Looking to head to Florida for a week prone foil holiday in July. What location in Florida would people recommend for best chance of easy, consistent learning conditions? I’m a beginner to prone foiling so looking for a beginner friendly spot. Will bring wing gear with me too for windy days.
With only one week in July I would be surprised if you got a chance to foil
Is that because the conditions are unreliable that time of year?
1 Like
East coast for sure, the west/gulf coast has much less swell unless there is a storm in the gulf. For that time of year New Smyrna might be better to magnify swell but the coast from Jacksonville down to Sebastian Inlet are good bets. The swell that time of year is very small to flat but at least you won’t need much to foil. There is also a good chance for late afternoon sea breezes for wing foiling. I’d say you have a 50/50 chance of having some good days and at least the water will be warm.
Anywhere south of the cape will be tiny/flat. West coast will be a lake.
New Smyrna to Jax are your best bets (or even better overall for east coast that time of year is Cape Hatteras to Maine but that’s a different zone completely).
There will be essentially no winging north of the cape in July, there will be lightwind (10-15kt) winging south of the Cape but zero surf.
I would recommend Saint Augustine since there is lots to do otherwise and it’s a super interesting place overall, also very good for wife/family.
Otherwise rent a spot at Real in Cape Hatteras and you will get lots of wind and good prone conditions and a great vibe in July, hard to fly to though.
@Rad_Duke is pretty spot on. If you’re coming to Florida in July, the best zone is going to be between New Smyrna and Jacksonville. South of the Cape (Canaveral) really is extremely hit or miss in July. Every now and then we’ll have a little easterly trade swell, but if there’s any south at all it’ll miss here and be much better up New Smyrna, Saint Augustine, and Jacksonville.
Are you set on FL? It’s a weak time of year for east coast swell but maybe the most consistent time of year for wind in Charleston, SC.
Also, I’m partial but out foil break is world class when the swell does happen(and let’s be honest we don’t need much).
Also, that time of year wind is a clockwork sea breeze nice Sideshore SSW in the afternoon so mornings are clean if there is swell. Miles of beach parallel to wind.
First, Charleston wind stats for july. 60% >15kts
Next Hatteras - same direction but weaker.
Finally JAX
Same direction (which is side off in FL) much weaker.
3 Likes
Charleston sounds ideal.
“Babe how about I take you on a romantic trip to historic Charleston?”
She won’t even know it’s a foil trip until you start loading the gear at the last second!
3 Likes
The main Jacksonville Florida winging spot is Huguenot Park. We are just entering our seabreeze season. June and July are pretty wingable every afternoon.
Southwest winds in the morning are offshore and perfect for prone foiling, if you’re not too proud to use a bigger foil and shorter mast for the small waves. Southeast seabreeze at 12 to up to 25 mph for 90 minutes or so in the afternoons is perfect for winging. It doesn’t blow all day like a Northeast wind in the winter. Instead you just get wind in the late afternoons. But it’s almost daily:
This chart is gusts, not daily averages… as the wind is light in the mornings. But it shows that July works surprisingly well.
As others have said, the surf is better North of Cape Canaveral in the summers. Where I live north of Jax in Florida, prone foiling is dictated by the tides on the beaches. As a relatively new prone foiler you can prone foil potentially twice a day, for 45 minutes to an hour each, either side of the lowest low tides. Dead low is usually too shallow to prone foil where I live, but you kind of have to learn each spot’s depth at low tide. One day’s tide cycle and you will figure it out.
The incoming tide hour of surfing is better than the outgoing tide hour. A mast as short as 65cm will give you 15 more minutes of foiling time without hitting bottom on takeoff at each of those tides on the smallest of days, which is a lot of days.
1 Like
Wow! Thats a nice seabreeze! I guess i was looking at the wrong station!
I’ll echo that Jax tide dependency. All my trips south are really hit or miss foiling. I’ve done JAX beaches, hugenot(including inlet), Talbots, amelia and the tide has to be really spot on. The prone situation is def more forgiving here.
I’m open to other locations if the conditions are more favourable and consistent. Charleston SC sounds interesting, and winging in the afternoon sounds great. What beaches/spot do you foil from for prone? Is it as tide dependent? Is it beginner friendly for prone?
Its a really good beginner prone spot. Its not tide dependent, lots of easy options, the wave is really slow and meandering because of the depth. Honestly whenever i travel it seems like foiling is harder everywhere else, its just so easy prone here. Folly Beach is the spot. Great wind sports crew. If wind is out of the NE we go to that end, SW the other end.
If i’m being honest though im not sure i like the “learn to prone somewhere else” idea. So much of learning to prone is learning what kind of wave to look for, where to go, when to go, what an acceptable wave looks like. Might have trouble translating what you learn in one place elsewhere. The energy hits different everywhere.
Maybe plan the trip down(i’m assuming driving) and play it by ear based on the wind/swell. There’s definately times if its small where JAX wins. CHS to Jax is like 4 hrs so easy striking distance, we do day trips. I’d say if there’s swell (>2.5 feet or 8+ sec) jax is going to get heavy and pitchy. Under 2 feet CHS is too small(but Jax might be working) 2-2.5 anything goes.
2 Likes
I’m in the New Smyrna area. If you wind up in NSB, please reach, Ill go foil with you
Cheers
Christian
Anyone in Charleston gotten into downwind with a proper board that you know of? So curious if it will work here.
Nobody’s using true downwind gear on our side of town - some of us are playing with big downwind runs on Ding and trying to tap into that energy - regular ding boards.
I’m finding that energy to be upwards of a mile offshore in most instances. And only available on 20+ NE days. I don’t think its a thing here.
1 Like
I only know of one proper DW board up on IOP. Pretty recent acquisition so I haven’t heard whether he’s had a chance to give it a go. I’m keen to get down to Folly for a good wing session one of these days.
1 Like
What foil? You almost assuredly need a bigger foil. Kujira 1440 minimum.
I’m not saying it’s not doable on the bumps I’m saying that it’s not worth the effort. DW bump is a mile out beach is 6 miles long. That a lot of paddle out for not much ride down. Add to that those NE conditions are EPIC for runners and regular wave ding it’s just not worth it.
I think SUP DW is just “cool” because people have spent hours crying in the ocean alone and want to beat their chest and say they did it. 
3 Likes
Hahahaaa. It seems that way from the outside I’m sure, but I think it’s the best foil sport when it’s on. I sometimes skip prone sessions waiting for the winds.