Near Fatal Lofting - Jupiter, FL, USA

[ricki]

This just in off Kiteforum:

Originally Posted by deltawake

Even though i live in SoCal my grandparents live in the building pictured so I ride there quite a lot.
The two things that strike me are where he launched and how close he was to the building.
The launch there is sketchy at best and there are many better spots close by - it looks like a dumb move to launch there.
From experience i can tell you that the wind near those buildings becomes extremely unstable for up to a 100 or so yards off shore. I've had winds completely reverse their direction close to the three buildings. I've also felt pretty significant updrafts close to those buildings - it's no surprise he got lofted there. There is a reason kiters don't launch there.
The last thing that I think is totally uncool is the photo showing another kiter ripping right through the surfers. WTF! Where is the respect! Jupiter is a huge beach and the surfers all hang out close to the northern jetty.
I think it's time for all the kiters in Jupiter to wake up a bit and do a little self policing on the people who are kooking out there.
For the record I was amazed how cool and easy going the life guards have been to kiters in Jupiter ( compared to CA lifeguards) - I guess that will have all changed by the time I riide there in Feb.

Any local input on this? Initially, I wondered about possibly entrainment into the slip stream by this curved building. Then again based on the apparent wind direction suggested by his kite alignment in the livecam image I thought it might not have been that significant.

Being overpowered with a 14 m C kite at the zenith and being hit by gusts into the 30 kt. range along with ridge lift off the dune might be enough to explain the initial lofting. If he snagged temporarily against the dune face loading up his kite, perhaps more so.