Does anybody have experience using power kites in the rain?

What works or doesn't work?

The Oregon beach surface looks great in the winter, no mud
but
I'm wondering about how kites fly in drizzle to rain. :puzzled:

What about
single skins
vs
open cell
vs
closed cell?

Plan is for a session at Sunset tomorrow at 9 am.

I have a few kites made out of polyester which is waterproof. Keep the dirtouts open and buggy away. I also use ski goggles because the rain hurts my eyeballs at 50 mph.
Any kite made of nylon will get wet and gain a ton of weight and more than not, won't fly.
As for the buggy, rain is better for the buggy than salt water.

If you can waterproof your kite you will be able to play in the rain. One thing to keep in mind is that you will need a bigger kite than normal because of the added rain weight.
Keep an eye on the weather, squalls come and go without warning. I personal wouldn't go out in the rain without a AQR, been there, done that, don't like the outcome without it.

Mmm, promising.

I know from experience that dacron and mylar sails work
on boats and windsurfers
because they inherently shed rain and the mast keeps them flying.
A nylon kite does seem to be a different story.

Maybe I'll try an experiment with some silicone waterproofing
on one of my now under used nylon trainer kites.
I use ultra light sil-nylon tarps for backpacking shelters with
great success. There are DIY treatment techniques on the web.

If I don't get a kite session soon, I'll go crazier.
Good thing that the Cascade snowpack will double this week!

Personally I wouldn't bother buggying in the rain with a foil kite because it will not fly once it has taken on enough water. It won't take long either.
Lei's are ok though.
Watch out for standing water in the buggy if you have bigfoot tires because you WILL aquaplane

Maybe a Peak ? ? ?

Quote:

Maybe a Peak ? ? ?

Now you're on the right track.

Single skins work pretty well in the rain and I consider it one of their highlights . Without the foil cells to grab water, and much less material to absorb it, the weight gained from moisture is not as significant. I have flown a Nasa(NPW) with much success, and a kite friend I watched use his FS Peak in moderate rain for an afternoon with equal success.

My foil has gotten wet in rain and fizzled to uselessness pretty quickly, by comparison.

The other thing to consider besides kite is your wheels. Whether buggy wheels, Coyote rollerblade wheel, MTB wheels..... your bearings will suffer and water may easily penetrate and even bring in fine particulars of sand or grit(especially at beach). After drying out, check bearings (spin wheels) before you go out again. You may want to dry/clean out/repack bearings at end of that rain-ride day, or simply change bearings after such a session.


I had bearings that had completely seized after my rain ride that I found a few day later when I tried to ride my Coyotes again. I just changed bearings (always have extra bearings for any wheels as part of your parts kit).


Why ride in the rain? I rode because it was perfect on shore winds , and a warm day on the beach...and it can still be lots of fun if the rest of the conditions are very good( wind speed and direction, surface, temps).

total desperation...truly a miserable way to spend a day at the beach
pro tip...wear a wet suit

It is one of those must do things. when things are right its awesome, when its wrong its still a blast.

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

Watch out for standing water in the buggy if you have bigfoot tires because you WILL aquaplane

the west coast is one of your to do list items. then you will see the humor in this statement. we call some of them rivers, creeks, drain pipes, and the beach. as for hydroplaning (thats what we call it) we dont go that fast. those of us that do, we just put a drain hole in the bottom of out seats.
But you do bring up a good point.

.
This could be a who new career for my (waterproof) Dollar Tree plastic tarp kites. :D

Wow Randy, what type of NASA? It looks like you have really refined your kite building technique. Flown 2 line off bridles I was impressed by the profile the kite maintained. Nose stability and overall profile looked perfect.

my peaks and NASA's have all flown in the rain. As long as there's wind, they will fly. I don't know about a downpour but will fly through most rain circumstances.

Hey Sean - that's a 2.0 M NPW9b - its actually an older video - middle of last year.. It was hard to keep the kite flying well in that setup - 4 lines is much better for flying off the handle....


A lot of my kites (fabric as well as plastic) have gotten wet also. They seem to dry out just fine.

Yup... tarp material waterproof. Very good.

2 -line ...not so good. Easy to separate/ split bridal to a longer handle's top and bottom on each side.

Yes, it seemed to fly and hold shape pretty good (no nose collapse-perhaps due to stiffer tarp material, also? ) but may be you found optimum park position and angle. Quick turn left and right might be a different story and require added arm swinging.

But because it is directly off bridal, whatever input is more direct anyway.

Still cool.

Keep build'n, 'em Randy

Well, the rain trials will have to wait for another day.
The Oregon weather failed to deliver rain at Sunset Beach today.
Instead it was just buttery smooth perfect onshore 12ish wind. :D
I used my new-to-me Peak2 anyway and loved it.

Sand flea, Kitebit and I had a great session until the tide and surf came in
and sent us scrambling for the beach exit.

It was my best West wind beach session yet, (long sigh . . . )

Yep, when it right, it's awesome.

For those of you that have never been to the Oregon coast. If you let rain get in the way. You're not going to get outside much and should probably pick up an indoor hobby. I have had a couple of rain sessions this year. I used my LEI's and had no trouble. But like Bigkid said. You're gonna want some goggles.

Closed cell foils will work well in the rain. They are after all designed to operate well in a water environment. Worse case scenario, if torrential downpours, you may have to fly with the dust outs open to vent water. Some kites fly better than others with the dust outs open.

Dust outs.... that cracks me up, I love the terminology of words from different spots in the USA let alone the world. The dust we have here is the kind that doesn't leave the kite even with a good scrubbing. We call them dirt outs but really they are sand outs, what sand that makes it to the wing tips. I guess when you fly in the rain they are call a water drain.
This is one of the variations of the sport that's a must do, like sand skiing.
Hey, it looks like we'll be able to snow ski at the beach on Thursday, going to give it a try today if I can find my boots. The local park here has 3inches of wet snow. Should be good for a few runs before I get caught tearing up the field :evil:

Hehehe truth.

Quote: Originally posted by bigkid

The dust we have here is the kind that doesn't leave the kite even with a good scrubbing. We call them dirt outs but really they are sand outs, what sand that makes it to the wing tips.

When I bought a used kite from you, I thought you told me it was "Magical sparkle glitter from Sunset Beach. And I should pay more because this used kite contained a fair amount of it."


It took me a fair amount of time to hang the kite upside down and rub most of the sand out of what cells i could get into.

I'm going to start calling them magic sparkle glitter outs from now on.

See what I mean? But it's ok, Eric's from the NORTHERN Part Washington up by Canada. Thats another story in itself.