Connecticut (SE), RI, Cape

(by Kevin Girard)

Jordan Cove

Preferred Wind Directions: SE, S, SW

No-Go Wind Directions: Anything with a N component

Wind Quality: Highly variable.  The wind quality is so-so here, often with widely varying gusts and up/down winds.  Susceptible to sea breezes and pulsing, which can add to a great session or frustrate you when it feels like there’s just enough wind to pump up, and then the sea breeze fades, leaving you broken-hearted.

Water depth: Low tide: Water gets deep quickly to the S at really low tide.  Not much room downwind before you’re on the beach, not much room upwind before you’re in over your head.  Surf breaks right where the water is shallow.  Mid Tide: Water depth is quite good for beginners, there is a lot of space to kite that is knee to chest deep.  There is a really nice slick to the west side of the cove.  Beware of a sand/rock bar that juts southward and separates the slick to the west from a riding area to the east.  At high tide, the cove is full of 2-4’ deep water, providing the full cove for riding, the caveat being that there is not a lot of room to pump and launch on the beach.

Surf: Surf is typically mild, 1-3 feet max.  It can break at inconvenient locations, especially when the tide is low.

Beach Condition: A relatively narrow strip of SW facing beach exists at high tide.  Smaller kites can be pumped and rigged here, larger kites are difficult due to how narrow it is.  Sand is pretty granular and there are spots with some ground up pavement in the water just at the edge of the beach, waiting to pop your kite.  There are a number of “pilings” that have deteriorated all around the beach and to the NE of the cove, so beware of those, some being submerged at high tide.  A small island to the NW of the beach with sea grasses can be used to pump on.  The island stays dry at high tide.  The best time to come is mid to low tide, where the entire cove is a huge sandbar with fine sand (usually stays wet except at the peak of summer), and there is plenty of room to pump and rig.  Beware of razor clams with both your feet and kites.

Seasonality: The cove is pretty busy during the summer, and while there is plenty of water and sandbar area for everyone to enjoy at low tide, at high tide, there is very little usable beach which is usually crowded by  sunbathers.   Parking is much more difficult during summer.

Parking:  A very small parking area exists on the east side of the cove and is free (About 5 cars worth).  It’s a short walk to the beach through some brush.  Some parking on the street is available as well, but it is a neighborhood and there are lots of driveways/narrow streets down there.

Skill level:  All skill levels will do well here when the wind is strong and consistent, which isn’t frequently.  Wind tends to be gusty and up/down, and therefore it is more suited to intermediate or better riders on most days.

Harvey’s Beach

Preferred Wind Directions:  WNW, W, SW, S

No Go Wind Directions: NW, N, NE, E, SE

Wind Quality: Variable.  Widely varying gusts and up/down conditions exist, but wind from W and SW directions can be consistent.

Water depth: Low tide: Huge sand bar exposed at low tide, and water depth is relatively shallow for a fairly long distance.  Mid-tide, there’s a great amount of sand bar for launching, and a larger area to kite where it is not over your head.  Nice slicks created by pools that fill in as the tide comes in and to the SE away from the launch area.  High tide is a no-go except for very expert kiters.  There is no exposed sandbar or area to launch except the very small beach itself, which is dangerous.

Surf: Everytime I have been the wind has been directly onshore and the surf was large and pesky.  3-4 feet is common, and when I lost my board, it was difficult to find in the surf.  It breaks fairly gradually as it approaches the beach, so it’s not horrible for a beginner.  Once you get past the beach area, however, the wave height can be daunting.  There are a few slicks that you can get into at different tides, so it isn’t all bad!

Beach Condition:  A sizeable beach area exists close to the parking lot where kiters typically pump up.  Plenty of room for big or small kites, and probably can have 3-4 kiters pumping at once.   Due to the proximity to paved surface and power lines, kiters typically carry their kites to a huge sandbar and rig/launch from the sandbar at low tide.  The sand is granular and dry on the beach, and fine and wet on the sandbar.  At high tide, people launch from the beach (dangerous), or do a drift launch from the water.  There’s some water-grass directly in front of the beach, so you have to walk pretty far in reasonably deep water to get past that grass and save your kite from getting into it.

Parking: A fairly large parking area is present at the beach, and it looks like there is a guard shack that either checks passes or collects money during peak season.  The parking area looks like it supports more cars than the beach could sustain.

Skill level:  Due to the high surf when the wind is in preferred direction, I would classify this as intermediate and higher.  It’s a great place to learn to fly the kite.  It’s very spacious and forgiving.  Kiting here at anything but mid to low tide is decidedly expert due to the lack of a suitable launch area.

Notes:  Do not launch from the beach area, as it is unsafe.  Be extra careful at high tide for same reason.  Pump on the beach by the parking lot, and rig and launch from the sandbar at low tide.

Watch Hill

Preferred Wind Directions: S, SW, SE

No-Go Wind Directions: Anything with a N component 

Wind Quality: Wind seems reasonably consistent here.  Some land upwind on preferred directions.  Preferred directions seem to provide consistent wind, less gusty wind.

Water Depth: Water gets overhead quickly away from the beach, especially at low tide.  Not a huge amount of room to kite in shallow water on any tide.

Surf: I have only been here when the surf is very heavy.  3-6 feet seems common.  I found it very hard to water start because I was getting pounded.  Better kiters seem to get onto their boards at the end of the wave break, and then wait for a wave to break to have enough water under the board to start.  You might be able to body drag past the surf and start in deep water.

Beach Conditions: Very large area to pump and rig.  Fine sandy beach with plenty of room for a large number of kiters.  Beach is almost always busy – summer with sunbathers and beachgoers, and fall/winter/spring with walkers.

Seasonality: This is very much a Labor Day to Memorial Day location.

Parking: During the peak season, parking is a nightmare.  There is no place to park within reasonable walking distance of the beach.  The shop parking lot only allows shoppers, and only for a couple hours.  There are paid lots both north of the beach and NE of the beach, but they are like $25/day and are attended much of the day (till like 5pm).  There is parking for cabanas which are part of the yacht club, where you cannot park in season.  We were told by the police that you can park there in the off-season, however, and that provides a reasonably short walk over the dunes to the beach.

Skill level: This is a good beginner spot to launch and land kites during the off season and when there aren’t a lot of beach-goers.  Riding is difficult for beginners due to the surf.  I would call this an intermediate to advanced location due to surf.

Napa Tree

Preferred Wind Directions: Watch Hill: W, NW

No-Go Wind Directions: Watch Hill: Anything with a S component, gustier in conditions with N component 

Wind Quality: Wind seems reasonably consistent here, on the preferred directions, the wind travels over a distance cleanly.  It can be gustier with W and NW winds.

Water Depth: Water gets overhead quickly away from the beach at high tide.  At low tide, there seems to be a reasonable amount of space to kite that is shallow, but I have not seen it at very low tide.  Water can be filled with boats during summertime, which makes this an off-season location.

Surf: Due to the location being in a large bay-like area, the surf is minimal here, 1-2 feet.

Beach Conditions: Large area to pump and rig.  Fine sandy beach with room for a number of kiters.  Beach is almost always busy – summer with sunbathers and beachgoers, and fall/winter/spring with walkers.

Seasonality: This is very much a Labor Day to Memorial Day location.

Parking: During the peak season, parking is a nightmare.  There is no place to park within reasonable walking distance of the beach.  The shop parking lot only allows shoppers, and only for a couple hours.  There are paid lots both north of the beach and NE of the beach, but they are like $25/day and are attended much of the day (till like 5pm).  There is parking for cabanas which are part of the yacht club, where you cannot park in season.  We were told by the police that you can park there in the off-season, however, and that provides a reasonably short walk over the dunes to the beach.

Skill level: This is an OK, but not great beginner spot, since there’s a fair bit of room to launch and the surf is low.  On direct onshore wind (N), and at high tide, the downwind area is somewhat hazardous (thorny plant covered dunes) and you cannot walk very far into the water to provide a clear downwind area if something were to go wrong.  This is better at low tide, but I am not sure how much better.  The location would seem best for side-shore winds (NE, NW).  Use caution on E and W winds because the downwind areas are not very friendly (LI Sound and the yacht club, respectively.) 

Ninigret Pond

Preferred Wind Direction: NW, N, NE

No-Go Wind Direction: None

Wind Quality: Northerly winds come over land, so can be lower quality (in addition to typical gusty-ness from N winds).  Southerly winds are more consistent due to coming off the water, but aside from the water depth, you would probably go elsewhere on S winds.

Water Depth: Excellent throughout the pond, most places are shallow except boating channels.  This is one of the most appealing aspects of this location.

Surf: As it is a large pond, it is pretty flat.

Beach Conditions: What’s a beach?  There’s pretty much not much beach at Ninigret.  There is a large beach on the ocean side (East Beach), and several really small (i.e. barely 1 kite) beaches scattered around the pond, but none are great for launch/land.  You will likely be launching wet (drift launch) and landing wet.  Much further east, accessible by 4WD with permit only, is a huge stretch of gorgeous S facing beach.

Seasonality: As this location shares the East Beach parking lot, anytime in beach season is going to be packed.  Off hours is a maybe.  This is pretty much an off-season or stormy day location.

Parking: East Beach lot is about the best place to park on Northerly winds.  Other parking is available on the NE side of the pond at an old abandoned airstrip, but this would be good for Southerly winds or upwind riders only.  Not much beaches area on the N part of the pond, but plenty of parking.

Skill Level: This is a great beginner spot, other than the launch.  Shallow water depth is the main factor which causes me to rate it this way.

Point Judith - Wheeler

Camera: http://www.liladelman.com/port-of-galilee

Preferred Wind Direction: SE, S, SW, W

No Go wind direction: Anything with N component

Wind Quality:  Typically stronger winds than CT, Watch Hill, and surrounding areas.  Clean wind from the water.  Typically forecasts for this location are pretty good, and iKiteSurf has a prediction specifically for this spot.

Water Depth: Water quickly gets deep leaving the beach.  Not a ton of room to ride in shallow water, so best on side-shore winds.

Surf: The day I went here, the surf was very high.  4-6 feet, which surprised me due to the fact the beach is behind a breakwall.  There was a real nice slick in the lee side of the break wall, but to get there you need to kite through the choppy and wavy water, upwind.  It’s very doable for advanced riders, but not that easy for beginners.

Beach Conditions: Like many RI beaches, this one is pristine fine sand, and very large.  Plenty of room downwind if you need to pop your safety.  You can easily launch and land dry.  Beach is often crowded during the peak season, so this is mostly an off-season location.

Parking: Plenty of parking close to the beach, but seasonal traffic can mean this location is poor for parking (charges to park, park far from beach, etc.)

Skill Level: Intermediate to advanced.  Mainly due to the surf and water depth.  

Point Judith – Geroge’s/Salty Brine State Beach

Preferred Wind Direction: SE, S, SW, W

No Go wind direction: Anything with N component

Wind Quality:  Typically stronger winds than CT, Watch Hill, and surrounding areas.  Clean wind from the water.  Typically forecasts for this location are pretty good, and iKiteSurf has a prediction on the break-wall not far away.

Water Depth: Water quickly gets deep leaving the beach.  Not a ton of room to ride in shallow water, so best on side-shore winds.

Surf: The surf here is much milder than at Wheeler, and it’s in the lee of the breakwall for most wind directions.  It’s closer to the slick than Wheeler, but still requires some upwind riding on W and SW winds.  That slick is also in the path of boats leaving the harbor, so requires some caution.  It’s very doable for advanced riders, less so for beginner riders.

Beach Conditions: Like many RI beaches, this one is pristine fine sand, and pretty large.  There is some dune fence downwind to be cautious of if you need to pop your safety (would be a kite wrecker on a SW wind).  You can easily launch and land dry.  Beach is often crowded during the peak season, so this is an off-season location.

Parking: Plenty of parking close to the beach (and even almost on the beach!) off season, in season this location is poor for parking (charges to park, small lot, etc.)

Skill Level: Intermediate to advanced.  Mainly due to the surf and water depth.