If folks think this is irrelevant, please look at this again from the start of the thread,

"They consist of plausible kiting incidents and accidents that haven’t occurred but may or may not have been inspired by real events. They are stories of likely events containing object lessons worth considering by kiters."

This accident as related hasn't occurred but may have similarities to some that have. Also, this isn't some random thought that popped out at this time and place either. There are reasons for bringing this up here and now and in this form. The main one is to try to spread some hard won lessons.

It would be good to discuss what happened, how to avoid it, similar incidents, even similar accidents. You can pretty much count on repetition unless we can spread these ideas around and work to kick some timely self-preservation into gear at the right moments.

Here are some images to think about below. The first is a summer squall related to a tropical system. You have squalls like that in temperate latitudes as well. I used to not even bother to put dramatic images up like this much thinking it was so obvious to stay out of them. Time has shown that some folks stay out in these things even though they can readily throw out lethal wind velocities at times. Less dramatic storm clouds can do a serious number on your too so it pays to learn what to look for and be aware of your surroundings.

The second is a wet squall line on regional radar, a particularly violent one. These lines can sometimes pass within a half hour to a couple of hours, sometimes longer. Good time not to have a kite in the air. The wind can spike, change directions stalling and yarding kites all over, blow you offshore or just kill the wind entirely. Lots of guys have been messed up or actually killed in these things. The trick is to dial into the right kites for conditions before and after when winds can increase substantially sustained at times. You may need to rig two different sizes on either side of the squall line. You just don't want to have a kite up as it passes over.

rick, where in your fiction story do you talk about bad weather?