ricki
12-22-2004, 10:14 AM
Damn, lost another brother. Godspeed friend.
There seems to be a strong correlation between serious injuries/fatalities and kiting in "frontal" versus "thermal' or "trade" conditions. Rick I: is this a pattern you can confirm for our collective safety?
The key is to actively avoid unstable weather that brings excessively gusty winds.
FACT: We can't always reliably pull the plug on all that kite power at will say if an excessive gust hits.
WHY:
1. You may not have enough time to become aware, analyze and react properly before impact.
2. You may not be able to find your quick release in time.
3. Your quick release for a variety of reasons, may NOT work properly.
What do you do if you drive off of a cliff? Answer: Not much. The key is to avoid going off of the cliff in the first place.
There is a WHOLE world of weather out there and MANY types that can generate excessively gusty winds. It is up to ALL riders to learn about what unstable weather is like in their area and how to try to avoid falling into it.
I don't have much detailed knowlege about winter weather. Still there seems to be some early indications of a violent frontal system that figured in the Alberta Beach accident. They appear in the thread at:
http://www.fksa.org/viewtopic.php?t=405
There is a lot of information there but I hope if outside input is received from folks that ride in the north, to come up with a shorter list of general conclusions and precautions.
Of course seeing nice clean plots online in hindsight can be deceptively easy in analysis. I don't believe that you need a 50 mph gust to be injured in snow kiteboarding and that lessor gusts can also be dangerous. I think weather knowlege, planning and monitoring are just as important to snow kiteboarding as they are in kitesurfing.
Bottom Line, know your weather a lot is riding on it.
reposted from: http://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=881
There seems to be a strong correlation between serious injuries/fatalities and kiting in "frontal" versus "thermal' or "trade" conditions. Rick I: is this a pattern you can confirm for our collective safety?
The key is to actively avoid unstable weather that brings excessively gusty winds.
FACT: We can't always reliably pull the plug on all that kite power at will say if an excessive gust hits.
WHY:
1. You may not have enough time to become aware, analyze and react properly before impact.
2. You may not be able to find your quick release in time.
3. Your quick release for a variety of reasons, may NOT work properly.
What do you do if you drive off of a cliff? Answer: Not much. The key is to avoid going off of the cliff in the first place.
There is a WHOLE world of weather out there and MANY types that can generate excessively gusty winds. It is up to ALL riders to learn about what unstable weather is like in their area and how to try to avoid falling into it.
I don't have much detailed knowlege about winter weather. Still there seems to be some early indications of a violent frontal system that figured in the Alberta Beach accident. They appear in the thread at:
http://www.fksa.org/viewtopic.php?t=405
There is a lot of information there but I hope if outside input is received from folks that ride in the north, to come up with a shorter list of general conclusions and precautions.
Of course seeing nice clean plots online in hindsight can be deceptively easy in analysis. I don't believe that you need a 50 mph gust to be injured in snow kiteboarding and that lessor gusts can also be dangerous. I think weather knowlege, planning and monitoring are just as important to snow kiteboarding as they are in kitesurfing.
Bottom Line, know your weather a lot is riding on it.
reposted from: http://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=881