Houston kiteboarding in April

[alexglebov]

I plan a trip to Houston in the end of April and plan on bringing my kites. I would really appreciate information about local spots. I will bring my foil board with a short mast that I can also ride as a small surfboard without foil. I am just learning foil boarding and can do water starts and short rides both ways. I plan to go to Texas City levy spot (The Dike) and I hope it is deep enough for 60cm mast. I have 6m and 7m Slingshot SST and 8, 10, 12 Rally. Do you think 7m and 10m should be good choice for the end of April for foil/surfboard?
Thanks for any info.

[alexglebov]

Also, how's the water temperature? Do I need a 3/2 wetsuit, or rush guard is enough? I am comfortable with water 70F and up without wetsuit. Any access fees?

[TheJoe]

How much do you weigh? Houston winds are the lightest on the Texas coast. Corpus and SPI get far stronger winds than we do. I'm 195 and fly mostly a 12m but that is with a twin. April you should not need a wetsuit maybe a heater top unless you really do not like the cold then a shorty should be good. Water will be a little chilly still but temps should be in the 80s to 90s. We have some deeper spots at the levee where foilers go when the tide is out. There is all so going off the Dike if your not afraid of off shore wind and it's not a weekend. The Dike ends up very crowded on weekends and cars can drive where we rig our kites.

All so check with the guys at HoustonKiteboarding.com they have a camera on their site for the levee and local wind. There is all so a map of other Houston area spots.

[alexglebov]

I am 220lbs and use 10m kite to foil in 12-15kts. I am not ready for offshore wind just yet, so I guess I will be at levee. If no wind, then I will drive to Corpus. Thank you for the info!

[elguapo]

How much do you weigh? Houston winds are the lightest on the Texas coast. Corpus and SPI get far stronger winds than we do. I'm 195 and fly mostly a 12m but that is with a twin. April you should not need a wetsuit maybe a heater top unless you really do not like the cold then a shorty should be good. Water will be a little chilly still but temps should be in the 80s to 90s. We have some deeper spots at the levee where foilers go when the tide is out. There is all so going off the Dike if your not afraid of off shore wind and it's not a weekend. The Dike ends up very crowded on weekends and cars can drive where we rig our kites.

All so check with the guys at HoustonKiteboarding.com they have a camera on their site for the levee and local wind. There is all so a map of other Houston area spots.

looks like houstonkiteboarding deleted that excellente page with all the 'other' spots...

going memory here but the levee, the dike, and el jardin more or less covers the wind directions you'll see in the houston area
..the levee might be the single best place for beginners in the USA.
el jardin cant handle very many riders and one must be able to stay upwind
the dike..gets deep faster...but at that mile 5(or 6/) rigging area one must be aware of the shipping channel (they wont stop for you)
probably best to stick to the levee if visiting houston (but there is some construction going on the levee right now...and there was a major oil refinery disaster upstream last week..no one knows the affects on the bay yet)

the best spot in galveston is east beach imo
..best wave spot in the area is surfside outside freeport. (the whole texas coast is sharky...but this place seemed be a great place to catch sharks from shore)

there was another a nice less visited area off port bolivar(take the ferry from galveston)

corpus might have the best kitesurfing...and the nicest people in the mainland of USA.
usually the winds will be 3-4 knots more there than houston.
these are the spots: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 99998&z=11

wildcat park was the busiest i saw.

is spent a week in south padre island last season....personally i prefer corpus.

[TheJoe]

Oh I have not looked at the map in a long time. But East beach has been destroyed for kiting thanks to the city of Galveston. A bunch of poles have been put up and the beach itself is smaller. So if crowded you need to go to the west end of the island.

Eljardin is better they have removed a lot of the pylons from the old pier that was there.

[rogue_kiteboarder]

Give www.houstonkiteboarding.com a call, they are great guys and will be happy to help you out.