This is a little odd. I've sailed in the Grenadines many, many times, and during Feb/March you have the tail end of the reinforced trades, and should have kiteable winds most days. Even after the reinforced trades, this is an area of steady winds. Maybe you caught a bad stretch. Also not understanding where you were. You said newbies were blown downwind into sailboats, but you were ok because you were able to get upwind past the boats. This seems inconsistent, and I am not sure where this kite beach is but most of Clifton is downwind from the anchorage. So it would seem the newbies would have to get above the boats before being blown into them. It is a crowded anchorage though, so I can certainly see how kites can get wrapped in masts. Would piss me off if someone kited into my rigging. Otherwise, a good informative review. We need honest feedback to combat the insider pimping that goes on.

Hey Shawn!
Sorry for the trip which could have been better.
Look at the bright side, you could have stayed up here and shoveled snow?!./.=-

Chicken loop posted that everyone who did previously apply so re-apply for an account.

Hatteras in 2.5 weeks Hope we have wind....

The lack of wind isnt a huge issue for me because wind isnt predictable. Ive been skunked many times when the forecast calls for wind. That's just weather. The more important part of the review is the lack of professionalism at the Kite Centre by JT and how great advertising is all you really need to be successful until people get burned by your business and stop going back.



The kite beach is upwind from the harbour next to the runway. Downwind is only boats. This can be seen on google earth. They have a beginner spot that we saw people boating over to for lessons next to Frigate but you need a boat as its offshore wind. We wanted to do a downwind from Tobago Cays to Clifton but the conditions weren't good enough to do it safely with an inexperienced water taxi as a rescue boat. Again, a trip we thought would be arranged my JT Pro Centre.

I wish i would have gone to Hatty instead. Looking forward to Wasaga soon!

Sorry for your misfortune with the wind...

Our group was on a yacht trip early February this year in the Grenadines and from 14 days we had about 8 days with 20 knots and another 6 with at least 15 knots. Basicly we kited every day, and we found the Union island to be a really nice spot with really nice and helpful bunch people. We kited on Tobago Cays - amazing colors on the lagoons, Mayro, and couple of other small islands and did some nice downwinders (Tobago Cays to Union island was one of them).
Considering this I would not go to Union Island other than with a yacht safari, it can become boring after three days. If you book a kite safari, there is no better place in Caribbean than Grenadines...

To bad you had no wind.

I had an amazing time at the JT center this last Feb. Had the room right on kite beach. A bit rustic but very exotic Caribbean destination. It blew 15+ Knots every day for the 10 days I was there. I would agree that their organization could be a little better and we did mention that. Otherwise based on my experience and compared to 12 other Caribbean Islands I have been to, I would definitely go back and recommend it. Jeremy was not the most organized but he was a great advanced instructor. The Grenadines are some of the most Beautiful Islands around.

my $0.02

Hi Shawn et al,
Beginning Jan 27th this year, I sailed a Moorings 40 for 7 days from Mayreau to PSV and stopped at Union for two days.

WIND--I kited on my 10 or 12 every day, ALL seven days, for at least 2 hours each day in winds from 15 to 32kts during the trip. Best kiting times were 9-11 and 3-6. My favorite spot was in front of Chatham bay, but also had great sessions in Tabago, and right off the island of Mopion. I live in SOBX and can assure you that none of my friends kited that week.

Jan to March stats show the most consistent trades, with 92% chance of Beaufort 4 or better in Jan to 89% in March, all Easterly trades with ave of 16 kts. (Windfinder Canouan) I would guess your experience was very bad luck and not a very likely scenario so don't give up on the location.

I stopped by JTPro center with two of my friends who wanted lessons, but Jereme wasn't there from 9-12 while we waited for him. One instructor came over and said there was only one other instructor and they were booked for 3 more weeks. we left disappointed to say the least. I didn't kite in front of the center because it looked crowded and full of egos taking up the flight space. The water was flat behind the reef so it looked like a safe place to learn as long as you didn't go too far South in front of the anchored boats. I prefer at least kickers or surf anyway.

If I didn't have a sailboat to explore, I would probably hire a boat to search for remote spots. There are lots of boat boys for hire servicing the many yachts at Tabago.

I have tried kiting a week in Florida(3d), Antigua(4d), Bahamas(2d) over the past four January's and the Grenadines(7d) was hands down the best. I wondered how it compared to Barbados so I wouldn't have needed the extra connecting flight, but I wanted the sailing too.

A kite safari sail trip is the way to go if you don't sail yourself. I recommend Ged with Zenith Ocean Voyages, a great guy with a well equipped kiteboat. He typically offers sessions all along the windwards that time of year.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Shawn for the great review. I feel guilty because I was on Union Island in last August and I felt to write a review myself to warn my fellow kiters: NEVER to make this as a main destination of ANY trip.
I re-watched the JT Pro Center Union island promo video. The biggest lie. I wanna got to that place, ....except I was there already.
I visited with a catamaran we chartered. Kitesurfing was just an afterthought and the wind was great for sailing but not enough for kiting.
You were too nice in your review with Union Island. It is a beat up hellhole. There is nothing on it. Most restaurants are so horrible you would not take your dog there. The "main strip" is a broken pavement- dirt road combination with a shanty town on both sides. The place looks like a minor drug dealing operation on the coast of Africa. Lot of desperate people in really bad shape.
Don't take me wrong the the place is truly beautiful, Tobago keys are great, but if there is no wind you are out of luck. Good kiting is only possible if you have access to a boat. I would not go there for kitesurfing for sure. Chartering a catamaran and spending a few days in the area is ok if the wind is great.
steven

Haha 4 of us were standing on the kite beach watching that video, and then looking up trying to figure out how we were on the same beach!?

Hello shawn13,
I am sorry you did not have a great trip in Union Island because we were there for 17 days in January early February and had a great time. We had wind and waves every single day and kited few times at Jeremie's "JT PRO CENTER" place and had a great time. But most of our kiting was all around the islands and of course you need to rent a Taxi boat to access some of these islands. But our base was Union Island.
The only think I was not very impressed was the food, but that depend were you went for dinner or lunch. The best place for lunch was "Petit St.Vince". But again you need a boat and it's only 20 minutes ride or you can always kite there which we did and on the way back we took a taxi boat.
Every body was so nice to us and we are going back next year.

Great... I'm sitting in St Lucia now and the winds are around 18- 20's had awesome late afternoon sessions the past 2 days but just booked a flight to head down to Union in a few days...

After reading this I'm wondering about it.

Shawn when you were here though there was no wind on any of the islands for 2 weeks. I was in Antigua and when we showed up March 23rd the wind just started picking up. I have been able to kite almost every day for the past 2 weeks on Antigua and now St Lucia, there were only 2 days with winds under 14 which I coudlnt get out in on my 12m.

St Lucia were staying at the Reef and I love it since you can just wake up, grab breakfast and kite all day long. The hotel is on the beach, there is a cafe, and the winds have been good almost everyday. Antigua was more beautiful on Green Island but you had to drive everywhere and this is way more relaxed and I dont need to rent a car.

Anyway I'm meeting 2 other guys at JT's so Ill post another review when I get back or while I'm there. Windguru shows some good wind but I did hear about the launch location. We plan to try to get some boat boys to take us to different islands. My only thoughts were I dont know how experienced they will be if problems occur on the downwinders or while kitting out on the islands.

I was thinking the same thing of going from the Cays back to Union Island so hopefully it works out.

Did you go to Mayreau ? I heard there was better kitting there and side/onshore winds.

Has anyone been to Mayreau ? I plan to go for a few days I think to check it out but I cant find any details on it only from another kiter who I met in St Lucia.

Lets hope for wind

PS: I could pretty much fly to any island Liat goes to if anyone has any other recommendations for awesome locations where you do not need a car.