Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Afternoon session at Inverloch in 35+ knots

Session 62, Tuesday 3 November 2009

Kite: Crossbow 7m
Location: Inverloch, Inlet.
Wind: 35+ knots W
Duration: 1 hours 1:30 to 2:30

Returning to the inlet, the wind was stronger than when we had left. White capped waver were prominent and the wind right on the launch site was gusting up to 42km/h. Stuart and Tarren helped me launch the Crossbow 7m kite for another trial run.


I depowered the kite a little as there was too much power at times. The kite flew very fast in the strong wind which was still very gusty. Crossign to a sandbar I was tempted to go right across, but the waves on the sandbar were very choppy and there was only one windsurfer about and no kites.

I did several runs back to the beach and managed a few reasonable jumps. I also attempted a few transition turns, finishing the jumps and entering into the turn. It was not a day to be too adventurous however, as a crash would mean a wrecked kite, a long swim, or both.

Just after Stuart caught my kite, the wind appeared to increase by another 5 knots, so I was happy to stop. This left one keen windsurfer on the water who was also struggling with the conditions.

Overall, a really good session for honing skills for coping with extreme conditions and having a bit of fun. However, it was difficult to get much speed due to the chop in the water.

Here is the wind observations at Wilson Promontory around the time of this sesion, which would be more exposed than Inverloch.




Date Time
Temp
Direction
Wind speed (knots)
Gust (knots)
Pressure
03/04:30pm
14.5
W
30
51
1007.4
-
03/04:15pm
14.8
W
28
50
1007.4
-
03/04:00pm
14.7
W
40
58
1006.9
-
03/03:30pm
15.1
W
43
61
1005.3
-
03/03:00pm
14.9
W
47
65
1004.7
-
03/02:30pm
15.7
W
47
66
1004.1
-
03/02:00pm
16.2
W
46
67
1003.9
-
03/01:30pm
16.0
W
44
59
1003.3
-
03/01:00pm
15.6
W
44
63
1002.9
-
03/12:51pm
15.7
W
46
63
1002.5
-

No comments: