Summer sue does feel like its upon us with the lack of wind, humid conditions and afternoon thunderstorms. We’ve managed to make it out a few times during June. Wind forecasting in the summer is tough but here’s whats helped us spot the wind.
Ikitesurf
This has been our go-to app/ website for checking the wind. It’s been extremely difficult to get longer than 3 days out forecasted properly. Within the Ikitesurf app you can choose different forecasting models to look at. Out of all the different models and different forecasting sites, the most accurate we found is the Quicklook Plus (Premium) forecast.
Unfortunately this forecast only goes about 12 hours out, as indicated by the blue bar above, so using this forecast is only good for the same day.
Accurate Readings
If you kiteboard, you know the forecast is almost never perfect. So before driving out to the beach, you want to know if the wind is coming up. The best sensors to have access to are the yellow ones on Ikitesurf. These sensors allow you to see if that afternoon sea breeze really is building. They are updated every few minutes making them very accurate.
Baynews 9
Local forecasting tremendously helps. At about 4pm Baynews 9 puts out a marine forecast for the next day. We cross reference the Ikitesurf forecast with the Baynews 9 marine forecast to help us get a better picture for the next day.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay is the lightning capital and you do not want to be on the water when a thunderstorm pops up. Before going out, we always check Klystron 9 to see if there are any storms developing, where they are, and where they’re going. Safety is super important so be aware even while you’re out kiteboarding.
The most common type of wind we get during the summer are afternoon sea breezes. An 8-10 mph sea breeze is common and is too light to learn how to kiteboard. An 11-14 mph sea breeze is possible and is good for kiteboarding. Knowing the strength of the sea breeze is harder to predict during the summer and is usually a last minute call.
Foilboarding makes it possible to ride even in the lightest of breezes. Throughout the summer we are offering classes for learning how to foilboard behind the jetski. Shoot us a message if interested!
