originally Posted by wdewilde

Yes I did see the Yellow and Orange SB2 at Sunset....Nice Air!!