Quote:
Originally Posted by RickI
In my experience very few squalls have been a surprise. There was one after sunset several years ago that blended into a darker gray sky and boosted wind to about 45 mph that was a bit of a surprise.
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Exactly the point..."surprises" happen, even if only on rare occasion. Whether you are a weather expert monitoring instruments that update every 5 minutes or novice kiteboarder with limited weather knowledge - unexpected wind events happen quite often and can be very localized "microbursts" if you will.
Should people be aware of the conditions developing, local weather knowledge, and take preventative action in advance of severe wind increases and shifts? Of course, absolutely.
But there are times when everyone is caught by surprise. And I think this is what is being addressed here.
E.G. Here's a graph from 16 May on Lake MI. The pattern was our typical high pressure, NW seabreeze, which presents normally a stable, predictable set of conditions, and very recognizable by those of us who ride here regularly...characterized by an afternoon shift from SW to gradually increasing NW with fairly steady velocities and then diminishing gradually after a few hours.
http://www.ikitesurf.com/cgi-bin/new...0&hid=45172604
Many expert kiters riding that day followed the expected pattern, including myself. Riding with a 7m early in the day, switching to a 10m when it went below 20 kts, and almost slogging when the wind spike arrived at 4pm. Many people were out on 12, 14, 16m kites when the spike came in at over 40 kts. Nobody saw it coming, (the sky was crystal clear blue and there were already signifcant whitecaps and waves) and it was a total scramble to land kites in serious side-on wind. I chose to ditch my board close to shore and then ended up going downwind body dragging away from the beach until several hundred yards offshore until I was in a spot where I could comfortably self-emergency land unassisted with plenty of room and no hazards. And I was prepared to kiss the kite goodbye if necessary at any moment.
These surprise conditions, whether an obvious squall or an invisible wind spike, are where having too big of a kite close to shore makes anyone very vulnerable. I've seen many people confused about how to QR, QR-ing their leash instead of their chicken-loop, or totally panicking and doing neither - and then getting worked badly. This is where having a few more moments to think things through can save someone from disaster. Easier and safer to think it through OFF-SHORE, instead of while bouncing over the sand/rocks, etc..