Starting from mid June through September, the weather pattern changes in Tampa Bay. It’s a lot more humid and afternoon thunderstorms are more common. Yes, afternoon thunderstorms create wind but it’s a horrible idea to try and kiteboard in it.
What Summer Means For Kiteboarding
Wind during the summer time is not as common and not as predictable as it is during our windy season (October through May). There will be longer spells of no wind and the sea breezes are typically weaker. We will get days where the sea breeze is strong enough to kiteboard but forecasting those days are more difficult.
How It Affects Lessons
With less wind and less predictable winds, lessons are done on short notice. We always try to give as much notice as possible before the lesson takes place. There may be more time between lessons than during our windy season.
Scheduling
We try to give as much notice before a lesson as possible but sea breezes can pop up with little notice. Fill out the form below and we’ll include you in our lessons list.
Other Activities
Ground School
We offer a free ground school that lasts an hour. Ground school is hosted at Watersports West on Mondays and Thursdays. You’ll be fitted for a harness and hooked up to a kiteboarding control bar where you’ll learn the fundamentals to kiteboarding. We’ll go over how lessons are structured and the exercises we’ll be working on. We’ll show you what we use to forecast wind and how we determine which location to kiteboard at.
Summer Clinic
This clinic does require some wind and entails the basics of kiteboarding, including flying a 4 line inflatable kite. We’ll go over setting up, launching, landing, self launching, self landing, how to fly a 4 line inflatable, how to water relaunch, all three safety systems and how to self rescue. Length of the class is 1.5 to 2 hours long. Three to four people must be registered to host the class. Cost is $60 per person.
No Fields Found.Cable Park
Throughout the summer months we’ll organize trips to McCormicks Cable Park. The cable park provides a consistent pull around the lake where you can work on and improve your board riding skills. It’s an opportunity to meet and talk to other kiteboarders of different skill levels.
Wakeboarding will help improve your board skills so that when it’s time to ride the board with a kite, you don’t have to think about the board. We’ll plan trips to the local cable park where the pull is consistent so you can practice riding both goofy footed and regular footed.
Foilboarding
Foilboarding has been a fantastic light wind tool for kiteboarding and a great way to cruise around on what feels like a cloud. We teach foilboarding on a jetski and use the most modern equipment to ensure you learn as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Travel To Kite
Although St Petersburg isn’t the windiest place during the summer time, there are other places with more consistent winds. Within driving distance, places like Cocoa Beach, St Augustine, and Tybee Island have greater chances for stronger sea breezes. The Caribbean has amazing conditions for learning how to kiteboard during the summer due to the trade winds. Just about every day there’s a 15-20 kt breeze, perfect for kiteboarding. We can set you up with the right schools or travel with you to teach you how to kiteboard.
Lesson Location
The Skyway Bridge is one of the best locations on the west coast of Florida for summer sea breezes. The spot where we teach at the skyway bridge is all waist deep water. Being able to teach in waist deep water gives us the ability to develop a students kite control quickly and in a safe environment. We have access to a jetski, which can be used to get to the flats across from the channel. The sea breezes that develop tend to have stronger winds by the Skyway Bridge.
