Hello,

I am coming up to my third lesson (Very excited) and have some questions.

1) Can you kite board in an on-shore wind?
2) Can you kite board in the rain?

Also, has anyone got any suggestions on how to gain a better understanding of weather maps and predicting good wind conditions. Or is this a day by day process?

Thanks,

Cody

To answer your question, "we" (as experienced kiters) can kitesurf in almost any conditions we want. "You" (a a beginner) cannot.

Once you can go reliably upwind then onshore is pretty good. Lots of waves to play with.

You also need to be sure that there is a safety margin on the downwind side of you. Not houses and power lines and kite easting trees.

Beginners should only go out in cross-onshore conditions. Cross-ish so it's easier to get away from the beach and on-ish so you get washed up on the beach if/when you stuff up.

Very few people go out in true off-shore conditions because it is usually too gusty and horrible to be fun, and if you have a malfunction then you will likely lose your gear. There are a couple of spots where off-shore can be magic.

In the past (7-10 years ago) at any sign of a storm we would pack our kites away before the winds of death came to drag us off the beach, through the power lines and onto the roof of the nearest house (I'm not joking here).

Now, with small high-depower kites, people hang out on the beach waiting for storm fronts and squalls to kick up strong winds and waves. It's quite fun to ride in big waves with bucketing rain falling.

Lightning and storms is a worry tho.

Duff15 said...
Thanks for the advice,

I did not know if the raindrops on the kite, (extra weight) would affect the performance.

I got my final lesson next Sunday (weather pending) cannot wait.

I also picked up all my gear to
- 12 switch blade kite
- 158 cab board
- Dakine Hawaii harness

Switchblades have massive depower from what I hear its a nice kite, dakine makes good harnesses I ran the fusion during lessons that convinced me to stick to seat. I however got the Cabrinha Seat. The Cab boards are not bad at all I have a Caliber 133 but its permanently shelved for the foreseeable future. I use my Angulo Board that was made for me.

Water on the kite wont do much bad to it whacking your kite on the water will happen and it will get wet wet... once it does that it really does not fly any different the water just comes off.

My words of advices anyway.

Rain itself is not a problem, however be aware that rain clouds (even those smaller ones) can come with nasty rain squalls or even microbursts - especially in winter.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microburst


Example of what I'm talking about - skip through to about 1:15 to watch the wind pick up from almost nothing to fully destructive strength able to uproot the power lines in just over 1 minute:

Duff15 said...
Good to know, that wind speed would allow for some super sized jumps ;)

Multi Kilometer MEGA KITE LOOP?!?! Show how they are really done!

Simple answer for noobs is to only kite if:

a) others are already kiting on similar size kites to what you have, and

b) an experienced kiter at the beach says it will be ok for you, given your skill level.

If there aren't enough crew out that there's someone experienced on the beach either setting up, packing up or taking a break, then probably don't go out because there won't be enough people to guarantee you have someone to launch and land you or help out if you get into trouble. Even though you've no doubt been taught to self-launch/land, as a noob you want to avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

The more specific answer is:

At St Kilda as a noob you want the wind to be between southerly and westerly. Keep in mind that westerly is onshore (you will not be in the kiddy pool for a while yet) so wade a ways upwind to start and be careful of getting too close to the beach. If your kite is over the beach, be especially careful of public walking along.

You want the wind to be in the middle of the wind range for your kite size(s) and weight. You want the wind to be as steady as possible.

In all seriousness, winter winds tend to be much gustier than summer seabreezes so you may not get much kiting in over winter, but at least you'll stay alive. Waiting for the right conditions will make your learning curve faster, safer and more fun.