Hazardous Weather Is On!

[ricki]

They were saying gusts to around 30 kts. today as of Friday. Looks like it went up. Some of this may be in squalls, still even the base speed in large waves is pretty daunting. No conditions for kiters without experience in similar conditions before with the correct sized kite and gear.

Today...East winds 24 to 29 knots with gusts to around 40 knots. Seas 8 to 10 feet building to 10 to 12 feet in the afternoon. Dominant period 7 seconds. North swell 2 to 5 feet. Intracoastal waters very rough in exposed areas. Widespread showers and scattered thunderstorms.


There may be some holes in the squalls moving through or not. Stay the hell out of the squalls and land and secure well in advance of squalls before they come close. Flying through these storms is a fools game.



http://www.spacecoastweather.org/wxradaramx.php



http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/southeast.php


A good portion of the east coast of the USA is getting wind and waves from this system. Winds are spiking up the coast too, in this case off Jacksonville

[trailtow]

We had a lofting today at palmetto near tower 4. The guy was doing a downwinder don't know from where but was way over powered on a 9m kahoona and was lofted up the beach he was able to pull his safetys and crash on the beach and his kite landed on a1a. Luckily he was alright and pretty sure so was the kite.

[ricki]

Yes, I probably caught the lofting on my helmet GoPro. I was running north when he went up about a 1/2 mile north. He was so far away with the wide angle lens, the size would probably be too small to see. I did interview both he and his friend doing the downwinder from Delray about what happened. He was lofted about 20 to 25 ft. up when he opened both QR. I will put together a video and put it up soon. I am glad he came out of it ok and no one else was harmed in the event.

Moral of that story:

DON'T GO OUT RIGGED TOO BIG, ESPECIALLY IN STRONG CONDITIONS!

He was lucky.