Shadow Blasted ... Flying In Dirty Air

[ricki]

Here's another example of serious rotor from a couple of years back. Again, this is known as a windsurfing spot, kiters go elsewhere. Windsurfers may be able to manage excessive rotor a bit better. At least they may be able to glide through the lulls. In gusts hopefully suffer nothing worse than to get spun 20 ft. away from their rig across the water in a catapult.


In strong winds, this embayment seems like it would turn into a blender of cascading wind. If you are standing there, the wind would die down to almost nothing for seconds, then boost up a bit, then perhaps rage down at high speed, then ebb or die and repeat. The direction of the wind might change as well, perhaps a lot. Look at the colored blobby diagram on the first page. I assume the colors represent various velocity ranges. Thing is where there is no color, there is no significant wind, dead lull shifting perhaps to honking strong in a red zone. The mess whirls all over the place continuously.



Pretty much anything east of north going clockwise up to around north west will be rotored in this bay.

The rider was from out of the area, and apparently didn't fully appreciate hazardous conditions at this spot. Reportedly he was warned that this area wasn't a good choice for kiting by a local. He had been in around 12 kts. winds, kited upwind nearer to the rocks of the point. He was reportedly hit by a strong gust and lofted about 45 ft. high and fell into about 8 inches of water. He didn't survive the impact.

Location is real important. Kiters should learn what to look for and avoid particularly if they are new to an area.

Question, do some instructors teach this stuff along with other location selection considerations? I hope the days of focusing on the kiting setup, waterstarting and other basics alone are well in the past.