Thanks Steve. I don't know if anything is a given or obvious, but I believe when in doubt, play it safe where this stuff is concerned. I did drive out to the SW tonight to witness a very similar event to the one that occurred last night.

I was watching radar while reading kiteforum today (pathetic..indeed) when I saw another outflow boundary heading to the SW. The sensor at Port of Tampa spiked to 30 as the boundary passed it and I thought "crap, not again".
I decided to go to the SW to see it, and also hope to stop anyone with a large kite from launching. About 15 minutes after I got there, it spiked.
Not as dramatically (30 knots for about 1 minute, then solid low 20s for about 20 minutes) as last night, but that is still plenty to whack someone on a large kite though. I want to thank Bill, Rkitekt and others there for listening to me and not harassing or questioning me when I asked them to wait as the wind filled in. It looked awfully inviting when it was at 14 knots and they could have easily ignored my request and told me to shove it. Luckily they didn't. Unfortunately, once the initial winds passed, it basically died. Sorta sucked.

I have a real concern about the SW. It can be a booby-trap on East winds. We have people showing up after work, pumping up there big kite and waiting for wind. When it comes, it often blows about 13 or so for a few minutes and then totally switches on, often to 20 plus, sometimes, as you have witnessed, to even much more.
This happened again tonight, several people witnessed it. I have seen it, Jayson has seen it, and others have seen it probably 40 times. Its a pattern, not a fluke. Actually tonight Jayson had a 9m kite ready to rock when it was blowing..... 10 knots... yep (he knows what he is doing).

If I could ask only one thing (among the many things you teach your students) this whole season, it is this-
If you wait for hours for wind (on a weekend) or an hour after work, please wait ten minutes as these East winds begin to fill in before heading out.

That ten minutes of patience might save your life. I am not being dramatic with that statement, it's a very factual statement. The other route is to pray for wind, rig a little smaller in its anticipation, and if it doesn't fill to 20, just ride a larger board and tool around.

Thanks for taking safety seriously Steve.

(BTW, it filled in nicely tonight at Lassing )