With the no. of new-to-kiting people we see in the shop planning to kite through winter in Perth please be warned.

It used to be that for your first, and for most even your second, winter was a strictly NO GO exercise which pretty much everyone observed.
Yes, with the latest kites, it is way safer and more fun than it ever was BUT it can still be extremely dangerous. Even the most pleasant of our gusty westerlies can turn super nasty with little warning.
If you are venturing out please realise that those who are already out there are probably experienced kiters who know and accomodate for risk.

DONT kite in areas where there is danger close to shore - THIS IS ESPECIALLY RELEVANT FOR MELVILLE. MELVILLE SHOULD BE TOTALLY BANNED ALL WINTER. I hope those who teach there stress this to students during lessons in summer.

WATCH the horizon regularly. You can usually spot the squalls (over 50kph sometimes but regularly over 40 on any squally westerly day)
If its coming in quicker than you can get to shore and land safely head out to sea, drop your kite and sit it out.
They usually dont last all that long but even if they do its way safer to drift into shore with a downed kite than to get caught out attempting to come in and land ur kite when it hits.

And one last caution (I learnt the hard way ) is dont assume that cos the first, or even several, squalls coming through were kitable that the next one will be. Squalls are not always regular in intensity. The only thing that almost certainly save my life the day I learnt this lesson was that I was, by coincidence - not choice, a long way off shore when I was hit by what looked just like the last squall I quite enjoyed but this time felt like a hurricane.
Home to sanitise the wetty that day

i remember a couple of years back having to defend instructors on a s/b thread, now you actually sound like one, nice work puppet

lol $50

Women can be fickle

Went to Melville on saturday morning, directly onshore and gusty. In one hour I saw two kites in trees (Naishes not cabs) and no one even flinched as if it were common practice.

hey bros,

I'm not in perth but in the naki nz. We have some insane days here 25-40 knots plus and 4+ meter swells (we have seen some 8m swells this winter!!!)

To add to your advice i'd like to say. do not head out to sea when a sqaull approaches. Squalls can kill the wind or switch it to direct offshore. unlikeley but possible. if you go out to sea and the wind dies or switches off shore your in the ****. get to shore before the sqaull hits and land your kite.

If theres no buddies around i use the teathered landing style. i have done this in 30-40 knots on an 8m to good effect. Seems to me a lot safer than trying to self land by other methods.

Lastly fly a kite that can handle the biggest gust/sqaull of the day. fly underpowered and then grin like hell when the sqaull hits!!!......

Lastly if it looks like a thunder cloud. drop your kite asap! you have a big earthing point in the sky for lightning to hit.

Don't know if I would be comfortable flagging to the 5th line in 40 knots, the kite would still trash around a fair bit.

I have both a 5 line and a modern 4 line bow kite and would be more comfortable driving the 4 line to the edge of the window and get a buddy to catch it.

Self landing over 30 knots is a major no in my book with any kite

the walks said...
now you actually sound like one, nice work puppet

might have something to do with the fact that 'now I am one'
funny where life sends you hey!

Sweet, there is nothing I like more than watching Harry face planting across the dunes or yourself self landing with an unwanted inverted relaunch in the power zone.

I will bring the camera down this week end

My winter kiting tips:
1.) The wind is normally variable, it sucks having to walk upwind - rig a big kite
2.) Not as many riders on the water perfect time to get some secret practice in to impress your friends at summer, only ride alone.
3.) You a fan of hang time try to coordinate it so your on the water at the start of a front, generally when there's big black clouds you can jump higher.
4.) Don't wear a leash, no one goes to the beach in winter anyway besides surfers and what are they going to do, lol.
5.) Use the different wind directions to scout out some new locations on the swan river, there's a particularly good spot I found last winter near the Kwinana.
6.) Because no one is out no one can film you right? wrong! Hook up a go pro baby, attach it to a spot which moves a lot and is really close to you (i.e your board) or really far away from you (i.e your kite) and use the extra good boosting wind to capture some footage of you jumping over things, post it on youtube.
7.) Still wear boardshorts, no one wants to see your coc k

And watch out for these...

If you're lucky (and heavy) like me, it'll rip your kite off (leash and all),
...and if not ... then wear a superman costume and make sure somebody gets some footage and posts it on SB so we can all watch it...

Might have been one like that that taught me my lesson

Nah not really but it was one bitch of a squall - felt like it would rate like that.

Spacemonkey! said...

7.) Still wear boardshorts, no one wants to see your coc k

My coc k is too small to see in winter so I'll just stick to the budgie smugglers.

Seriously though WA must be a lot different to here in Syndey. I did most of my learning in gusty winter westerlies with no problem at all. I'm actually looking forward to some nuking westerlies as I didn't get that much wind over 25kts through summer this year and my 7m only has been used a few times.

Another two in today to buy a harness.
Bought an 04 Airrush ???? (didnt know the model & didnt know they had names as well as brands) for $180 out of quokka and already have a wakeboard so didnt need a board???

Heading out today without lessons to get into kiting so they will be kicking arse by the time summer hits. yeah right!!!!

Only compensating factor was it happened to be a 7M kite so they're not an absolute certainty to die.

If you see them anywhere pls give them some assistance. Great guys but intent on their plan to become kiters "their way". If they are gonna do it then its better if we are all prepared lend a hand and try to keep them out of trouble.

And please - if your a newby or wanna-be reading this pls ask around before buying a kite. There are hundreds old C kites out there that should have been binned years ago but keep turning up in the classifieds.

My tip for winter kiting is to add one of those fleecy rashies under your normal rashie.

winter = stash your kite gear, pull out the snowboard and head to NZ :D