Tampa Bay are my home waters. I can say many positive things about the area and conditions but the best thing about Tampa Bay is the windsurfing community! We have many wonderful windsurfers as well as newbies like myself and we also connect regularly with the great folks in the Clearwater. We have a great time staying connected and chasing the wind and if you visit Tampa Bay please reach out to our community as we always enjoy meeting and windsurfing with new folks. A great place to start is North Beach Windsurfing.
Like much of Florida, fall and winter are the windy season with a bit of carry over into spring. Cold fronts bring strong northerly winds and sometimes weaker cold fronts help to pull strong winds from the south. In summer we hope for good east winds in the mornings and of course summer storms in the Gulf of Mexico can produce spectacular opportunities.
Tampa Bay offers a great number of windsurfing options with flat water free riding being the most popular but foiling has become very popular over the past couple of years and the right conditions send the experts into the Gulf to wave windsurf. The one item that is must have in Tampa Bay is a weed fin or two! Shallow water is a great option especially for beginners but you don’t want to drag a fin especially on plane unless of course you wish to practice catapulting!
The Locations link on the website will direct you to many of the great spots we take advantage of but I can say our favorite is the Scenic Skyway (anything East). We also enjoy Tierra Verde (S or SE) but due to construction this location is closed to us for most of 2019. Northwest locations are many and probably provide the greatest number of windsurfing options. Two of my favorites are 75¢ near Ft. DeSoto and Emerson Park, great flat water windsurfing.
Great community, great water, warm weather and beautiful locations make a visit to Tampa Bay one of your best options for Florida windsurfing. Hope to see you soon!
Nice!
Hi Tom – love you created this blog; agree Tampa Bay area has so many great areas to windsurf & what a great windsurfing community! You need to get up to Fred Howard Park in northern Pinellas – one of my favorites! Good on any N, NW, W, S, SW. If decide to go let me know will give you the “lay of the land”. Thanks again for keeping us posted on your blog – look forward to hearing about your windsurfing travels around the state! Take care –Dee Dennis
Absolutely! I’ve been meaning to visit Fred Howard for sometime. Soon I hope.
with flat water *freeriding* being the most popular