Floridian to visit Utah

[runrungogo]

well... i currently live in florida and will be visiting utah for a couple of weeks. my parents own a condo on the jordanelle reservoir and this is really the only area i'm familiar with.

i want to do some windsurfing and i was wondering if you guys could help me with:

1. recommending some good places to check out
2. recommend some good places to rent equipment from


also, i know here in florida we do some kite-boarding and i think i've seen a few things about it out in utah. any thoughts on this vs. windsurfing, keeping in mind that i've never done either.

thanks,
-run

[RickHeninger]

Well, one thing I know is that it is not a very good idea to ever have Kiteboarding and Windsurfing in the same sentence and a VS. between them! I am not going to address the vs. issue at all.

I have kited a few times... But I have also taken a few lessons and would only recommend the lessons first... I am sure somebody will be posting soon about that...


Windsurfing is what I can help you with a little... First off, if you scroll through some of the TOPICS in the forum you will find a ton of postings addressing most of your questions you have. You can rent a beginner board from John Dubock. If you look him up in the membership list you can get his email. Just click on his name from one of his postings to get his profile. Jordanelle is a great place to windsurf, however, it has a thermal window this time of year... Deer Creek right below it is the same. The sail sizes are going to be larger because it's not as strong of wind during this time of year unless a front is coming through.

Other Lakes are good, but if you have a condo on Jordanelle, I'd say, just stay there, rent John Dubock's gear and relax and wait for the wind to come to you. If you want to search for it... You can go up to Sulphur Creek reservoir which is about 45 minutes or so from Jordanelle to the east. There is a post below with directions to that....

Now I am going to Florida in a couple of weeks to stay on St. George Island... Would you happen to know that area? It's in the Pan Handle... I would love to find out if I can rent gear there...

Have fun and good luck...

[Sarah Ranes]

And see which you like. I do think kiting is a bit tougher here, because many of our lakes, don't provide good launch sites, and can be very gusty. I'm sure some of the kiters will jump in here and point you in a good direction for a lesson.

As far as windsurfing, and since you are in a learning stage, and staying at Jordonell, I agree with Rick, try to get some equipment and sail right there to learn some of the basics. If you are on your own, you may want to bring a leaarn to windsurf video, or book since you are NOT likly to find instructional help at Jordonell. Rick mentioned John Dubock already, also Mike Rossberg our pres. has a nice GO and rig that he rents out.

You are likely to find more local windsurfers at DeerCreek or Sulpher Creek if you want on site help and people who could answer questions that you have. We do have lot's of helpful people here.

Hope this help a little bit. Keep posting questions if you have them....Good Luck!

[RickHeninger]

Looks like Tropical Storm soon to be Hurricane Dennis is going to have something to say to my going to St. George Island off of the coast of Northwestern Florida... It is just east of the point up there in the panhandle... My flight leaves on Tuesday July 12 in the Morning... Hmmmm??? I might be enjoying a hurricane there. My girlfriend's fam rents a 7 bdrm house right on the beach...

What are the odds that the hurricane is going to interfere with these plans... And Sarah, I need to ask Linda what Delta does my $600 plane ticket ends up being cancelled because of the hurricane!?

[bigwavedave]

Rick . . how could you pass up on the opportunity to windsurf in hurrican winds. The waves would be great, and you wouldn't even have to put a sail on your mast, just clamp the boom on & go!!

[Craig Goudie]

Developing a new nick are we there "Big Wave" (gotta be better than RE right?).

When are you and Rick going to join the rest of the tribe in the Gorge this year? Times a waste'n buddy.

-Craig

Rick . . how could you pass up on the opportunity to windsurf in hurrican winds. The waves would be great, and you wouldn't even have to put a sail on your mast, just clamp the boom on & go!!

[RickHeninger]

Craig, actually, the Blowout is 23 and 24th of July... I want to make it.... I know Dave has a 2 to 3 week stint planned soon... When is the next group trip?

Can you imagine... Just stand on the board and go! No boom needed.
Believe me Dave, I wanted to get down there to rubber neck a little, maybe throw a few sandbags, but couldn't have gotten a flight there...

As of today, power is out on St. George Island, (it's right on that point in the pan handle off of Apolachicola.)... They got pretty hammered by the storm surge... I'll be there tomorrow evening... We'll have to see how it goes...

[bigwavedave]

I'm looking at doing a precursory Gorge trip this weekend just to pre-stretch the arms so I'm not dying when I'm there for the two weeker starting on the 26th. Hopefully the Tiki Party won't be before then. I've got to check the wind but if it's good I'll jaunt up there for a long weekend on friday. I've got to dust off the milk-muscles and see if I can still gybe . As for the Name . . it's actually a well-known age-old one that has been with me since high-school. Not because of my wave prowess, but because of a hair-style that closely mirrored that of a guy with a tidal wave on his head that was printed on a t-shirt my friend brought home from Hawaii. It was actually titled "Big Wave Dave's Surf Shop". It's stuck ever since. It's simply by coincidence that now I'm riding Jaws sized waves (in my dreams anyway).

[RickHeninger]

Well, as we were "pushing out" from the jetway, my girlfriend's mom called her and said, "don't come, we can't get in the house that we rented"... ... ??? !!!

We ended up going and winging it... Great 1400 mile journey all around Florida. One part including going to watch the Space Shuttle launch... Scrubbed...

Saw some great windsurfing in Clearwater... Caught some pretty good boogey boarding in Daytona... All in all a fun trip...

But you would not believe the damage sustained by Hurricane Dennis... Eventhough it was "only" a cat-III hurricane when it hit, there was way more damage to the whole pan-handle shoreline than I imagined.

The house we were going to stay in was on the Island of St. George off of Apolachicola... It was right on the beach... The showers around the hot tub in back had two feet of sand packed in them... In other words most of the houses that were within the surge height will be digging out for quite a while. I can't imagine the damage from a more powerful hurricane... The hurricane didn't even hit the Island and there is sooo much money loss from it there. Houses that were on stilts (many) or simply on 5 feet higher ground were basically fine... I had never seen hurricane aftermath... Pretty wild...

Oh, and for you weather lovers... We were simply driving along in the pan handle when we came to a DARK cloud. For those of you who've been there know, it is tough to see around because of tall trees along most freeways, so we drove through a dark cloud... It had the most rain I'd ever driven through... Later learned a tornado was in it... Don't know exactly how close we were to it...

Hoping to drive 1400 miles more to Gorge soon... (round trip)

[runrungogo]

guys, i appreciate all the responses. i was at deer creek and jordanelle earlier today and neither were "in the know" as far as windsurfing.

does anyone know where john dubock lives and what kind of rates he has going? also, it didn't seem very windy today, what kinds of winds are necessary to enjoy windsurfing?

again, i appreciate the help.

-run

[Steven Nyhus]

With the current weather pattern, it does not look good for winds at Deer Creek or Jordanelle (or the whole area for that matter). John lives in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake City and you should be able to get ahold of him through this forum. Look in the windsurfing equipment for sale area and you should be able to get his contact info. Good luck and enjoy your stay here.

[John Dubock]

John Dubock 801-755-8767 johndubock@hotmail.com

Between myself, Steve, Rossberg and others we should be able to ramp you up.