*** Hurricane Riding, the Real Deal ***

[ricki]

So what have we learned about going out in tropical systems? What should we look for and what should we avoid?

Maybe not kite surfing in them would be a start. But hey, to each their own.

[ricki]

It's that time of year again. Hope we have no serious storms and yet this is the time of year for it. Folks in Europe have been racking up lots of severe squall related accidents in just the last month or so. Not a good sign.

Despite possible miraculous properties of your high depower kite, bad things still happen and for many reasons. Best policy is still, to stay well away from squalls. An instructor was lofted about 400 m into a house in Italy a few days ago. Two other guys were lofted at the same time. One managed to Emergency Depower (out of three) while the second guy smashed into a car suffering serious injury. It looks like a frontal boundary with some strong storm clouds (cummulous nimbus) passed over bringing this stuff. Tornados or dust devils may have been seen. Don't need funnel clouds to mess you up kiting, just too much wind which happens frequently in squall lines. These lines come with fronts and are REAL common in tropical systems, as we know so well, I hope. Anyway, storm season is here along with all that violent convection. This year differs by so many storm fatalities in a short time. In the past, some of our systems have brought grief after crossing the Atlantic to Europe. Not sure that is the case this time, yet anyway. Have a care out there.

[ricki]

Videos from the about and from the area of these tragic accidents in Italy appear below:



A TV broadcast in Italian describing the accidents




An amazing video of many kiters apparently riding obliviously in and around the developing waterspout. This continued until three were literally seized from the water and flung inland by this violent weather system. The group indifference to this abundantly obvious hazard is astonishing, almost akin to sheep grazing as the rancher walks along and shoots them at random. Still, the sheep graze on.




A GoPro camera mounted on the helmet of a kiter riding beneath the cloud that spawned the waterspout for an extended period. He even rides towards the large water spout as it develops




Another Italian news broadcast about the accidents

More info at http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2357684