Thanks, I hadn't noticed the link had been taken out of circulation after I made the post. The photographer certainly does deserve credit, an amazing photo.
I really can't explain it, lack of reason or concern perhaps. I once almost had a water spout sneak up on me in Miami. It was one of the fair weather kind, that happens with puffy cumulous clouds in sunny weather. I noticed it when it was a 1/2 mile offshore, could have seen it a bit sooner however. Thing is these shelf clouds come with heavy weather, the kind that shows up in weather forecasts, hazard forecasts, color radar and to the eye as well. You have the means to anticipate heavy weather, beyond which we should always be aware of our surroundings. Things can and will change over time, even boats coming into the area. Pays to know in advance.
I had hoped that the manufacturers were routinely checking their QR under load these days UNLIKE in years past. Some of the early pin releases would consistently fail to release under load. That bright red in the radar, orange and other colors indicative of powerful convection are ready giveaways of hazardous weather. Pays to stay aware.
I am not sure that I have heard about the Canadian accident previously. I would appreciate it if you could send along what information you have, either here, via PM to ricki or email to flkitesurfer at hotmail.com. Thank you for mentioning it.
That is the thing about these squalls, the wind frequently does go NUTS!!! Changing direction and velocity at great speed, enough to stall and slingshot your kite repeatedly. Just look at wind spikes on ikitesurf and then look at the direction arrows at the top, often it is a confused mass of arrows firing off all over. That is what squalls can do and skill can be almost of no significance in them. What can you do if your kite refuses to fly and then flies off in multiple directions over seconds?
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Originally Posted by biohorn
Hi Rick and all,
I found a working link for that storm photo. This thing is a monster. The YouTube video also captures it's power and scale quite well.
So you all tell me...would you keep riding after seeing that thing coming? (not like you could miss it!) Surely everyone was on nice big kites and now will try to cope with the first blast of gusts. How can one test a 40+ mph emergency release (with a big kite)? Sounds like a nightmare to me.
We had a similarly powerful front come through Cleveland about 6-7 years ago. The horizon was gray like a big fire. It went from sun to near black. They rolled in at ground level easily at 30+ mph, maybe more like 40+. Right as it came by it was carrying a load of birds, dust, rain. As it started to come by it was hard to tell whether or not it was a tornado. I went back home and looked at the radar. It was a solid red THIN line stretching about half the state.
A while back a Canadian fellow (experienced rider) got caught in one of those, knocked unconscious and thrown into a structure. Experienced rider riding alone. He did not make it.
We had a big one last year. Here it is on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew7BeDKd4pU
Notice how the winds goes every direction! As we basically never get s-e rains, it did a good job of power washing decades of dust off our brick front of house. |