OUT WITH A V16, WANTING TO GET A RUN ON THE WATER WITH A BUMPY 10-15MPH.

I AM WAITING WITH 2 GUYS FOR THE AIR TO FILL IN A BIT. MY RIG IS UP, ANOTHER GUY HAS THIS 12M BOWUP . AND A WIND SURFER GUY

ABOUT 20MIN PAST AND IT PICKS UP CLEAN 15MPH. BUT THE GRAINY CLOUD SET HAS FILLED IN DOWNWIND .

THEY TOOK OFF AND I WAITED TILL THERE ROLLIN,, SO I 'M TESTING THE AIR AND CAN GET SOME LIFT POWER FAIRLY EASY. WHIPP THROUGH THE WINDOW POP A LITTLE LIFT, AND THIS CRACKING PINCH CAME OFF LEFT FOOT AND REALLY WOKE ME. THEN REPEATED THIS ON THE RETURN PASS AND AS MY RIGHT FOOT LEFT THE GROUND THE SAME THING, CRACK AND TINGLE . REALLY BLEW IT OFF, AS I WANTED TO RIDE. SO COUPLE STEPS TO FETCH THE BOARD AND I PULL IN THE LEAP OVER TO IT, AND THIS TIME A SHOCK CAME THROUGH MY HEEL, SO LOOKED UP AT CLOUDS AND REALIZED WTF WAS GOING ON. INSTANTLY DROPPED THE RIG. WITHIN SECONDS LIGHTENING STARTS POPPIN. THE OTHER GUYS WHERE ALREADY ON THERE WAY BACK THEY HAD SEEN THE LIGHTENING AND MY KITE DROP.

STATIC ? ION DENSITY CHANGE? OR A CHARGE LOOKING FOR A SPOT?

THE OTHER GUY HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE, BUT HE WAS RUNNING ON THE WATER AND BIT HIM THROUGH HIS ARM AND RING FINGER. (LAST SEASON)

WE SEE A LOT OF ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY IN THE SUMMER

WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS EXPERIENCED THIS TYPE OF OCCURRENCE.

You were this close.. to gettin zapped. If anyone starts feelin unexplained burning ,tingling , hair that feels like its tryin to stand up. drop whatever you got and get low . it starts on the ground, and when the charge gets high enough it will discharge. Glad nobody got zapped, could have been tragic. We just had a lady jogger get hit and killed out at sandbridge on the beach,rogue t-storm rolled up before she could get to shelter( which could be pretty far away out there) . Everyone watch and know your local weather, or it might bite ya.

Wow, that's amazing! Good to know, thanks.

I was on a city street once during a storm. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and then a second or two later, lightning struck a power pole across the street and blew a transformer. As if the lightning wasn't loud enough, a blowing transformer is quite an explosion. My ears rang for a couple days after that. The situation got more scary when I realized why the hair on my neck was doing that. Many explained to me what weldngod said. Buildup of a charge looking for a way out. It tested me and found a better connection to the power pole. ZYKES!

definitely came from the ground. we were really close in (to the dune/tree line) and the tree line blocked the some of the body of the clouds. this is typical weather look for us this time of year and I knew activity was close, we at the club pool a little before and the alarms at the pool and on the course were sounding off. i left to go to the beach when the clouds blew off.

just getting a bit to comfortable, mother nature was kind enough to send a fair warning.

endless gratitude for the fair warning

so what happens if your kite does get hit by a bolt? are you going to for sure die?

If the electricity is coming from the ground, why does grounding your kite help? Also, how could electricity transfer down the kitelines, its not like they're conductive, right?

the rig and lines would instantly smoke like hair to a flame, but the kite and lines is like a big piece of plastic, an insulator ,(balloon static thing) the moisture on the outside would carry any current. the voltage could be huge, it could arc on the spreader bar . maybe the carbon in a board but a current on the plastic would be limited to the air saturation of ions. but discharge is very apparent once off the ground. i should be so lucky to tell you this much. the event is unsettling everytime. and always produces a moment of pause in the action. drop the junk and chill. forgo the next spark. and you'll fly again, instead of fry.

I have been shocked by my lines so to a certain degree, yes, they do carry charge. I was buggying at a kite event at Miami Beach maybe 15 years back flying that big ol' Peel of mine as a storm was approaching. On some of the faster turns my line on one side would touch the opposite hand. The third time this happened I realized that funny sensation from the line was a spark. I landed the kite immediately and packed it. 40 minutes later the rain hit and cleared the beach but not before a lightning bolt hit the beach and killed someone tossing a Frisbee with friends.

Any tingle, spark, or zap is your queue to land the kite, roll it up and get low. Do not fear the walk of shame--your feet are better transportation than an ambulance or a hearse.

Philip

Quote:

Originally posted by Houston AirHead so what happens if your kite does get hit by a bolt? are you going to for sure die?

As far as general lightning strikes to people, apparently about half or more survive, but sometimes with lasting neurological and or muscular damage. Short term memory loss is common. If there is any moisture in garments, it will flash to steam and be blown off your body. That is why shoes are often blown off the feet.

Paramedics found one guy with his pants gone but the brass zipper burned into his flesh. He survived.

you know that reminded me i forgot how low of a melting point dyneema had, wouldnt it just act like a fuse in the event of a direct hit to the kite, instantly melting the lines with no bodily harm?
i have never even heard of any one getting hurt by lightnining while kitesurfing/boarding

Quote:

Originally posted by Houston AirHead you know that reminded me i forgot how low of a melting point dyneema had, wouldnt it just act like a fuse in the event of a direct hit to the kite, instantly melting the lines with no bodily harm?

My understanding of lightning rods is that a lightning rod that fails to carry the current is a hazard. If the lightning jumps out of the cable it will jump to something else nearby--usually the building to which the rod is attached. When the current enters the structure it can cause fire or structural damage. So I'm not sure having the lines fail in melting is useful.

Besides what happens to molecules that were once a spectra flying line? Do they make a nice path of ions that continue to bring the juice right to you? I honestly don't know but it find no comfort in the low melting point of my flying lines.

Philip

Once the connection is made, the path stays till the electrical imbalance is neatralized. In other words, once the line melted, you've already been struck, and you were already grounded. Too late.

what was . now smoke

yeah i didnt mean to imply that it was safe, but your right pbc, that much voltage is going to find its way to the ground either way