As a professional pilot and long time kitesurfer, I have witnessed first hand the [power of a thunderstorm and the micro bursts that they can create. Even though the wind wasn't really strong enough for kiting today, a large storm passed through Adelaide, and you can see from the BOM wind recording, how quickly the wind can come up. If you were stuck on the water with this gust front approaching, I would think that you would have no choice, but to release your kite completely, because even going to the safety, I would think that the kite would still have too much power in it. Has anybody ever been in this situation, and if so, what would be the best way to survive this?

I watched this storm approach near the coast. I knew from past storms that it was about to get real windy and soon. Really though, disregarding the lightning (which would make me land my kite alone), it was fairly obvious that it was about to get dangerous for a good hour before the storm (wind) hit.

Even if you didn't have experience, the last 10 minutes before the storm hit, the darkness and low clouds in the sky approaching made it certain to land your kite (and there was time...this time at least).

Was good experience just to observe, as I'm still an intermediate kitter, so not much experience in being out in something like that (yet).

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Cygnify said..
I watched this storm approach near the coast. I knew from past storms that it was about to get real windy and soon. Really though, disregarding the lightning (which would make me land my kite alone), it was obvious that it was about to get dangerous for a good hour before the storm (wind) hit.

Even if you didn't have experience, the last 10 minutes before the storm hit, the darkness and low clouds in the sky approaching made it pretty obvious to not be kitting.

Was good experience just to observe, as I'm still an intermediate kitter, so not much experience in being out in something like that (yet).

I didn't see it because I am away from Adelaide at the moment, but at around one o'clock, the wind is a fairly steady 12-15 kts westerly and then drops to 4-5 kts, before the gust hit. It is possible that a kiter could be out on the water on a 12 or 14 metre kite and have the kite fall out of the sky trying to get back to land.
This is the very dangerous situation that I'm trying to discuss. Worryingly, there are some kiters that think that it's OK to kite when thunderstorms are in the area. I think that it is great that you realized the potential danger!

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coastflyer said...
I didn't see it because I am away from Adelaide at the moment, but at around one o'clock, the wind is a fairly steady 12-15 kts westerly and then drops to 4-5 kts, before the gust hit. It is possible that a kiter could be out on the water on a 12 or 14 metre kite and have the kite fall out of the sky trying to get back to land.
This is the very dangerous situation that I'm trying to discuss. Worryingly, there are some kiters that think that it's OK to kite when thunderstorms are in the area. I think that it is great that you realized the potential danger!

I hadn't considered that, and am eagerly awaiting some experienced replies about what to do if your kite is down and your still in the ocean (I assume pull safety when that wind hit). This storm as well was quite perfect in that it was very clear (at least to me) about what was coming; not sure it would always be this simple/obvious.

All I can see on that chart are red arrows and a fifteen minute window for a quick session? Best advice then is to rig your smallest kite and smash it!

Had an awesome session on Tuesday, no wind forecast. The only wind we had was from a massive thunderstorm over the hills. When the lightning got to close we all came in and the wind dropped again.
Thank you big thunderstorm

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Cygnify said...

coastflyer said...
I didn't see it because I am away from Adelaide at the moment, but at around one o'clock, the wind is a fairly steady 12-15 kts westerly and then drops to 4-5 kts, before the gust hit. It is possible that a kiter could be out on the water on a 12 or 14 metre kite and have the kite fall out of the sky trying to get back to land.
This is the very dangerous situation that I'm trying to discuss. Worryingly, there are some kiters that think that it's OK to kite when thunderstorms are in the area. I think that it is great that you realized the potential danger!

I hadn't considered that, and am eagerly awaiting some experienced replies about what to do if your kite is down and your still in the ocean (I assume pull safety when that wind hit). This storm as well was quite perfect in that it was very clear (at least to me) about what was coming; not sure it would always be this simple/obvious.

If your kite is down, and there is no wind, everyone would wind their lines up, and grab the self rescue hand holds on the kite, or possibly deflate LE. If you can't hang onto it in 50 kts... Let go