Jax, Daytona, Melbourne sailing locationa & advice wanted
Robb Dickson
four letters) area to Lake City, FL. I'm looking for somewhere to sail and
a bit of advice when I get there. Never had to deal too much with tides and
waves so could use some guidance.
Also, had a buddy Jeff who's affectionately called "Taz" who moved to
Melbourne half a decade ago. Anybody got a contact for him?
Thanks,
Htich
JSNTG
both the east coast and west coasts. 1.5 hours to the east is Huguenot Park
(near Mayport) and the ocean. The club there is JAWS - Jacksonville Area
Windsurfers. Info here: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/jaxwindsurfing/
and http://www.geocities.com/jawsjax2k/
They have a windtalker at the Park, good facilities and sailable from 0- 200
degrees. Noreasters are the best.
Dean provides a very reliable source of WX info for this area:
http://www.surf-station.com/Letters/index.asp
To the west you have:
Shell Point (30 minutes south of Tallahappy) - flat water to bump & jump.
The local club is:
http://www.geocities.com/jawsjax2k/
Alligator Point (45 minutes west of Tally) - flat water in the bay, waves in
the Gulf
St. George Island (90 minutes west of Tally) - waves
Cape San Blas (2 hours west of Tally) - waves on south shore and in the
State Park; flatwater in the bay
Mexico Beach (2 hours west of Tally) - waves
The local wavesailing group is: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/UGCW/
Tally is 90 minutes west of Lake City so you might want to consider a
multi-day excursion when you head west.
Also if you do a google groups search for 'Cape San Blas' or St. George
Island' you'll find more detailed info about these venues. For instance:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.windsurfing/browse_thread/thread/65f1f3ad1ffc700c/453d623fd77ba0ba?#453d623fd77ba0ba
Hope this helps.
Hugh
"Robb Dickson" <robbwi...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:fI6dnWJdr9NTiA3b...@comcast.com...
toi
Jax resident) moving to Hatteras. For Lake City sailing close by,
there are obviously some lakes in the area, including Ocean Pond,
located in the Osceola National Forest. I have not sailed there but
it looks like it would be a good spot for frontal winds in the fall,
winter and spring. The National Forest Service's brochure that I saw
for that spot had windsurfers from the 80s on the cover. As to
Jacksonville, the Jax club is not active, but the local windsurfers
have our own newsgroup on Yahoo groups called jaxwindsurfing.
Huguenot Park on the oceanside is probably the best launch in town and
is fairly easy to get to for you - I-10 to I-95 to Heckscher/Zoo
Parkway and then east until you hit the Atlantic Ocean. You can check
the area surf reports including www.surf-station.com to see if the
waves are relatively small or not the first few times you go out on
the ocean. Do not do anything stupid like go way offshore or sail in
west winds as the sheriff's office and lifeguards do a very thorough
job protecting us all and we don't want to have to use their
services. It takes very little to cause the Sheriff's helicopter to
come check you out, which is good and bad. The lagoon behind the
dunes, a/k/a The Pond, is sailable for about 2 hours on each side of
high tide and is about a mile across at high tide. It is great for
learning and from a safety standpoint. The other regularly used
launches are 13th Street South in Jax Beach (grassy rigging area but
otherwise not different from the rest of Jax Beach) and County Dock
Road in south Jax for westerly winds. We generally tend to sail the
ocean in the summer, and the river in the winter and spring, due to
wind direction and wave conditions. Regionally, the most popular spot
is Kelly Park in Merritt Island, where Calema windsurfing is. It is a
great spot if you have a weekend to windsurf. My two cents of
unsolicited advice for you is that you will get a lot more out of
windsurfing here if you venture out into the ocean and not try to time
your trips based on high tides at the Pond, especially in the
summertime when the waves are generally flat. The jetty at the south
end of Huguenot Park (the north side of the mouth of the St. Johns
River) is about a mile long and makes for very gentle rolling swell
and minimal chop when the breeze is out of the south. You'll be
vastly outnumbered by kiters, surfers, and large pickup trucks at
Huguenot on the ocean side but there's plenty of space for everyone.
Lastly, I don't know if the free windtalker works anymore but the
small amount of money I pay to iwindsurf.com to get access to their
sensor network including their Huguenot sensor is well worth it. It
is a lot of trouble for them to keep it running in that lightning
knocks it out pretty often during the summer.
On Jul 9, 9:31 am, "JSNTG" <j...@wahoo.com> wrote:
> Lake City? Hmmm...the good news is you are within equal striking distance of
> both the east coast and west coasts. 1.5 hours to the east is Huguenot Park
> (near Mayport) and the ocean. The club there is JAWS - Jacksonville Area
> Windsurfers. Info here:http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/jaxwindsurfing/
> andhttp://www.geocities.com/jawsjax2k/
>
> They have a windtalker at the Park, good facilities and sailable from 0- 200
> degrees. Noreasters are the best.
>
> Dean provides a very reliable source of WX info for this area:http://www.surf-station.com/Letters/index.asp
>
> To the west you have:
> Shell Point (30 minutes south of Tallahappy) - flat water to bump & jump.
> The local club is:http://www.geocities.com/jawsjax2k/
> Alligator Point (45 minutes west of Tally) - flat water in the bay, waves in
> the Gulf
> St. George Island (90 minutes west of Tally) - waves
> Cape San Blas (2 hours west of Tally) - waves on south shore and in the
> State Park; flatwater in the bay
> Mexico Beach (2 hours west of Tally) - waves
> The local wavesailing group is:http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/UGCW/
>
> Tally is 90 minutes west of Lake City so you might want to consider a
> multi-day excursion when you head west.
>
> Also if you do a google groups search for 'Cape San Blas' or St. George
> Island' you'll find more detailed info about these venues. For instance:http://groups.google.com/group/rec.windsurfing/browse_thread/thread/6...
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Hugh
>
> "Robb Dickson" <robbwinds...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>
> news:fI6dnWJdr9NTiA3b...@comcast.com...
>
>
>
> > Inland lake sailor moves from the Memphis (yes, that windsurfing Mecca /
> not
> > four letters) area to Lake City, FL. I'm looking for somewhere to sail
> and
> > a bit of advice when I get there. Never had to deal too much with tides
> and
> > waves so could use some guidance.
>
> > Also, had a buddy Jeff who's affectionately called "Taz" who moved to
> > Melbourne half a decade ago. Anybody got a contact for him?
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Htich- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
clyde...@hotmail.com
Florida, this group will help:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ecfw/