What's the Weather? For STARTERS, In the UK.

[Johnny TBKS]

Ya, Rick has much more population to deal with than most of us...prolly more than most of the world for that matter. It's starting to get kinda crowded on some parts of the water here as well but nothing in comparison to what I see in Miami. We are coping with it in our own ways and doing well here. We have still managed to avoid ANY bans in the last few years, despite the fact that one very popular riding spot here had a "Risk Assessment Team" watching over us for a month to decide of they should allow or not allow kiteboarding in their park. For the record, we still have preserved our freedom to rider their too.

Anyhow, for sure check the radar and weather links before going out. That's what they are their for. This single factor alone can save your kiteboarding ass on alot of days. It helps alot to know what's out there coming at you and what is being forecasted. It takes what...2-5 minutes to check the weather sites online before you go fly? You spend more time that this on these forums.

Good job helping out the UK guys with weather sites. Someone had to do it I guess huh. I'd share my UK links with you if I had any but I've honestly never surfed the web for any over there. It was starting to look like they either had none or that most of the UK guys believed they had none because of how difficult they could be to find. Nothing against you UK guys, we love you all!

I kind of agree that we have to be somewhat sick in the heads to be riding on kites and especially to see how big we can jump on them. A nice thermal can hand us a BIG surprise. It's assumed risk, but we still must do our best to minimize this and ANY OTHER risks that we are already aware of. This is how you are going to help to preserve FREE kiteboarding in your area. Keep is safe, respectful to others, and fly smart!

I too have skipped many days on the water while my friends were out having a good time because of storm clouds and other bad weather creators being in the area. At one time I couldn't resist the temptation, cuz as you say, it's hard when they keep going out in it and coming back safe. So here I am NOT resisting the temptation one day on the water, grey clouds in the area..some overhead in fact. I was one of two kites on the water at this moment. I'm riding a Fuel 14m kite and the other guy who has me outweighed by 50 pounds is pretty juiced up on a 12m Fuel. Long story short, the squalls...they came. The winds picked up CRAZY! My friend was blown off the water pretty much with his 12....he was being drug to shore and couldnt stop..luckily he unhooked and released the kite short of the shore. I managed to maintain control, but it was no fun. More like survival sailing. I felt like if at any time I lose my edge, I am eating shit hard! I want to come to shore but it's kinda littered with kiteboarders trying to help my friend pull it together and get his kite rig clear of this small launch for me. The speed and power became unbearable and since it was now blowing side offshore, I did as you say and tried launching a jump to slow it down. That would have been the biggest mistake of my life if the winds were blowing shoreward cuz I flew and flew and flew. It was sick! Every time I thought I was going to land, I got lifted again and flew further. This happened over and over without ever touching down. I didn't think I was ever going to land, and had it been onshore winds, I no doubt would have landed pretty far inland. On landing I chose to go ahead and dump the kite in the drink. NO KITE, NO BOARD, NO PIECE OF GEAR OR ENTIRE RIG is worth dieing over. PERIOD. It is of no matter if you cannot afford a new kite. When the shit goes down, if you arent so lucky at the end, you can bet that you are going to say something about hindsight and ditching your rig. DONT take the chance! Even if you do lose the rig and cant replace it, at least you arent out of the game. In time you WILL replace that kite somehow and you will ride again. Of course if you have any good friends, they would be loaning you kites until you get your next. Whatever...even if it means you get no rides in for the next year to save yoru money, YOU ARE ALIVE AND IN WELL BEING. Good health seems to be something alot of people take for granted. You shouldnt do that. When the chips are down and you are injured or laid up, you will have a new perspective of your life value over your kite rigs. No comparison.

Check the radar links, look over the satellite images, get your local up to date forecast(preferably of a website instead of a news channel on tv just because they are usually up to the minute), BEFORE you ride. The life you save by doing this is going to be your own! The key here is avoiding questionable weather patterns altogether. Don't go out in the bad stuff or questionable stuff as you will only be looking for trouble.

Keep up the work Rick and keep us posted on how your experiments are coming along down that way.

Visualize Whirled Pea's
Johnny

[splat]

Rikki,

for the UK, most of the links you had above, and some more are all on one page at http://www.Taklaman.com, also has tides and this forum!

[zbose]

Here in Seattle, it can be hard to tell when a squall is coming through, because the only wind we tend to get is before a storm front moves in (half the time we are riding in the rain). We are used to the local weather patterns here, and can usually tell when the weather is going to be unstable, but once in awhile it suprises you (no excuse for safe launching/landing/riding habits). I have found, in the two different squalls I have been caught in, that immediately ditching the board (I ride leashless, with a reel leash for backup just in case) and keeping the kite low in the window and just body dragging is the best way to ride it out and get close enough to shore where you can splash your kite down and swim in to secure it. This way, all the potentially huge air you get is translated into forward motion, but with your whole body in the water, you keep your speed down and your kite is right there low to the water incase you need to splash it down and ditch it. Of course, if you are upwind of hard objects or if body dragging in any direction is going to get you into trouble (read: dragged into something hard) then just dump/ditch the kite!!!

Just my .02 cents.

-zb

[Guest]

Until recently I would have thought that Rick's experience of flroidian squalls didn't really fit with our UK situations - until recently......

16 -18knts on an X2 12m suddenly 28 - 30knts! The biggest serial teabagging in my life followed by a sort of controlled slide on my arse up 400m of beach to someone who could catch the kite. I could have bailed at any time but with others around and a huge low tide beach as a saftey margin sat it out. Many UK spots would not offer that kind of safety margin. This squall lasted about 20 mins which makes ridding out out seem impossible - though I have to say some did (those already on smaller kites).

The real UK rule - where our weather is always more local- is to know how a web forecast relates to your spot - or the spot down the road.

[Guest]

When a squal line comes in to a kiting spot you can immediately determine the background of most of the kiters at your spot. Most if not all of the kiters with wind & water backgrounds (e.g poleboarding) come off the water and start securing their gear. The rest just keep kiting.

If you try to educate and warn the others they tend to scoff at you and continue kiting. Most of the time they get rewarded for their attitude as the squal never quite materializes.

Until they get becalmed out on the water with lightning bolt strikes around them, or they get caught out in 30kt - 50kt conditions, or better yet their three kite quiver on the beach gets caught by a gust from behind and gets impaled on the trees they just won't get it.

[Rv]

Err, sorry I'm late in this thread, been busy. Did some UK guys say we didn't have any weather information? I don't remember that. Anyway, here's a link to the pages I use if anyone is still interested...

http://www.force4.btinternet.co.uk/kite/Links/links.htm

[grantwe]

Check this site out for south coast UK (Hastings). Some dude has his own private weather station!

http://www.n.wilson1.btinternet.co.uk

Also north Kent coast...

http://www.whitstablewindsurfing.com

has up to the minute wind info and tides. V.useful.

Later,
G.
also http://www.xcweather.co.uk as Rick said

[RickI]

Good health seems to be something alot of people take for granted. You shouldnt do that. When the chips are down and you are injured or laid up, you will have a new perspective of your life value over your kite rigs. No comparison.

Check the radar links, look over the satellite images, get your local up to date forecast(preferably of a website instead of a news channel on tv just because they are usually up to the minute), BEFORE you ride. The life you save by doing this is going to be your own! The key here is avoiding questionable weather patterns altogether. Don't go out in the bad stuff or questionable stuff as you will only be looking for trouble.

Wise words Johnny. I particularly like the part about "Good health seems to be something alot of people take for granted. You shouldnt do that. When the chips are down and you are injured or laid up, you will have a new perspective of your life value over your kite rigs. No comparison."

How many riders have been forced to consider this perspective while laid up with an injury? I have talked to quite a few via email and have read about still more online. The degree of care that a person exercises in kiteboarding is a matter of personal choice. That choice is going to be heavily influenced by experience, hazard awareness and most critically WHETHER OR NOT HE APPRECIATES THE HAZARD. It seems that lots of riders have trouble taking the risk to heart and often just blow it off. Kiteboarding like life is a numbers game. For every 1000 hours of kiteboarding, x accidents will result. Do you want to be in "x"?

Information and informed choices, that is really what this thread is about. Knowing where to find the information and some ideas on how to evaluate it to have great kiteboarding sessions and fewer times laid up with injuries.

Squalls can do a serious number on you if you give them a chance. Unlike the subtle distinctions between various quick release hardware, a squall blasting down gusts 30 to 50 kts. above background winds make hazard analysis kind of easy. What you don't know or take seriously can hurt you in this sport sometimes.

[RickI]

Thanks for the input on websites that you folks use in the UK. I really appreciate the local knowledge and suggestions. I have modified the original post to include some of the links that were sent in ...

UK

1. The weekend is coming up or you have some time off coming and you are thinking about riding in a day or so. Look into the forecast for your riding area. Some sites that may be worth a look include the following. Check them out and select the ones that work best for you and your area in the UK:

http://www.funky.co.uk/taklaman/wind.htm

http://www.getaforecast.com/

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk

http://www.force4.btinternet.co.uk/kite/Links/links.htm

1. The day is here or almost so check the color radar. Look for embedded storm cells in squalls moving towards you or forming in your area. Temper this with LOCAL knowledge as conditions can change radically in only an hour sometimes.
In the UK you can checkout:

http://www.met-office.gov.uk/weather/eu ... x.html#top

(HELP - is there another site with larger graphics to aid in interpretation?)

2. Check realtime wind reports. If there are strong gust spikes and/or sudden direction changes examine the radar particularly for that area. If it looks like something unstable in on the way in consider not launching. See if there are severe weather warnings, if there are pay attention.
You can checkout:

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/United_Kingdom.shtml
http://www.xcweather.co.uk/
(Both are good sites)

3. DECIDE, if based upon this and PAST experience with similar systems if something nasty is likely to slam down on you or not. Ask other people in your area, windsurfers, sailors and tuned in kiteboarders for example. The UK has only a few CENTURIES, more accurately over a millenium of going down to sea in ships, leather craft, whatever, so ask some of the weather savy types. Tell him what you are looking for and what you would like to avoid.

4. If you decide to go, STAY AWARE, at all times of the weather. Things like cloud lines, wind direction and velocity, white caps, temperature changes. Good chance you are a wind junkie already so play the complete roll and tune into wx. Talk among your water friends compare notes about signs to chase down and those to steer well clear of.

5. If you see a squall moving in, get to shore well IN ADVANCE of any change in wind speed, direction or temperature. Anchor your kite very well and detach the lines. Guys have already been severely injured by waiting too late in this. Lets try to cut down on repititons of these avoidable accidents.

6. If you ride with a bunch of regulars at your local launch consider getting an airhorn(s) and agreeing on a SQUALL'S ON - ALL IN signal. Something like three fast blasts repeated. Some also hoist a red flag at times like this. Try to look after your own in this, the squall doesn't discriminate and will spank anyone that is in the way.

If UK riders could post more information about seasonal unstable weather, things like summer squalls, fall blows, etc. it would be great to add more specifics for riders to consider when evaluating conditions.

So there's a start. Others have done this before and probably better too and they may actually live there, which helps! Still for those that may not know about these resources and how they can improve the odds of good riding, please look into them.
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