Moving to Florida! Advise!
 

Hey Guys,

I'm a female rider from Vancouver BC, Canada who's been at it for about 8 years and serious about taking it to a new level. I'd like to ask if there were any job opportunities with wakeboard camps or schools anyone could suggest?

I am planning to move to Florida to pursue my passion for the wakeboarding and other water sports.

Currently I compete up here (yes its cold) and going to Canadian Nationals In august but as you know wakeboarding and summer are both minimal up here compared to Orlando haha. Also wanted to know if Orlando is the only hotspot for wakeboarding? Or is there more down south I should be looking at?

I've already emailed a couple wakeboarding camps and just waiting for a response. But If there is any advise or better ways to go about this situation I'm all ears!!!

Maybe someone has been in the same situation before?

Okay thanks guys !!!:)

Orlando or "Central" Florida is the place to be for Wakeboarding. The number of ride-able lakes diminishes as you move south and it become a saltwater/bigger boat environment. True of the coasts as well. Good luck.

I would go a little south of Orlando - tons and tons of lake in Lakeland and Winter Haven (where I went to) .... really chill town and a lot cheaper than Orlando would be.... few camps in the area that may need help.

Other wise in Orlando you could try and work at OWC and/or Wait tables and bartend. I had a buddy work nights bartending and days at the ski school @ Disney World.... he got by just fine. Tampa also has a cable that may need help and St. Pete's isn't too pricey of an area.


Otherwise I have one friend that might work perfect.... Next time I talk to her I'll see if she is still renting out rooms at her place.

Thanks guys I will work on gettting a visa if possible if not right now I will still be planning to come down in october for a few weeks. Please let me know if there are any guys with wakeboats that would be willing to have another rider in the boat. Ill chip in my part of course :)

I plan on going to the OWC if there are other recommendations for parks and places to ride please let me know im all ears. Id love to see the best of wakeboarding while im there.

Thank you!

While your here you have to visit Mccormicks cable park in Seffner, Fl. Just an hour from Owc pretty much.

Yeah Thanks thats is officially on my to do list. Is that where your at?

If your ever in the tampa/st pete area..let me know I will give you a pull.

While there are plenty of great coaches down in Florida each with different personalities and styles there's a group of us over here in Alberta that have been riding with Glen Fletcher at O-Town Watersports for a few years and we all have great things to say about him. We were lucky enough to ride with him for the past week locally and it sure makes me wish I had more money to spend on wakeboarding trips!

Since ud be coming down without a boat id suggest livin as close as u can to owc or mccormicks to ensure u get lots of time on the water... $1,000ish for a year pass will get u all the riding u could ever handle and help u progress big time... and hanging around the cable will get u hooked up with other good riders who have boats. My $0.02... I just moved to Indialantic and love it... Just do it and dont look back... Fla is where its at :D

Thanks guys. Kevin I will for sure contact you if i end up heading towards tampa. I appreciate it.

David I was looking at the OWC and will also try Mccormicks as well I have never done cable but heard great things about it. And thanks for the tips I will see how long I am able to stay once i go there depending on how much it cost me to sleep per night. I may try and buy a vehicle while im down there and just sleep in that. Maybe even a hostel.

There's certainly a few different options which is good and I really want to explore quite a bit of florida. So hopefully Ill get to hit all these great places.

Living in a car or not having a car aren't great options in Orlando ;) Its definitely gonna cost ya to live there unless you luck up and find a crew with a house to squat at... Orlando isn't anything like cities abroad... no hostels... can't really walk anywhere.... Cheapest hotel you'll find is probably $50 a night... like the Motel 8 next to Odub... and we all know what a sh*t hole that is hahaha (from experience lol)

If you wanna ride cable and live cheap... scrape up enough $$$$ for a one way to CWC and never come back :)

You might could work out something with Mike at McCormicks since they have dorms on site there... but thats a shot in the dark and a pretty hard gig to get I think.

Check out the Craigslist Rooms/Shared section. Do you have a budget to get you through a month or two while you find a job? I think a bus pass is $50/month. And if you can spring for the $1K OWC pass you'll never be lacking a ride. I've been going there for 10 years and it's a great time always.

Hey Im looking up getting a work visa but it may be difficult.

I think this time I'll just visit and get a vehicle i can sleep and travel in. If I stay a month it may be worth it. Sell it when I leave. I just hate transit. Something like an small SUV or car with a good folded down trunk. Id like to go from orlando to palm beach down to miami and up the other side up to tampa. Explore the whole south coast and see where I like it best.

As much as orlando is central for wakeboarding because of the lakes and cable parks essentially Id like to migrate to the sea. But I see some great lakes down south like Okeechobee and the Rixen cable park. But yeah I will start with the OWC and meet peeps there. Work my way around. Excited to meet people and see the culture down in Florida though. Also wheres some of the best surf's? Is there anything I should strongly be aware of or cautious about? Id like to think the coast people are more laid back and chill but its always good to know about local etiquette.

Thanks

I'm 45 minutes from OWC on the coast in Indialantic... Sebastian Inlet is just down the street from me and is the home break of one Kelly Slater... New Smyrna goes off a little better this time of year because of the wind flows but Its all about this same in the summer... just sit around and wait for a storm or a solid wind swell. Winter is much better for waves. No real things to worry about, just respect the locals and wait your turn in the line-up.. .everybody is really chill and accepting as long as you know your role.

Draw a line east to west above lake Okeechobee. There are not that many "great" lakes south of that line.

The topography throughout Central Florida is called Karst Topography that has created the many sinkholes that have developed into the many great ski lakes. They are everywhere. All that Central Florida water moves south to Lake Okeechobee and turns into the "river of grass" of slow moving water (through grass) that feeds Big Cypress and the Everglades until it reaches Florida Bay. Not to conducive for what you seem to be looking for unless you also want to get up before dawn to hunt, fish, ride in a swamp buggy or airboat. I have never seen a ski boat anywhere near that lake. Many of the surrounding towns are vegetable and sugar cane growers and the most depressed cities in the state. You probably will not want to sleep in your car in these areas.

Plan a day to drive around the lake, which is surrounded by a dike so you will never actually see from the road and check it off your list. Moving toward either coast will be substantially different than the south central part of the state.

SO are you saying the Lake Okeechobee is unski-able / unride-able? Thanks for the tips guys it helps a lot. Im not for the site seeing as much as the site doing. So id like to explore the whole coast to see what suits my style best. Id like to wakeboard in Orlando. Then hit up more Cable parks south. Then surf around the coast and meet the people.

Essentially Id like to live in Florida. I know home prices are at a historical low so a great buy. For me the closer to the water the better. but thats a whole different topic.

But yeah I cant get enough advise at this point so keep going lol. Are the coasts on both sides different from each other much? In terms of water, weather, culture, people etc?

yah, west coast no surf, east coast some surf
Just do it, look on craigslist for housing shared and find some roommates with people that live near the beach, not on the beach, too expensive. Then, get a motorcycle or a good economy car(harder to find a good reliable car) to get anywhere you want cheap. Don't believe anything a car salesman tells you. Buy the year membership at cable park when you can afford it, you can do all of this on a minimum wage. My friend I use to ride with went down to west palm beach to go to College and now lives down there all year round.

Like the above poster said...surfing for the ocean side (east coast) vs the Gulf coast (west coast) unless a storm is coming into the gulf of mexico. I live on the west coast and each town/area has its own characteristics. Id keep it towards central florida (orlando area). The other cable parks are accessible for a day trip and theres tons of wakeboarding on private lakes in the greater Orlando area. Plus at least OWC and McCormicks also have boat lakes if you desire to do that when a boat isnt available.

Wouldnt want to live out of a car/sleep in this hot humid climate especially if ur not used to it.

If u can spare the $, id say house/room shares on craigslist can get u something good for around $400 hell it may even be on a ski lake too!

Oh and say NO to Lake Okeechobee! Been on it, more for fishing, Way too many gators!

We have gators in our lakes here and theyre ok, but the further south you go in these wild habitat lakes there like mosquitos (aka everywhere).

But you will b suprise how many peeps who hit the cableparks also have parents or themselves with wakeboats on the private lakes. Do that and ur golden!

Great! I will look into rooms. Again I am only going for a limited time this go around so I may buy a month pass (OWC). But none the less I want to explore all around the coast and id like my own vehicle to do so. perhaps I will stay in orlando for the first month and then drive around the coast for a couple weeks after that. Well its certainly not as hot here but we have the humidity. Im very adjustable to climate change as well. So im not too concerned about that. I did live in a tent for 9 years. but thats another story.

Sweet. Ill look into rooms and see what the best rates for the places around the lakes and OWC. Really appreciate all the help. Hoping to say 6-8 weeks.

Since im going in the fall do the rates for the cable parks go down?

I'm from Minnesota and lived in Lakeland in 2006-2007 going to school my freshman year at Florida Southern College. I had a great time, I took up surfing and was at OWC every other day (McCormick's wasn't around yet). Since I've been back to Florida, I've gone to McCormick's and it's by far the nicest cable in Florida because there is an island and the boat lake is separated from the cable lake. There are are at least 30 ridable lakes in a 10 mile radius around the Auburndale/Winter Haven area if you're able to find a pull and that area is right in the middle of OWC and McCormicks.

About surfing, Cocoa Beach is a great place to learn, they have nice board rentals at Ron Jon's, Cocoa Beach Surf Company, Quiet Flight, and I'm sure there is more). Tolls can be a killer (I think it's about $3.50 each way). Once you gain some experience in catching/reading a wave in the right spot and riding in the curl, then head to Sebastian Inlet or New Smyrna (steeper waves). I always look at Magicseaweed.com to get the 7 day forecast for waves and tells you what tide, wind, size is best for the break. Try and go on a day that's about 2 feet and calm and get an 8-9 foot longboard. Quiet Flight will let you trade rental boards throughout the day, so you can grab a shorter boards once you've figured it out. The surf is best from September to March. I have surfed the west coast once, and got some of the best waves of my life. What it takes for it to be good is a storm or a hurricane out in the gulf, and the trade winds to be blowing from the East (offshore).

But the Caloosahatchee River and St Lucie canal is a decent place to ride . I ride the Calossahatchee river and its very deep like 30ft in many places once you get above I75 Bridge. Lake O itself is shallow and lumpy on all but no air days. If you want to look at the SW Florida area there are good spots to ride but few riders .

Does anyone know the answer to this? I heard that OWC's rates go down during the off-seasons. Wasn't sure if that was true or not.

Hey guys thanks for all the advise. So now the plan is to visit from mid november to beginning of January. Im planning to visit OWC, The Projects and McCormicks cable parks. I will look for shared rooms near one of the parks or lakes. Hopefully hook up with some boat riders.

As for my car/ travelling situation I am still looking for the cheapest way to get around once im down there. Is renting a car a good option? Busing takes forever and im not sure how good the transit system is down there?

I'll check out the east coast for some surfing im stoked on your beaches. But if anyone has some good tips on getting rides to locations that would be much appreciated. Thanks

I don't recall the rates at OWC going down. They do run a winter 6 month pass special, but IIRC last year's deal wasn't much of a discount. Seems like it was $500 vs the normal $600 rate.

The Projects is no longer open to the public, so you can mark that off your places to visit, unless you are going to visit the boys at The Boarding School.

IMHO.... There are only two cable parks worth riding in Florida: OWC and McCormicks. I know you said you want to live by the water, but I don't think you can beat living in Orlando. Home prices are at a historic low, centrally located so you can be on the East Cost to surf in less than an hour or if you just want to chill and take in the sites, you are about a little more than an hour to the gulf coast of Tampa.

Just my .02. Good luck, I wish I could do it.

And McCormicks will now be closed on Mon & Tues at least till Thanksgiving just a heads up.

There are a few wakeboarding meetup groups for you all around the Tampa/orlando area as well of guys who occasionally take out their boats and invite others. I did this last yr but couldnt ever get people to come hang out on our Malibu vride on a private lake (of course I didnt belong to this forum yet either). Hit me up though if ur coming up to the cable I tend to be up there on weekends.

Cool thanks for the heads up.

LR3w8kbrdr Ill give you a quick shout before I head out that way I will be riding on weekends and all week at OWC. Good times ahead.

You should keep the thread going as a diary of your experience.

when were you planning on moving down?

Hey Jessie,

I did it... I made the move!! I've been down here for 2 weeks now, living on Clear Lake. It's rad!! Definitely let me know when you're headed this way, girly! :)

I don't know this personally, but I have heard that the public transport system is pretty bad here. So if you can rent a car for cheap, that's probably your best bet.

Cool thanks for the heads up. I will be heading down there third week of November. Im a test subject for a shoulder study and will be finished at that time. When I know my flight and location etc Ill let you know. I wont be moving this time just visiting but hoping to stay at least a month if not 2.

Otherwise plans are to hit up OWC, McCormicks and maybe the boarding school. Although I hear its quite expensive. Ill figure out transport while im there. Im going to find a shared room to stay in near the cable park at first and then venture off afterwords ^_^

Good time awaits!