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Old 11-13-2006, 07:20 PM
DeepSeaDoc DeepSeaDoc is offline
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Default Pensacola kiters lost overnight...

Glad to see this turned out alright. Could have gone VERY bad. Does anyone know if these guys kite at Ft Walton at all? Trying to think if I've ever met them at all. Make sure to read this guys and be warned. The kites not worth dying over.
Eric



http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/...611130323/1006
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Old 11-13-2006, 07:29 PM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default Re: Pensacola kiters lost overnight...

Quote:
Originally Posted by DeepSeaDoc
Glad to see this turned out alright. Could have gone VERY bad. Does anyone know if these guys kite at Ft Walton at all? Trying to think if I've ever met them at all. Make sure to read this guys and be warned. The kites not worth dying over.
Eric



http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/...611130323/1006
Thanks for posting this. We have lost at least two other riders recently to kite retrieval or attempting to hang on to it after winds shifted offshore. It is something you want to think about in advance.

Also, if you are doing proper weather planning and monitoring you'll be on the lookout for a sudden, violent change in the winds. Without the arrival of what may have been a cold front, nothing that untoward might have happened. If you know something is coming you can factor that into your decisions.
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Old 11-15-2006, 07:21 PM
RushMarkRush RushMarkRush is offline
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Default Off shore

This time of year, when it warms up during the day, the NW wind will go side or side on....then as it cools down towards the evening, it will go back offshore. If you see dark clouds to the N or NW, don't do the giant offshore tacks and be ready for it to switch directions. A kite is never worth your life.
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Old 12-07-2006, 04:52 AM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default Re: Off shore

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Originally Posted by RushMarkRush
This time of year, when it warms up during the day, the NW wind will go side or side on....then as it cools down towards the evening, it will go back offshore. If you see dark clouds to the N or NW, don't do the giant offshore tacks and be ready for it to switch directions. A kite is never worth your life.
That's interesting Rush. Sounds like what thermal winds do down here at certain times of the year. We could have lighter offshore winds out of the west or northwest. On a clear day heating of the land could result in a sideshore flow. Once sunset comes, an hour before, during or after it's like someone hits a switch and the wind reverts to the original direction offshore.

Another common cause is the passage of cold fronts. The wind cycles clockwise. So, a southeasterly wind can shift to SW to W to even NW fairly suddenly. You start in sideshore and suddenly it's offshore. Guys have lost boards around here. Another interesting part of some arrival cold fronts are powerful leading edge squall lines. These have messed up and killed riders in the USA and beyond for sometime.

As a rule you can't use a kite to sail into shore in dead offshore winds. Sailing with a C kite is pretty easy on the water. I am still trying to figure out how to do this with a flat kite with any efficiency, not good. You need to drag your gear in side stroking. If you just try to sit it out, offshore you go. They say riders should not abandon their more visible and floatable kites. You had better have a cellphone, someone watching you or whatever. It can be a huge empty ocean out there particularly at night as these guys established in their incident.

The squall lines can be just plane nasty, spiking to two to three times + original wind speed and often from a direction 90 degrees off the former direction. It is fairly easy to anticipate cold fronts from reports, weather maps, radar and sat. images. Thermal winds can be far more localized are much harder to predict, especially when they will turn off and regional winds will be resume over the coastline.
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