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  #21  
Old 03-24-2007, 01:49 AM
Ron Ron is offline
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Rick,

The info on the lightning is very informative. I learned to ride in Kuwait and have never ridden when the potential for lightning is present. The rainy season here is quite cold and damp and mostly puts one off from kiting in the rain and cold that are present when there is lightning in Kuwait.

The Al-Baraweh winds that bring the duststorms will start around June and can continue thru August-September. During this time, Kuwait City receives very fierce NW winds that blow down from the desert interiors of Iraq and northern Kuwait. The average wind speed during these storms is 20-28mph with frequent gusts into the 30ish mph range, The highest gust that I've personally measured was 42mph but are reportedly much higher in the interior. These northerly winds are most often accompanied by wicked dust storms that can reduce visibility to a few meters.

As Patrick said, one really has to see them to experience the full sensation. At night, these duststorms are just plain eeire and they can literally turn day into night. The worst duststorms I personally experienced in Kuwait were touched off my movement of forces into Iraq in 2003. I was working as a US contractor at the time and the duststorms were so severe that they set of the US troops chemical alarms.The dust is so fine that it blows thru window sills and doorframes and leaves everything with a fine coating.

Patrick, I wouldn't recomend going out in these winds until you've mastered riding upwind and are familiar with Kuwaits waters and riding out a gust. It's a bit disconcerting at first, not being able to see the shoreline because of reduced visibility. I remember my first session in a duststorm, my buddy just disapeared into the dust about 50 meters from shore and it took a couple tacks for me to get used to riding in the reduced visibility It's often very gusty during these winds so a helmet and impact vest is also highly recomended.

Scott, I don't have any pics of riders in the sandstorms but I hope to take some when the sandstorms come this summer. Until then, I'll post a pic of a sandstorm and a pic of one of the local kite spots, just for visual reference.



Sandstorm at a military base in Kuwait


Some locals kiters on a clear day
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  #22  
Old 03-24-2007, 07:19 AM
Skyway Scott
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Cool pics. What is the average wind speed you ride in if you are not riding in the storms?
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  #23  
Old 03-25-2007, 02:44 AM
Ron Ron is offline
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The average wind speed in Kuwait is about 14mph from the Northwest. However, Kuwait rarely gets clean consisent winds. 90% of windy days are gusty days. One learns how to spot and ride out gusts really quickly here.

About 60% of sessions are light to medium wind (10-20 mph) sessions.
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  #24  
Old 03-25-2007, 07:43 AM
Skyway Scott
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So, what is your guy's approach to making the gusts manageable?
I would probably be on a 13m kite with a slightly larger board to ride out those lulls.

Have you found a "magic gust muncher" kite yet?

St. Pete isn't so gusty per se (moment to moment), but we encounter changing wind speeds (over time) throughout the day a lot. Having the wind jump from about 13 to 20 and then back down and then back up (in waves of 25 minutes) is moderately common.

You guys must be thankful that alternatives to C kites exist.
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  #25  
Old 03-25-2007, 07:46 AM
Skyway Scott
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So, what is your guy's approach to making the lulls manageable?
I would probably be on a 13m kite with a medium sized board (43 wide) to ride out those lulls. That has to be a topic of your guy's conversations there, the best approach to gusty winds.

St. Pete isn't so gusty per se (moment to moment), but we encounter changing wind speeds (over time) throughout the day a lot. Having the wind jump from about 13 to 20 and then back down and then back up (in waves of 25 minutes) is moderately common. So, we deal with that here too, just on different time frames.

You guys must be thankful that alternatives to C kites exist.
I know kiting for me is much more pleasurable now than a few years ago.

Last edited by Skyway Scott; 03-25-2007 at 08:46 AM.
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  #26  
Old 03-26-2007, 05:24 AM
Ron Ron is offline
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I started learning with a C kite. However, I switched to ARCs (Guerilla I and II's) while learning to kite after having one too many leading edge bladder punctures and bladder leaks due to excessive heat. The gust absorption was a pleasant surprise discovered afterwards! My personal opinion is that nothing eats a gust like a Peter Lynn ARC kite. I still have one C kite but haven't pumped it in ages. I just can't be bothered with it. But we have the occasional ARC vs C vs Bow discussions here

I now ride a Venom 13 and 19 quiver. These two kites allow me to handle 95%of the wind speeds encountered in Kuwait. I'm about 90k so I don't have much trouble holding down the 13 in 25-30 mph winds. Around 30 mph wind speed It starts to get dicey as teh gusts can hit upwards and over 40 mph. I've often thought of buying a 8m or 10m for days when the 13 is just too much, but can't justify the added expense as I'd use the kite maybe five or six times a year. However, I am thinking of buying a Flysurfer Speed 17 or Speed 2 19 to use as a light wind kite. If I bite the money bullet, I'd probably be able to get about 20-25 extra sessions a year in as my Venom 19 is not really a proper light wind kite. One rider here has a slingshot machine 25.5 and he is able to get a session in when I'm sitting on the beach.

As far as I know, I'm the only rider in Kuwait that rides ARC Kites. Every one else I know rides a C or a bow as that is what they learned on, don't really understand ARCs', and ARC's aren't sold in Kuwait. I laugh every summer while people are repairing bladder nipples and heat induced bladder leaks. It's amusing to watch the look on someones face that has just asked me "what the hell kind of kite is that?" spend ten minutes pumping a kite in 120 degree heat heat only to find that the glue on the bladder has melted away. The Venom also suits my riding style and is quite an improvement on the Guerilla's but I'd prefer the ARCs for kiting in Kuwait just on durability issues alone.
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  #27  
Old 03-26-2007, 11:39 AM
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Thats just too hot for me, I remember moving to/ living in Tucson in October and as soon as May/ June came, Argh!!!!! 115 deg middle of day!

Thank goodness we scrambled for Mex every weekend where it was cooler and windier and more water!
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