I keep hearing how gusts are really bad with kites. Maybe its my gear (Takoon Skoops), but I hardly even notice gusts. I will land on the beach and the windsurfing guys will be complaining about how gusty it was and I have to admit that I didn't notice. With a kite, you can keep a realtively constant power level by moving it some in the lulls, parking it in moderate gusts, edging, trimming and using your loop. There is such a huge range of power adjustment and technique that it seems to me that kites are much better than windsurfers in gusty conditions. Having said that, parking your kite overhead would be a different story. Frankly, that's not something I do.
I love being powered for the lulls and then sending it during the gusts. Its like another level terrain.
Gary
Gusts are bad?
-
Alf
- Frequent Poster
- Posts: 318
- Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2002 1:00 am
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: Holland
- Has thanked: 0
- Been thanked: 0
Yesterday, I went kiting with a group in offshore winds (therefore it was really gusty, and don't worry, we had a boat in case of emergency) and with my Skoop2 14.5 I had no problems at all with the gusts. Unfortunately, my line broke at the stopperball 
(and then the backline also) so after 4 minutes of kiting, I could stop. Fortunately a friend was cool enough to let me use his SlingShot Fuel 13, and I had much more difficulty to keep the kite above the beach with the gusts, when walking towards the water. Part of this was offcourse unfamiliarity with the kite, but another part is probably that the Skoop has advantage of its low weight in this situation.
I must say, that I like the 2003 SS much more than the 2002 version
grtz,
Dènis
(and then the backline also) so after 4 minutes of kiting, I could stop. Fortunately a friend was cool enough to let me use his SlingShot Fuel 13, and I had much more difficulty to keep the kite above the beach with the gusts, when walking towards the water. Part of this was offcourse unfamiliarity with the kite, but another part is probably that the Skoop has advantage of its low weight in this situation.I must say, that I like the 2003 SS much more than the 2002 version
grtz,
Dènis
-
BLOWN AWAY
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 2371
- Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2002 1:00 am
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
- Has thanked: 0
- Been thanked: 0
- Contact:
It depends on your gear and what sort of "gusty" we are actually talking about.
Are we talking about cliff wind where the wind spirals and does all sorts of crazy stuff... off shore winds would fit into this category and that'sthe main reason why I don't kite in offshore winds.... remember the only reason "you may not be able to get back to shore" is because of the wind quality. If the wind was butter then no problemo....
Or are we talking about weather gusty when the wind changes speed all the time but doesn't rotor and stuff.
In severe cliff wind I never use a high AR kite because my high kites usually end up becoming trash due to copious amounts of hitting the ground water etc... very expensive. I'd only use kites known to handle gusts well, my 20m AERO isn't too bad but is a tad large... smaller models may be ok. If I only had cliffgust areas to choose from then I'd probably use a quiver of ARCs as they handle gusty stuff way better than tubes... ie they don't fall from the sky as much.
In normal gusty stuff generated by obstacles some distance away and by the weather itself... I'd use a kite with a high wind range, like an Airblast, they work quite nicely, either that or I'd downsize my kite and upsize my board....
As for water quality like chop, flat water, surf etc.... that doesn't worry me as much as wind quality. Infact the irony is that I have less of a problem with gusty stuff when the water is chop or surf than I do when it's flat....
Are we talking about cliff wind where the wind spirals and does all sorts of crazy stuff... off shore winds would fit into this category and that'sthe main reason why I don't kite in offshore winds.... remember the only reason "you may not be able to get back to shore" is because of the wind quality. If the wind was butter then no problemo....
Or are we talking about weather gusty when the wind changes speed all the time but doesn't rotor and stuff.
In severe cliff wind I never use a high AR kite because my high kites usually end up becoming trash due to copious amounts of hitting the ground water etc... very expensive. I'd only use kites known to handle gusts well, my 20m AERO isn't too bad but is a tad large... smaller models may be ok. If I only had cliffgust areas to choose from then I'd probably use a quiver of ARCs as they handle gusty stuff way better than tubes... ie they don't fall from the sky as much.
In normal gusty stuff generated by obstacles some distance away and by the weather itself... I'd use a kite with a high wind range, like an Airblast, they work quite nicely, either that or I'd downsize my kite and upsize my board....
As for water quality like chop, flat water, surf etc.... that doesn't worry me as much as wind quality. Infact the irony is that I have less of a problem with gusty stuff when the water is chop or surf than I do when it's flat....
-
MissionMan
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 1942
- Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2002 1:00 am
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Has thanked: 0
- Been thanked: 0
Spot on. It all depends on the size of the gusts.
Where we kite 8 to 22knots can be a normal wind range for a day, and you feel this on any kite, particularly because the gusts hit for about 5 minutes. You can't take out smaller than a 16 because of the low end requirements, but the 22 is heavy in the gusts. At least its flat water so edging isn't much of an issue.
The guys ride X3's, Amps, Cautions and Cabrinha's and everyone feels the gusts. Its hard not to when you go from 12 to 22 all of a sudden.
Where we kite 8 to 22knots can be a normal wind range for a day, and you feel this on any kite, particularly because the gusts hit for about 5 minutes. You can't take out smaller than a 16 because of the low end requirements, but the 22 is heavy in the gusts. At least its flat water so edging isn't much of an issue.
The guys ride X3's, Amps, Cautions and Cabrinha's and everyone feels the gusts. Its hard not to when you go from 12 to 22 all of a sudden.
-
Peter_Frank
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 12783
- Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2002 1:00 am
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: Denmark
- Has thanked: 1020 times
- Been thanked: 1191 times
Blown Away is right, 100%
Besides - regarding windsurfing:
A windsurfer can survive in all wind conditions - which a kite can not.
In offshore "cliff" type winds - kitesurfers really suffer.
Windsurfers are most often using race material in offshore winds - which has a "planing" windrange of 9-25 knots (1 to 30+ knots can be survived, and sailed back to shore...).
So they are not complaing about gusty winds here - and the "rotors" does not affect windsurfers much - whereas a kite would simply not be able to fly.
In onshore "normal" gusty winds, like BA says - kitesurfers and kites has a huge ability to absorb and adapt these gusts.
And will be planing no matter what. No problemo !
Whereas windsurfers here, often use freestyle or maybe even wave equipment (depending on wind strength), and the waves at the surface will generate even more unstable wind - only at the surface (not for our kites
).
When using this type of equipment - you have a quite narrow planing wind range - and can be really pissed, if the wind changes up and down.
Going too powered is not fun, when you want to ride waves and do loopings or duck tacks/tricks etc. on a windsurfer.
And underpowered means "non-planing".
But the reverse situations are seen often too - that kitesurfers complain about onshore gusty winds - whereas windsurfers think it is perfect and good.
So the very "type" of gusty wind, is the key point here.
There is more to this, than what you can see
Besides - regarding windsurfing:
A windsurfer can survive in all wind conditions - which a kite can not.
In offshore "cliff" type winds - kitesurfers really suffer.
Windsurfers are most often using race material in offshore winds - which has a "planing" windrange of 9-25 knots (1 to 30+ knots can be survived, and sailed back to shore...).
So they are not complaing about gusty winds here - and the "rotors" does not affect windsurfers much - whereas a kite would simply not be able to fly.
In onshore "normal" gusty winds, like BA says - kitesurfers and kites has a huge ability to absorb and adapt these gusts.
And will be planing no matter what. No problemo !
Whereas windsurfers here, often use freestyle or maybe even wave equipment (depending on wind strength), and the waves at the surface will generate even more unstable wind - only at the surface (not for our kites
).When using this type of equipment - you have a quite narrow planing wind range - and can be really pissed, if the wind changes up and down.
Going too powered is not fun, when you want to ride waves and do loopings or duck tacks/tricks etc. on a windsurfer.
And underpowered means "non-planing".
But the reverse situations are seen often too - that kitesurfers complain about onshore gusty winds - whereas windsurfers think it is perfect and good.
So the very "type" of gusty wind, is the key point here.
There is more to this, than what you can see
-
Toby
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 50510
- Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
- Kiting since: 2000
- Weight: 95 kg
- Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil - Favorite Beaches: same
- Style: Airstyle
- Gear: Rebel 2015 18
- Brand Affiliation: None.
- Location: World (KF Admin)
- Has thanked: 842 times
- Been thanked: 2400 times
- Contact:
-
MissionMan
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 1942
- Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2002 1:00 am
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Has thanked: 0
- Been thanked: 0
Hi Toby
I think people forget to take into account the lulls as well. in a wind of 14-20 where 14 is the average and 20 is the gusts, sometimes you have to remember that you can get lulls down to 10 so the actual wind can be 10-20.
A lot of people don't realise how good they have it, particularly at the coast. I go down to the coast where I hear people complain about it being gusty and I'm there saying "what gusts" because I'm used to bigger gusts inland and the wind feels almost perfect. Its a perception based on what you are used to.
I think people forget to take into account the lulls as well. in a wind of 14-20 where 14 is the average and 20 is the gusts, sometimes you have to remember that you can get lulls down to 10 so the actual wind can be 10-20.
A lot of people don't realise how good they have it, particularly at the coast. I go down to the coast where I hear people complain about it being gusty and I'm there saying "what gusts" because I'm used to bigger gusts inland and the wind feels almost perfect. Its a perception based on what you are used to.
-
BLOWN AWAY
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 2371
- Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2002 1:00 am
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
- Has thanked: 0
- Been thanked: 0
- Contact:
Yeah the coasts have it best for sure. I mostly kite in "inland" beaches but the odd time I go to the coasts the wind feels incredably smooth.
Anyway at my local west facing flat water spot east of where I live I also experience that 5 minute thing that Missionman described. On my website I refer to it as an "interval" and it's wierd stuff. It's like you'll have to different winds alternating with each other, every 5 minutes it would go from the normal 10-15 knots up to a "turbo boost" of 25 knots and revert after a minute back to the normal 10-15 knots. It's like someone switched on the nitro. The only way I can understand why it happens is that the obstacles upwind are close enough to affect the wind to some extent but not so close or high as to REALLY screw it up and render the place unuseable.
Anyway at my local west facing flat water spot east of where I live I also experience that 5 minute thing that Missionman described. On my website I refer to it as an "interval" and it's wierd stuff. It's like you'll have to different winds alternating with each other, every 5 minutes it would go from the normal 10-15 knots up to a "turbo boost" of 25 knots and revert after a minute back to the normal 10-15 knots. It's like someone switched on the nitro. The only way I can understand why it happens is that the obstacles upwind are close enough to affect the wind to some extent but not so close or high as to REALLY screw it up and render the place unuseable.