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Mr Jo Macdonald
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Postby Mr Jo Macdonald » Tue Nov 26, 2002 4:26 pm

This is a wind map of our coast today at 12.00.
Image
Near the shore where we would be kiting the wind is 10-20 knots but roughly 10kms out it's 20-40 knots.
40 knots of wind doesn't take long to travel 10-20 kms and there may even be stronger gusts around.
If you're interested, there were people kiting at 12.00 today
Winter weather is stormy weather.
Let's think about what we're doing
Jo





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mr Jo Macdonald on 2002-11-26 16:49 ]</font>

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Stefan
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Postby Stefan » Tue Nov 26, 2002 5:54 pm

Jo Mac, where is that?

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Postby RickI » Tue Nov 26, 2002 6:06 pm

Hello Jo,

Thank you for posting the weather graphics. Kiteboarders need to be aware of LOCAL SEASONAL weather trends and when unstable or high gusty winds, wind reversals, sudden lulls and lightening can come about. If you are uncertain, do your own research online, talk to local weather officials, boat captains, lifeguards, etc.

We can talk about general types of wx (weather) to avoid but I think in many areas it is going to come down to local awareness. There are just so many variations in violent weather globally.

Otherwise we may be but cattle in the field checking out the next lightening storm. "...Noisy stuff but can it hurt us?" Yes it can!

Experience is building but the number of serious injuries being caused by simple poor judgment and technique is unacceptable. A year ago, we could say well we really didn't know about that hazard. How about today? I haven't seen much in the kiteboarding media about squalls and storms. Has anyone seen articles published about this subject? The Internet certainly has treated the subject of kiteboarding and squalls extensively. I think that we can agree that unstable wx, lofting and dragging may be some of the more frequent causes of injury in many areas.

The lightening season in Florida is in the warmer months and particularly in late spring and early summer. Apparently it can be a serious threat in the UK in early winter. Lots of variation in trends out there. We all love and need wind. We just need to understand and learn what to go for and what to avoid.

Rick Iossi

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Mr Jo Macdonald
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Postby Mr Jo Macdonald » Tue Nov 26, 2002 6:07 pm

Northern Italy.
I'm on the east coast. That same wind is a cool 8-15 thermal in the summer and dies the further you get from the coast.
Nothing like the winter, if you were on the beach today it looked good, wind ranging mostly from 12-16 knots, good waves.
Fuckin scary to think there's a big front of 20-40 knots very close.
There were a few people out kiting today, mostly launching from a beach eaten to nothing by the storm with concrete obstacles litterally at the water's edge.
12m kites
Jo

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Postby threetreeptr » Tue Nov 26, 2002 6:52 pm

Am I reading the graphic wrong? The strongest wind I see anywhere is 10-20, not 20-40+.

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Postby Peter_Frank » Tue Nov 26, 2002 7:04 pm

On 2002-11-26 18:52, threetreeptr wrote:
Am I reading the graphic wrong? The strongest wind I see anywhere is 10-20, not 20-40+.
You read the graphic right - but it is in m/s, so 10-20 is roughly 20-40 knots...

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Mr Jo Macdonald
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Postby Mr Jo Macdonald » Tue Nov 26, 2002 8:11 pm

Yeah basically people are kiting in a thin strip of 10-20 knot wind about 10-20 km wide with 16-12m kites when the rest of the sea about 100km wide is storming from 20-40 knots.
I just heard of another bad accident this weekend in Italy on the Adriatic coast.
This is not fun

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Postby BLOWN AWAY » Tue Nov 26, 2002 9:59 pm

Make sure you check the paper every morning and check out the weather maps.... look for fronts, troughs etc... if you see any of these.... be alert when you are kiting and check upwind of you.

BLOWN AWAY

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Postby fokiten » Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:00 pm

Hey joe, yeah the beast is out, the summer thermal winds hear are heaven, 15 to 20 kts.rock steady! everybody got so good so fast. Now in winter we get arttic storm fronts blasting thru 25 to 45 knts. mean gusty dangerious, everybody still thinks they are good and up to it? Im not so sure, my smallest kite is 11.5,so i wait till the afternoon die off to kite and have wittnest some nasty, spookey near misses. all things considered my safety move is to not buy a 8m. kite. After all 40kts is never fun its suvival I can do the best job of that hear in my house working. if i could stay off this time waister pc. fokiten

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Postby BLOWN AWAY » Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:14 pm

The winters here in Auckland are really good. you still have to dodge the squalls but can see them coming from ages away. Quite windy most of the time... just need a small kite.....

No real problems with thunder and the beaches are empty..... Summer here is when kiteboarding is in danger of getting banned from popular beaches... :smile:

BLOWN AWAY


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