BayAreaKiteboarding.com

Greetings fellow kiters;
I am heading to San Jose on the 19th of February for about 12 days. Since I'm coming down with the wife & kids, I will only have a few days out of that to kite. This will for the most part be my first trip out of Alaska since I started kiting about 5 years ago, so I'm looking forward to checking out new terrain. I would love to get with some of you to get the lowdown on the local spots, dos & don'ts of the area + someone to ride with, etc. I will be shipping down my gear ahead of time, so any advice on that I can get would be greatly appreciated. I have an all C-kite quiver, 12m, 14m, 16m, 18m and a really old school 5.5m Naish Pirate (1999 model I believe). They're all rigged for a 5 line bar. I am thinking of shipping down the 5.5, 12 & the 18. Would those be appropriate? I've been kiting on land for 5 years & kiting on water for about 2. I would consider myself in the intermediate category; I can upwind, jump, self land/launch etc. We don't get the same kind of waves here as you guys do in Santa Cruz, so my wave riding skills are minimal. I am thinking of checking out Ocean Beach in SF, 3rd Ave. in San Mateo & Waddell in Santa Cruz, although I'm not so confident about Waddell... What's the wind like in these locations this time of the year? How consistent/reliable is it? What's the typical wind speed? I'm used to flying my 16m in 13-18mph which is the typical wind speed we get in the summertime in Homer, AK. Thank you all in advance for any feedback, tips, advice, etc. you can share, & looking forward to kiting in the Bay Area!
Tomasz

How much do you weight?

about 190. Most of my friends are flying 14m bow kites when I'm out with a 16m-18m, so I'm used to flying on the slightly overpowered side. At least on my own stomping grounds, I'd probably play it more conservative in terrain I'm unfamiliar with.

the winds are kind of random early in the year. Typically nothing or a thunderstorm sweeping through. so for you I read also the 18 and 12. Although 18 is way too big / slow for waves though.

G

Thanks for the info. The 18 I have is a 2006 Flexifoil Fusion, and for a kite of it's size it actually steers fairly quick. It's also a freight train as far as power goes. Any of the locations I'm considering more likely to have wind than others? I also thought about Half Moon Bay. It'd be a good spot for the wife & kids to play while I ride. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Yeah this time of year especially the winds are quite unpredictable and you at best would get some storm clearing winds which generally would be 6 -10m range of winds.
an 18m would be insanely big here for most anything but the lightest summer thermal. I would strongly recommend against riding it during the winter here as it can often vary from 10-35mph in a short period of time.
A 5.5 might be bit small unless its in the middle of a raging storm here. Your best bet would be to bring your 12 or pick up a 8-10m incase its windier.
Good luck!

Waddell has the best chance in the winter, but the last time it worked was almost two months ago.

"I will be shipping down my gear ahead of time, so any advice on that I can get would be greatly appreciated."

I don't know how much it costs to you to ship the gear, but I would keep the expectations of using it somewhere close to zero. Sorry, man - February is not the month to be here for kiting.

For instance, Wind tomorrow..... 1st wind since I think like 9 days ago (Saturday), and that was crazy 1/2 moon bay wind...

In storm frontal winds Bay Area is probably not any better than Alaska (or any other place in the world).

If you like very gusty winds, with rain, expert-level - then yes, ship your gear. There might be a chance, but not at those spots you mentioned.