good florida kiting beach in february

[dougdstecklein]

Hi,

I am traveling to Florida in the end of February and I want to kiteboard 99.9% of the time. Can anyone direct me to a website or something that will list good kiteboarding destinations in Florida in February. I would like to go to the Keys, but also want to be able to walk out of my hotel room and kite right off the beach. I am used to kiting on lakes with no good entry or exit spots, so a big beach is key.
most important

#1 - BIG BEACH
#2 - WARM TEMPERATURES
#3 - SIDESHORE AND PREDICTABLE WINDS
#4 - HOTEL ON BEACH
#5 - TOURIST THINGS TO DO

[ricki]

Originally Posted by dougdstecklein

Hi,

I am traveling to Florida in the end of February and I want to kiteboard 99.9% of the time. Can anyone direct me to a website or something that will list good kiteboarding destinations in Florida in February. I would like to go to the Keys, but also want to be able to walk out of my hotel room and kite right off the beach. I am used to kiting on lakes with no good entry or exit spots, so a big beach is key.
most important

#1 - BIG BEACH
#2 - WARM TEMPERATURES
#3 - SIDESHORE AND PREDICTABLE WINDS
#4 - HOTEL ON BEACH
#5 - TOURIST THINGS TO DO

February is one of our more reliable wind months. Still, there is no place in Florida that has 99.9% assurance of rideable wind. Useable winds in February come with cold fronts, the same ones that blow through Kansas. So, we have fronts coming through on the average of 1 to 3 per week in a "normal" year. We'll see how normal this year is as the winter months kick in. If you are on the east coast, useable winds will typically be from the N to E to S. On the west coast, from N to W to S with some variations depending on coastal features. Useable winds can be on from hours to several days depending on the weather system blowing through.

For warm temperatures, you will probably want to look in southern Florida. They get some great winds in the winter in northern Florida but because you are looking for cold fronts it can be nippy throughout the entire state but particularly in the northern part. You might look into hotels in the Ft. Pierce to Jupiter area. There are hotels on the beach there with limited restrictions on kiteboarding. There are tourist things to do particularly in the Jupiter area and points south. It is a bit cooler but you could look into the Cocoa area and head to the Orlando Parks with the family about an hour away and even to the west coast around Tampa if a powerful cold front comes through with strong westerly winds.

The Keys offer a lot of interesting things to do, fairly good winds, warmer temperatures than anywhere else in Florida but few beaches. There is a ton of info about the Keys and other parts of Florida at:

http://fksa.org/index.php?c=23

Have a great trip!