What would you do?

[RickI]

Some among us fly, go off pieste skiing, blue water sailing, etc. I imagine that none of those folks would even consider going out to do these things without first checking the weather forecast and staying constantly aware of weather conditions while out.

Kiteboarding is no different. In the early days, I imagine that people that were indifferent to weather planning and monitoring were caught out, inconvenienced or worse. Time went on and people learned. Kiteboarding really isn't all that different when unstable weather moves in.

More about weather considerations at:

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7646

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=9326

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1766

[Rhode Island kite freak]

ditch the kite and swim in

[bubba]

I'd have to disagree with heading towards shore.
If you know a squal is coming quickly (ie not sure if you'd be able to land the kite before it hits) why put yourself in more danger by heading towards shore (pier rocks etc...). If you've made eye contact with another kiter and have singneled your intension to land (hand on head)then ok, but if nobody knows youre coming in (meaning you will ditch the kite anyway) I would head out to open water and if things get really nuts then ditch the kite.
sometimes you also have to contend with the trafic jam that usually goes along with changes in weather. You know when your launch is best suited for 3-5 ppl launching at a time and has 15+ ppl on the water, what do you do then, you have no choice but to wait your turn and the safest place for that is away from shore rather than close to shore with your kite parked over head.

[Ozone Kites AUS]

HI Rick
Keep up the good work!
This is a report sent to me about an incident at a loction north of Sydney, it happened is a strong, gusty SWester. This is more an example of what not to do, especially to the people that might help catch a kite in these conditions.

"Guy walking at waters edge with kite high above until to the west of
play equipment. Lowered very gently and expertly to person on grass
area downwind of him. Person attempted to hold kite but they lost grip
and it started to rise. Another person standing a few metres in front
of person who attempted to grab kite grabbed both right hand lines
(east). Kite quickly swung to the right (east) about 5m above the
ground and directly above the play equipment. Man was launched from
sand about 1m above ground and travelled for 10m and landed in bark of
play area feet down trying to stop himself. He was then pulled at
sickening speed into the bottom of a pipe set of steps. The kite moved
further to the right, but man was tangled in steps. Other came to the
rescue (shouting 'release', 'release'), but this was not done and the
kite was secured.

I have not received more info on this incident, I do not know how the person is now?

Some among us fly, go off pieste skiing, blue water sailing, etc. I imagine that none of those folks would even consider going out to do these things without first checking the weather forecast and staying constantly aware of weather conditions while out.

Kiteboarding is no different. In the early days, I imagine that people that were indifferent to weather planning and monitoring were caught out, inconvenienced or worse. Time went on and people learned. Kiteboarding really isn't all that different when unstable weather moves in.

More about weather considerations at:

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7646

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=9326

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1766

[RickI]

HI Rick
Keep up the good work!
This is a report sent to me about an incident at a loction north of Sydney, it happened is a strong, gusty SWester. This is more an example of what not to do, especially to the people that might help catch a kite in these conditions.

"Guy walking at waters edge with kite high above until to the west of
play equipment. Lowered very gently and expertly to person on grass
area downwind of him. Person attempted to hold kite but they lost grip
and it started to rise. Another person standing a few metres in front
of person who attempted to grab kite grabbed both right hand lines
(east). Kite quickly swung to the right (east) about 5m above the
ground and directly above the play equipment. Man was launched from
sand about 1m above ground and travelled for 10m and landed in bark of
play area feet down trying to stop himself. He was then pulled at
sickening speed into the bottom of a pipe set of steps. The kite moved
further to the right, but man was tangled in steps. Other came to the
rescue (shouting 'release', 'release'), but this was not done and the
kite was secured.

I have not received more info on this incident, I do not know how the person is now?
]

Hello Steve,

That is a bad one. It reminds me of another case in which a bystander sent a kite powered up out of control by grabbing the control bar. It really is hard to anticipate some of these consequences. It is good that we are talking about these accidents. It would be great if information comes your way about the condition of the rider, kite type and size, wind speed and relative direction. Thanks again.

I was out this afternoon for about an hour before our normal afternoon thermal cloud stack moved to the coast from the inland Everglades area. This is a usual feature of most summers in coastal Florida areas. The trick is to come in and secure your kite well before the temperature changes and erratic, sometimes violent winds start. Then there is the lightening that can reach out well in advance of these cloud lines.

Anyway, today and yesterday, the clouds looked particularly dark and threatening. I booked in and secured about 1/2 hour before any temperature change or alteration in windspeed. You really need to keep a close eye on these systems as they can change very dramatically within an hour. Today's stack was special though. I could see what appeared to be some small, incipient funnel clouds along the cloud base. We actually had some tornados form and do some damage within about 15 miles to the north.


Dark clouds moving east from inland. A tornado forms this afternoon.


Checkout the nice gust spike this afternoon and the rideable conditions right before it from ikitesurf.com.

The nice gust spike in the windgraph above is typical of supercell activity in squalls in my area and apparently in many other areas as well. This was not from a tornado, at least not directly, as they toss off velocities up to around 300 mph!

So, in short, checkout forecasts and weather imagery and constantly be aware of weather while you are out. This sort of thing happens in many parts of the world so have a care while having a blast on the water.