Hey all.

Just asking for some friendly advice regarding weather changes. I'm looking at kiting on Saturday in Tumby bay, SA , and the forcast is for a northerly in the morning at about 23 knots, switching to a westerly at 20 knots sometime just after lunch . The northerly would be side shore, but the westerly is off shore.

My question is, is it risky kiting the northerly in the morning with the wind set to swing around to off shore at some point? And does anyone have experience kiting a northerly breeze in these areas? I know they can be quite gusty.

Sorry if this is a silly question!

Cheers

If this is the same storm/weather system that just hit Perth tonight - it came in fast. Be prepared for some light wind kiting with shifting gusts well over 25knots coming out of nowhere instantly. Felt quite unsafe to me so probably one to avoid for sure.

if its a storm front coming through check its progress on rain radar. Get out as early as possible. be ready to gap it back to the beach at a moments notice. Don't go out further than you can swim, tell someone where you are going. Have the skill to ride crazy over powered or stupid underpowered, be prepared to ditch the kite and swim in if it flicks full offshore and you can't get back in.

If all that freak you out. Don't go out.

Thanks guys. Yup, that freaks me out a bit! I'll have to be patient and wait for another day!

Plummet is right if it were a strong storm cell which wasn't the case in your area today.

You do need to study the weather closely, that means going to check many more sources than the Seabreeze graph and talking to the local kiters.

Any frontal winds will always be less predictable, more gusty/variable, but aren't always dangerous.

Today in Perth, for example, we had a cold front from the South/SSW which most people would mistake for a seabreeze. It was cloudy, cold and some bits of rain here and there. Didn't make it dangerous and I'm sure all schools were teaching.

In many countries, fronts are the only winds they have to kite in.
You can always go the beach and make a live assessment, watch other kiters, ask questions, etc. As a general rule of thumb if you see very dark/dense clouds approaching that's the time to come in and land.

Christian