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  #11  
Old 04-17-2010, 09:25 AM
greg meintjes greg meintjes is offline
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Another idiot, I met a guy the other day that bought 3 old C kites (4 years old) for $ 500. and thinks he got a deal and now wants to teach himself... after our conversation he has decided not to try do this at the beach.

Greg
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  #12  
Old 04-20-2010, 06:07 AM
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ricki ricki is offline
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A gust front moves in. From: http://www.stormeffects.com/ 2003_chase_images.htm

I've been going over records of kiting losses this week. It is amazing how many happened in obvious, severe weather, supercells complete with powerful wind gusts. Some of the lost kiters were described as cautious, safety oriented people. Some were coming in to land but too late. Others were ripped off the water and lofted as far as 500 m away and a 100 m high (over 1650 ft. away and 300 ft. high!). Riding storms out to sea may work for ships but they don't get lofted unlike us. The smart folks are on shore and secured before any change in wind speed, direction or temperature. It is good to remember that there are sometimes lulls before all hell breaks loose but not always, the "calm before the storm."

They waited until the storm was too close, they can move a mile a minute after all. Being late can cause you to miss an appointment, a plane or in this case the rest of your life. When it comes to storms, anticipate and completely avoid them weather planning and monitoring, if you screw up and are late coming in, Emergency Depower EARLY even if it means swimming. You have good swimming skills and an impact vest on right to reduce the odds of problems?

I will always remember the story of a boy in France, 18 yrs. in 2002, standing on the beach looking for someone to grab his kite a 1/4 mile away from other kiters. He was still standing there when a severe squall swarmed ashore and lofted him a couple hundred meters at high speed into a pole. Never acted to Emergency Depower (kill all the power by flagging his kite) while he still had the chance.

Far lesser storms can mess you up too so there is more that we need to know than the following, Still, there is no excuse to have a kite up when the extremely obvious severe variety are inbound. This accidents have happened in most parts of the world including several in Europe. Here is a spotter guide for severe weather, thunderstorms prepared by NWS. Read over it and act early, don't blow this stuff off.

http://www.weather.gov/os/brochures/basicspot.pdf

more at: http://spotterguides.us/advanced/advanced02.htm


More about weather planning and monitoring for kiting at:
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?p=44991#post44991
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Last edited by ricki; 04-20-2010 at 06:30 AM.
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  #13  
Old 04-21-2010, 12:19 PM
damion_dark
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Is this similar to what happened to the Kevin Kerney (I think thats his name) during hurricane Wilma? Is there like a list or a databse of kitesurfing fatalities and injuries. I just want to know what the statistics/demographics are. I've heard stories but havn't seen data or maps.
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  #14  
Old 03-14-2012, 12:58 PM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Folks in inland lake areas sometimes don't have a lot of consistent wind to use. Despite that, it isn't a good reason to put everything up for grabs in a fit of wind lust. This post deals with one such example. Send everyone to the root cellar because a tornado is on the way and hope for the best. That is unless you have a kite then go out for a session?! That would be a real bad idea for all the same reasons.
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