Kiting in the rain?

[dice]

As Foil said you can roll up in the water to keep the kite sand free. Where I normally ride you can use a puddle and they seem to be still salty enough to prevent mould.

When my kite is wet I leave all the sand on it to absorb the water. I keep my kite in a locker, I can't hang it out to dry.

[Herman]

When it is really wet is the only time l roll my kites up relatively sand free, it is just something I do and it is nice to have less weight. I don't regard it as critical. Luckily where I ride we have lovely soft sand so it is not abrasive.

When I started with a mate I always packed down on the beach often with sand on the kite. My mate used to walk to a grass picnic area to packdown. He used to get pin hole leaks and I did not. My theory was that he was picking up grit or maybe even small chards of broken glass.

Some of my kites have had many years of sandy packdownss and are still going strong, often stored wet as well. We have had 60 knt gusts here this afternoon was overpowered on a skateboard with open jacket, it's the only way I ride blind!

[Peter_Frank]

After starting hydrofoiling, I usually choose the sunny and perfect days, as you can kite everyday now if you want to

But very very often raining when the wind is perfect for our nearby big wave spots on surfboards - so used to kitesurfing in the rain.

Doesnt matter for your eyes, you get used to that, but hail is another bugger that can be a problem for your eyes (or skin), aaarght it hurts.

The kite does not fly fully as good though, when wet, it is heavier, and the rain distorts the lift a tad, so you might have to rig a slightly bigger kite than otherwise, if lots of rain.

If just light rain, it doesnt matter, works just great

The only really bad thing is, you have to dry your kites afterwards so they dont get brown by mold, a bugger to have fully wet kites in the house
If you dont mind the risk they get mildew stains, just keep the rolled up wet instead

Peter

[Herman]

Mildew prevention is why I choose to roll them up in salty water. Getting rid of the sand is secondary.

[Slappysan]

Often you'll get a spectrum of weather through a session where I live. It might be overcast to start, shift to rain, then nice and sunny. I wouldn't want to miss out on an entire session just because of a spot of rain.

Some things to consider though:
- like Herman said, get your kite salty before you pack it up so it doesn't mildew
- it's not too bad on the eyes, especially if you wear a wetsuit with a brim on the hood
- it can be really bad on the ears though when heavy raindrops hit the stretched neoprene of your hood right over your ear it's very very loud

[Tony]

I'm not crazy about kiting in the rain but if I'm already on the water I don't let it stop me.
Got caught out on the FireFly 4.0 in some pretty heavy rain, no problem!

[plummet]

Here's one of me this winter. Got caught out in a hail storm.

I had to sink into the water so only my helmet was exposed while the squall went past. That was painful until I hid in the water.

[plummet]

In fact, Looking back we get some mighty fine days in the rainy/squally days. Some of the most memorable days for me have been in these batshit crazy days.
I good thing about the local weather is that a lot of these days, even though they are crazy, have repeatable trends throughout the day. So you can watch a few squalls go past and see the impact on the live weather stations and determine max/min gust lull within reasonable accuracy.

[Blackened]

In fact, Looking back we get some mighty fine days in the rainy/squally days. Some of the most memorable days for me have been in these batshit crazy days.
I good thing about the local weather is that a lot of these days, even though they are crazy, have repeatable trends throughout the day. So you can watch a few squalls go past and see the impact on the live weather stations and determine max/min gust lull within reasonable accuracy.

Agreed. Wild west coast days in the winter/spring storms are pretty epic. Massive 6m swell with +10-15kn squalls coming through occasionally. Mostly just adrenaline pumping, but sometimes poop inducing. Spend 5min+ building confidence to bring your kite more than 2m off the water to go for a basic jump. Relax for 20-30min. Repeat next squall.

Wednesday is looking like one of those days.