Storm fronts and huge gusts so no kiting, and an accident at Rosebud

A strong and gusty northerly blew most of the day in Melbourne.  The wind speed at Fawkner Beacon was often around 30 knots, gusting up toe 45 knots.

When the forecast westerly came in at 3:00pm there was a massive gust over 50 knots.  A kitesurfer (at Rosebud beach in Port Phillip Bay) got caught in this and was lofted onto land, breaking both ankles and possibly suffering some spinal damage too [link].

This accident highlights the dangers of kitesurfing during storms with fronts coming.  I have provided more information about this here: Kitesurfing storm fronts (Kitesurfing Handbook).

We were watching the wind, but the BOM weather radar showed major fronts with heavy rain coming through so we decided not to go kiting.

You can see the huge gust that came in with the westerly wind change on the South Channel beacon wind plot.  It peaked at 55 knots, which would have been very difficult to handle with even a 7m (or smaller) kite.