Where to
go? You can sail from almost anywhere on the island in beautiful
shallow water, but guessing when is another question. While we
have good wind in Key West, it is totally unpredictable. The best
winds are in the winter, the next best in the fall and spring,
the lightest in the summer. You really shouldn't plan on Key West
specifically for a windsurfing vacation. You might get lots of
wind. You might not get any. Just come for the terrific place
Key West is, and bring your boards just in case. The odds are
you'll get to sail.
NOTE: Although beginner
boards and a few intermediate boards are available in Key West
at Smathers Beach, Higgs Beach, and most of the hotels; there
are no board shops in Key West and nowhere to rent high tech equipment.
so bring your own ... or:
GOOD NEWS!
If you're driving down or are renting a car in Key West, you can
rent excellent equipment in Islamorada (at the top of the Keys).
It's a colorful drive with stops on the way to sail. Contact:
Gilles at bumpandjump@aol.com or through their website
at www.KeysWindsurfing.Com. They have all nice
fresh equipment -- all level boards from plastic to high end.
Bump and Jump works from a warehouse in Islamorada and delivers
locally (Marathon to Key Largo -- not to Key West) to people's
houses or hotels or to a beach, 1 day minimum. They also rent
small sailboats and will later be doing back country sail tours
in Islamorada.
W~E~E~D~S:
You need a weed fin in the Florida Keys. Weeds range from no weeds
(almost never any weeds on the North side of the island) to occasional
mats of weeds as big as helicopter pads on the South side after
an offshore storm. Trying to get through one of these snarls with
a standard pointer fin can be like trying to part the hair of
a woolly mammoth with a toothpick. There are almost always a few
little weeds here and there, just enough to make your life miserable.
However, if you don't mind screaming in to the shore and initiating
the jibe of a lifetime and snagging a weed patch the size of a
tiger hairball and going through the sail in front of a mob of
howling tourists, don't bring a weed fin.
Windsurfing
map of Key West
Special note
on Due E Winds:
When the wind blows due east, you can either sail at Boca Chica
Bay on the north side of the island or at the end of Smather's
Beach closest to the airport. If the wind is just slightly
northeast, Boca Chica Bay will be best. You may have to sail out
toward the distant power lines to get a clean wind. If the wind
is just slightly southeast, Smather's might be better.
NW, N, NE,
ENE, Due E Winds:
BOCA CHICA BAY:
From Miami: As
you approach Key West you will pass through a small town called
Boca Chica and, shortly afterwards, cross over the Boca Chica
bridge, a fairly long span over Boca Chica Bay (There's a green
sign on the right of the bridge that says "Boca Chica Channel").
As you exit the bridge you will see a small mangrove island just
offshore about 1/10 of a mile ahead on the right. Just before
you get opposite the island there is an opening in the rock breakwater
where you can launch. Look for a short aluminum pole with a small
yellow reflector, and a few yards beyond, a US 1 sign. The opening
is between them.
From Key West: Go up US 1 past Stock Island (the neighboring key adjacent to Key West) about a mile. In the distance you'll see the Boca Chica Channel Bridge, a fairly long span over Boca Chica Bay. The sailing site is on the left on the near side of the bridge, but warning: keep going past the sailing site and cross over the bridge and turn around and come back. Don't even think of making a U-turn across the median. The highway has more highway patrol cars than a pig has bristles; and they're always watching; and besides, its dangerous; and furthermore there's a dip in the middle of the meridian that is often full of concealed squashy turf that can snag your tires, and there you'll sit like a fly on a piece of fly paper just waiting for the big black spider with blue and white lights. Shortly after you cross the bridge there are several places where you can turn around and head back toward Key West. Watch the traffic, especially what's coming up behind you!
Go back
over the bridge, and as you exit, you will see a small mangrove
island just offshore about 1/10 of a mile ahead on the right.
Just before you get opposite the island there is an opening in
the rock breakwater where you can launch. Look for a short aluminum
pole with a small yellow reflector, and a few yards beyond, a
US 1 sign. The opening is between them.
When the wind blows north or northeast, Boca Chica is very likely
cranking. These are the cold fronts that bring the strongest winds
-- 20 to 35 knots. "Cold front" is a relative word down
here. It usually means that the temperature has plummeted from
72 to 68. A shorty is usually fine, though we occasionally get
a really bad winter day when the temperature hovers near 60. Oh
what a miserable life. On an east or northeast wind you can sail
all the way up the bay, past the power lines, and out to the mangrove
islands in shallow clear water. No varmints out there that I've
ever seen other than jet skis. On a lucky day a pod of dolphins
may join you.
Beware the
Boca Chica bridge
-- affectionately called Jaws. At outgoing tide there's a mean
current going underneath. If you're too close and you fall, or
if the wind slacks off, the current can take you under the bridge
to totally dead air on the other side, and you'll have to trudge
through a lot of muddy flats and get jeered at when your friends
see you slinking back across the highway in disgrace. I know.
I've been a member of the bridge club several times. So, after
launching make a series of short tacks and get upwind a bit before
your start making your runs. Another caution: the ocean bottom
near the tip of the little mangrove island just offshore is hard
and at low tide can snap off a fin in a millisecond. Watch the
depth.
Windsurfing
map of Key West
Special
note on Due S Winds:
When the wind is due South (it doesn't happen often, unfortunately)
the direction is directly onshore and you can sail from any of
the locations listed below. Best of all, you can sail the entire
length of the island just three or four hundred feet off the beach.
As you roar past Smather's Beach just imagine all the guys and
gals there wishing that they were as brilliant, and talented,
and brave as you.
S, SE,
SW Winds:
EAST END
OF SMATHER'S BEACH NEAREST AIRPORT
THE COVE
WHITE STREET PIER
The east
end of Smather's Beach past the main beach where the retaining
wall ends, has many possible launch sites -- wherever you can
put in.
At the other end of Smather's Beach, where the road makes a sharp
turn is a launch site known as the Cove. There is a concrete boat
ramp where you can park briefly while you unload your equipment
on the beach.
On the east side of the White Street Pier toward the airport there
is a little beach at the end of which is a small condominium building.
Next to the condo a short access road leads to the water where
you can unload then park elsewhere. The water off the White Street
pier area is deeper than the other launch sites and has more waves,
such as they are. This is laid-back sailing, though often with
good chop. Go to Hawaii for the big ones.
W Winds:
LOUIE'S
BACKYARD (DOG BEACH)
BOCA CHICA BAY
When the
wind blows due west, this is about the most reasonable place you
can launch to catch it, and you might have to go a bit of a ways
out. You can also try the Boca Chica Bay site, but you will have
to sail out toward the power lines to catch the wind. Louie's
Backyard is a very nice restaurant on the water next to which
is a small public beach known as "Dog Beach". Here locals
take their dogs swimming, and there's just enough room to carry
a board and sail down to the water. The swimming here is terrific
with a great sand bottom. And Louie's Backyard has a beautiful
waterfront terrace where you can have a drink. When the winds
blow west, I personally just don't sail. The few potential launching
sites on the west side of the island open onto the deep shipping
channel which, in addition to a ferocious current, offers such
unappealing hazards as cruise ships, power boats, jet skis, and
I think maybe ... just maybe ...if there was one anywhere... that's where it would
be... a GREAT BIG MULTI-TOOTHED YOU-KNOW-WHAT. I've got buddies
that go there, and they're still in one piece. But Izeachicken.
When
does the wind blow?: There's no telling. In the summer it doesn't
much. But if you've got a long board and a big sail, you might
get 10 knots and be able to cruise out through the marine sanctuary
and see a turtle or a dolphin or a ray or something mysterious
a wave washed up. In the spring and fall you may have five days
of great trade-winds in a row, then six without, or two without,
and three with -- and so on. In the winter the cold fronts come
and go fairly frequently, so if you're here then, you're very
likely to get lucky.
When the
wind doesn't blow: Key West has all kinds of unique things to
do. It's one of the most interesting big little cities in the
world. There's snorkeling on the reef, kayaking, margarita lifting,
traipsing (walking real slow with a mindless shuffle) around Old
Town smelling flowers, fly fishing for sailfish (we release our
catches), terrific live local music, looking at other funny-looking
people, watching sunset at Mallory Square, rollerblading along
the ocean and jumping over big cracks, having a coconut land on
your head, having a seagull drop a bomb in your mouth while you're
sleeping on the beach, bicycling with about a million other people
all going in different directions on one way streets, hopping
out of the way of mopeds, getting pecked by a rooster while you're
having lunch, watching a raccoon walk down Duval Street and wondering
what kind of worm that was in your drink last night, finding a
crab in your shoe. You know. You'll find something to do. Just
swinging in a hammock and scratching fleas is pleasure enough
for some.
Where do I go for a windsurfing vacation in the good old summertime
when the wind don't blow so fine? I head South to Bonaire. See
below.
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