For the last 3 or 4 weeks now; the worthless "10 day forecast" has shown the following week; week after week to finally be highs in the 70's. And as it gets close; it gets hot again!




You might say "what's wrong with those temps? It's perfect."

Well.... A couple things. No wind and the deal breaker is the 65-70 degree Dew Point. Hot, muggy, miserable. Just sweltering. Scroll down to the chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point

If the Dew Point was lower; or it was windier out; it would be perfect. If it was in the 70's at this Dew point; I'd be out in that light wind. But when I step out of the house in the morning and my reaction is "yuck"; just not going to do it.

I go out there for the fun, enjoyment, and pleasure of being outside and enjoying it and being out there. If I'm sweating, hot, and miserable; it totally detracts from the experience. When I first started; I kited in all weather and all conditions. But over time; I'm more of a weather connoisseur.

Like in the heat of the summer; many things can make the conditions good or bearable: Cloudy, really windy, low humidity, when the sun is setting. But when it is a clear sky, overhead sun, light wind, and 100 degrees out. Just too hot. Takes all the fun out of it. But on a super windy day... Particularly in the evening, it can still be done despite the heat because it's not nearly as bad.

Last winter; we had quite a winter. For many years we had very, very mild winters. Typically when it snows; it melts. Last winter it seemed like we had snow the whole winter. It snowed and it stayed. I thought about last winter all summer. I still think about last winter. I just ordered some more cold weather gear because I didn't get to kite nearly as much last winter as I wanted too. 50/50 chance on it being like last winter again or back to how it usually is.

If you are somewhere and it's 80's out and nice out; what's your Dew Point?

And the problem with the wind at these lesser amounts is it's not a breeze. It's not steady. It's all over the place up and down and not fast. Lulls down to nothing or near nothing and a puff of wind(breeze); and the occasional long lull or the freak and random gust winds up covering 2 or 3 or 4 kite sizes. There is a reason my biggest kite is only a 5.5m... Light wind here is challenging.

My favorite buggy wind is in the 20mph range gusting up to 30mph. Using a 2m kite. Second favorite is even more wind and one of my high wind kites depending on conditions. 15mph-20mph wind and a 3m kite and any lessor wind; very challenging conditions. Hard to feel like one ever has exactly the ideal size out for the wind in those conditions.

Any day less then 20mph; I'll wind up using a 3, 4, and 5m kite over the course of a day. Wind either starts out light and increases, or heavier then decreases.

The 5.5 Reactor comes out when the 5 Octane just isn't doing it. The 4.4 Reactor comes out when the 5.5 is a bit too much or the gusts situation make the 5.5 just too much. That is the whole reason I wound up getting a 4.4.

And yes; I think about the 3 smaller size Reactors all the time. Just don't know how they'd be or how they'd work out for me in serious wind. The two I have remind me of missiles with an on/off switch. They take off and GO. Very different experience than most regular kites. And I've only ever flown them in very light wind and it's always surprising just how fast they are(and how fast I go) in such light winds. I can get very over powered in the gusts.

Our highs are in the high 90s now. Dewpoints in the low 40s which you can feel that there is moisture, but not really sticky unless you are being active. My moisture problem is the feet of water that flooded Ivanpah a week ago!

What is this wind you speak of?? :dunno::puzzled::dunno::puzzled:

Haven't seen that stuff round' these parts in a dogs age..

This is a very weird year for us. Winter brought extreme cold and more snow than normal and this summer has been mild with a lot of rain. Normally this time of year the ground would be hard and grass be dry and you only have to mow once every 2 to 3 weeks. We have still been mowing once a week and that's almost not enough. I rode in my normal field today and the thick weeds and grass slowed me up quite a bit.

What was advertised:


What was delivered:


Changing weather? You bet!
Tried it with the 4m Core anyway...
I was either sliding sideways or watching the kite fall out of the sky.

WBB:
...25...

My wind stinks this year. This October has largly been a disappointment aside from a few windy days.

Been nice and breezy down here... I don't ever remember a summer quite as windy as it has been this summer, and it is translating over to the fall too

I just wish I had the opportunity to ride more

low 60's to high 70's.

Wind is on the rise.

Scoping out bunny hills and local fields.

ATB,
Sam

My wind probably hasn't been that bad. It just hasn't been good when I can use it. Sam, do you snowboard or ski?

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

My wind probably hasn't been that bad. It just hasn't been good when I can use it. Sam, do you snowboard or ski?

Took me a second to figure out why you would ask me that.

Actually meant bunny hills for the downhill landboard. Have been off board and kites for forever since the move and my mom's health issues.

Found a small candidate slope today.

Actually found a largeer field with long gentle slopes and sweeping turns. It was absolutely gorgeous. Then the Spidey sense started tingling and I saw the small flags. In a state of denial, I hoped that it was a disc golf course that had been set up in the park that I was passing through. I was gutted when I realized that it was a (regular) 9-hole golf course that was encompassed by the park.

While I have no innate animosity towards golfers, they do tend to hog all the best municipal lands.

ATB,
Sam

Note to self: Use care when referring to bunny things which seems to easily lead to confusion...

Okay, I get it now. I actually hadn't thought to look for hills to use my landboard on which is kind of funny since that was what they were originally designed for.

And that's true of golf courses in my area as well.

Lucky dog it only get to the low 50 here.

we definitely dropped off in august , but have been squeezing a few sessions in , its been warm !

we have been getting these brief thermals lasting a couple hours or so @ 10mph

low tide and late afternoon thermals have been delivering in their cycles, BUT when they don't...

https://vimeo.com/110325439

AC has been off for 3 days now! Winds are sparse but available. Trouble is there is wind that isn't showing up on the forecasts. Forecast will show 5 mph all day and yet I'll see 15 blowing outside for hours.

Stephan Van Bommel is in Vegas and we have some winds in the 20s showing for Friday and or Saturday. Woohoo!

Here we open the windows for AC:D Friday night forecasted for a low of 27F and 40% chance of snow. Fall winds have kicked in around here, but I'm lacking places to ride:P

https://vimeo.com/110325439

Holy cow Phree! That thing really rips! Thanks for sharing:bigok:

Man, it looks like that rc would take your leg off if you got in its way!

It's picking up around Hotlanta ... Summer is typically the dead wind season, so coming into the fall, it has been blowing around here. This summer seemed breezier than in the past, but I was too busy to take advantage of it. Had an AWESOME session a few weeks back and looking forward to more to come in fall and winter.

saturday coming big!

We are getting rain AAAARGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Holy SCHNIEKIES!... This Saturday looks incredible here too... But alas I'm busy

Yes, Saturday looks good here as well. I've accumulated a lengthy honey do list from kiting on previous weekends though. I'm thinking I can sneak in some kite time under the disguise of going to home depot to pick up the items for the honey do list. :evil:

Quote: Originally posted by Cheddarhead

https://vimeo.com/110325439 Holy cow Phree! That thing really rips! Thanks for sharing:bigok:

Phresh porting

QUASIMOTO ...no wind solution.

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

Man, it looks like that rc would take your leg off if you got in its way!

1/5 th scale about 30lbs. crazy power, full race porting...provides frighteningly fast longboard tow.

WOW! first wetsuit session! 39 degrees and gale force !

Yep, kiting weather is here in Florida. Fall came in force a couple weekends ago. The afternoon rain showers stopped, humidity went away, and in it's place is dry air and cloudless skies. Ohh, and wind! ;-)

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboa...

this was SAT. 12-41knots!

man what a back breaker on the water but we managed a little fun for a few hours!