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Last week i was messing around with my trainer kite again , getting ready to give a friend some lessons, when there was a huge lightening storm brewing over the city slowly coming towards us.

then i started getting shocked constantly from the bar , i assumed the nylon lines were soaking up the static electricity in the air and channaling it down to me lol , was a cool sensation some shock therapy. but it was short lived as it didnt seem smart to keep the kite in the air was a big storm approaching , anyone else had this happen to them ?

Fan STATIC video explaining what it is : with the science guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-77IzaXGcg

Happened to a friend a few months ago. There was a thunderstorm passing to the south of us. He launched his kite and immediately let go of the bar because he was getting a painful shock. It is surprising to me that there is that much electricity in the air even when you are far removed from the thunderstorm.

I had this happen to me like a week ago when we kited after a thunderstorm was gone. It hadn't lightning(ed) in over a half hour (had to wait for the wind to pick back up)

I started getting a cramp in my foot so I went to the beach to stretch it out... I jumped up and down a few times with my kite in the air and each time I landed I got a shock through my feet. At first I thought it was the muscle being weird but I tried it a few more times and realized what was happening. Didn't seem to happen on the water though, just the beach.

I got zapped pretty good last year when I had self landed my kite in the mud, rinsed it off, and was walking it to the packing area. I guess it struck a tree nearby but the soaking wet kite shot a (serious) jolt up my arm to my shoulder.
I did not shit my shorty, but I have to tell ya, it was a close one!

www.kiteboardingtampabay.com

Pinpoint Lightning was a great app. Alerted you and told you exactly where lightning was striking and how far away. They "retired it", supposedly to integrate into a weather app, and there's been no news in 2012.

We broke it......

"In Central Florida one thunderstorm can generate a thousand or more lightning strikes an hour."

www.kiteboardingtampabay.com

... I've been zapped many many times while kiting.

I live in the tropics where in the monsoon season we get heaps of static build up in front of storms where we usually get the best wind too. While kiting you get zapped as you land from a jump, and the zaps get worse the higher and longer you go. Each jump you have to build up the guts 'cause you know your gunna get a zap at the end of it.

One of the worst I got was when landing from a big jump, I was landing just infront of some rocks. The zap was so bad that my front hand jolted and let go of the bar, going through my fingers on the bar and I didn't redirect the kite properly and nearly skidded into the rocks.

Mate and I even got to the point where I could hear the crackling around the rails of the boards just as you hit the water and would jolt the hand, felt like some one poked a pin in the ends of your fingers. If you don't jump and then you don't feel anything.

I know, its a bit dangerous but some times the lure of wind out weighs the risks!!

cheers,

Robbie

About 15 years ago I took care of a person who was struck by lightning in the burn ICU. He was golfing in the vicinity of a thunderstorm, swinging his lightning rod in the air. We had one inconsiderate intern who kept whispering "Oh Rat Farts!" when ever we rounded on the the poor guy.

The electricity travels through the body, producing very deep burns of muscle and other soft tissue, sparing much of the skin. Unfortunately this injury required multiple disfiguring skin grafts and left permanent disabling atrophy of the muscle in both arms and one leg. In addition he was not quite right in the head after that.

Jake