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Old 03-16-2008, 06:20 AM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default Dealing With Offshore Wind Shifts was Yesterday?!

This deals with a chunk of the SE coast but in some ways extends to the rest of the state. Did folks grab some of that wind that came through yesterday afternoon?

From the forecast I had more or less blown off kiting this weekend. It was to blow lightly and offshore after all. I even planned on some scooter diving in all that extended west wind to use the improved visibility.

Went to free dive the wreck of the Rodeo in 130 ft. of water in some pretty strong current and limited viz. Still it was fun and the scooter delivered as usual. video to follow in "Something Rich and Strange ... ". Made shore and noticed all these whipping flags, what?! Shot up the coast to Delray, rigged up and would swear I was unusually well powered at times on a 13 m. All in the same day, yeeha!

This wind wasn't forecast in the first place and yet I wondered early on about the wind clocking offshore at some point and promptly forgot about this possibility. Well it did just that around 5 pm and very suddenly. I saw a kiter out with his kite on the water drifting north for sometime towards the guarded beach. He wasn't able to relaunch. So I ran downwind fast and came up to help him relaunch or try to find his board which was out of sight at this point. All though well intended my help was fairly inept this time, whoops! Aside from getting too close, I failed to notice the wind clocking to blow side offshore while I was with him, too distracted. We both ended up towing kites into shore. In my case about a mile north, I always try to land on the far side of the guarded area if I don't have enough wind to make it back to the launch.

Moral, stay aware no matter what you are trying to deal with, and is this place great or what? Intriguing flat water diving and a nice wind session all in the same day.
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Old 03-16-2008, 06:08 PM
WindRyder WindRyder is offline
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Forecasts all called for good wind for us yesterday in the panhandle. boy, did we get skunked!! Very disappointing!!!
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Old 03-16-2008, 09:50 PM
Jur Jur is offline
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Wind was up in the Miami area! Totally unexpected. From 2 till 4 pretty lit up on a 12. Both Crandon and Hobe beach were in use. Epic day! Especially because it wasn't expected!

For me it was the first time i got to ride on Hobe beach, definately a different experience, dodging boats, swimmers and jetski's. You definately have to konw what you're doing riding there. It was cool jumping just downwind of little boats, getting a reference as to high your jumps were.

Saw one near accident, where an apparent beginner launched his kite with the bar the wrong way around, fortunately the kite dove straight into the water and stayed there. Could have been one of those........

What a surprise, a great day, completely unexpected!
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Old 03-17-2008, 08:35 AM
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Glad you got out and about being lit on a 12 m. I was thinking might have been hallucinating with my 13 m. Could have sworn there was a strip of water offshore where it might boost 4 to 5 mph beyond the wind plot that shows up below.

Watchout for those sudden wind shifts like at about 5:10 pm. The anenometer falls into the lee of some wind shadow with west winds hence he sudden dropoff.



Everyone knows how to deal with a wind shift offshore if you are already riding a ways off the beach, right? They are not that uncommon with arriving cold fronts or winking out thermals around sunset. Best way to deal with it is to anticipate the shift through forecasts and watching for signs, but failing that, what do you do?
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Old 03-17-2008, 02:44 PM
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No ideas? Ok, I'll lead off then. If the wind is very close to offshore you will likely not do very much by using the kite as a sail on the water to make for shore. The reason is that you will be sailing largely parallel to shore up or down the coast. The times well in the past when I tried it, didn't get anywhere useful at all. Often with offshore winds at least in SE Florida, there will be pronounced lulls that will likely stall your kite and drop it on the water. The closer you are to shore the more likely this is to happen. Take pains to keep the kite flying if you need to ride in spurts or if necessary doing powered figure eights body dragging in with your board held in front of you on your feet. You may only get so far doing this depending on how weak and uneven the wind will become.

What to do? First, wear flotation like an impact vest. With this one choice alone you have largely removed drowning from the playing field as along as you remain conscious. Then you should be free to reduce the pressure in your leading edge to reduce the wind dragging your kite offshore. I usually securely tie my kite leash to a footstrap taking care of both my board and my lines allowing me to deal with the kite. I swim up to the kite parallel to but staying away from the line. I reduce the leading edge pressure (btw you can blow it back up to a point by mouth if you need to usually) to drop the wind drag of the kite. Then I grab a wing tip and start to sidestroke to shore. Depending on how far offshore you are you may be doing this for a while. I think my record is about two hours, really dumb and well in the past but there it is. I believe anyone kiting should have strong swimming and watermanship skills, but still wear an impact vest routinely.

Make sure you are wearing adequate exposure clothing for conditions and an extended period in the water. This means dramatically different clothing say comparing Key West to Jacksonville this time of year. We lost a kiter on an inland lake due to inadequate exposure clothing, no flotation among other factors in past months.
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Old 03-17-2008, 03:12 PM
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Lastly, and this is a big one. DO PROPER WEATHER PLANNING AND MONITORING!

Look upweather on the forecast, radar, satellite maps and real time winds to see if a strong frontal boundary in coming through. See just how powerful and nasty it is to that point. Estimate its speed of travel understanding that it is subject to change.

IF a powerful frontal boundary is coming in with the classic 90 degree wind shift, major wind spike and possibly violent squalls MAKE sure you are not on the water when it passes over. Have your kite well secured before the boundary and potential hazardous winds arrive. Go from your eta estimate and visible conditions. If in doubt, simple, don't go out.

A kiter was killed in CT a while back due to this cause. A couple of kiters spent many hours one cold night being blown out into the Gulf by a powerful offshore frontal wind in the Panhandle. If you really screw up and are caught out, DON'T let your kite drag you offshore and you may have very little time to act. If you have to choose, choose yourself and ditch the kite. If you are already too far from shore you have a hard choice. Some say never leave your kite once offshore as it is more visible and has flotation. If you are using an vest, the later point shouldn't matter all that much. There is a chance your kite can be recovered with a boat if you never leave the shore but your kite does. No such certainty about yourself however.

Input? This is a common phenomena, people need to commonly know how to try to deal with it.
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Last edited by ricki; 03-17-2008 at 08:27 PM.
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Old 03-17-2008, 09:11 PM
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Default offsore winds self rescue

Hi Rick!
One method we teach our students is to lay on the kite with wingtips in the air with legs extended down the center strut and upper body hanging over leading edge.(unhook spreader bar first) From this position, its easy to "swim" or "doggie paddle" back upwind to get your board, and then to shore. If its not offshore, you can use this way to retrieve your board from upwind, then use a standard self rescue back to shore. It works like a charm!
Self rescuing with bridled kites requires you to hold the "upper" bridle, where it connects to the line, and on the lower end, at the wingtip area. Each kite is a little different, so practice this (on ALL your kites) before you really need it.
A friend got some shots of this today , once I get them I will send them to you.
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