OWC for kiteboarding

[surf80]

Has anyone ever thought about an OWC setup for kiteboarding. I was thinking about finding some land here in Orlando, and have a lake dug out big enough to kite on. You would be able to kite on it in any wind direction. What do you think? You guys think it would work?

[JoshTaylor]

you couldn't kite on owc, to many cables and shit, if there was no cable park there sure it's water, if theres wind you can kite on it.

I think the question is - - is it worth it to make a huge man-make lake to kite on in Orlando.

[ricki]

There are a few problems with trying to setup an inland kiting lake in Florida. First and foremost is unreliable wind. The center of the state has infrequent bouts of stronger, useable wind over the entire year. Like much of the rest of the state really. A big second problem perhaps greater than the first is that the wind if in the center of the State would likely be too turbulent with wind shadow. That is it would gust high, drop low and in general be a pain in the butt to kite in in many cases. Most folks that live near Orlando kite on either the east or west coast because it is that much better. Most of Florida and particularly the northern central part has excessive relief for clean wind. By contrast it is pretty flat in the Keys and STILL you have excessive wind shadow nearshore in offshore winds. If you need convincing go kiting in some inland venues in Florida, just don't get hurt. I think you'll see what I mean fairly quickly.

I think Alex Shogren of Best Kiteboarding did something like this in Brazil. He excavated a series of man-made lagoons for various kiting activities. The thing about NE Brazil is they have a lot of consistent wind for much of the year from the east consistently. If you have a very low land mass between the ocean and your kiting lake AND have strong, reliable wind you're good to go.

[JoshTaylor]

i read that way to fast before...

yeah, I typed too fast. What is a man-make lake?

[CrazyJay]

Great idea.... but I looked into it 4 years ago.
Main problem is that you need a minimum of 100 acres which in florida (anywhere) will cost about $2-3 million minimum. Plus as Rick said, the wind inland sucks and we have great riding spots on the coast.
The idea does work though.... in Kansas or Oklahoma. Strong year round wind and cheap land. Unfortunately the land prices thee have shot up also due to the need for corn/ethanol. The other problem there is getting enough h2o to fill ur pond.