I have been out there on many occasions in winter storms and i found it to be no problem.
The kite feels a bit heavier but it is no major drama.
The only real issue is the constent whiping in the face from the rain but it also smoothen the surface of the ocean.
In summary, not ideal but if you are hanging out for a kite,go for it.

I personaly love it. The undrafts you can get when its bucketing are brilliant... But yes the setting up and packing up in the rain is a pain and while its damn worth it when your out there its a wet mess before and after. Your kite itself will be a bit sluggish-make sure you pump it up good, but will be fine!

So the question is... Who's up for it tonight???

I'd be dubious about the theory that salt preserves your kite. When salt water dries it leaves fine salt crystals behind which can be sharp and abrasive. I think this would reduce the life of your kite rather than preserve it. Just my opinion.

orright, on my third beer and the inner geek is coming out... just a question i've often pondered when out kiting in the rain (which sucks, by the way)

If you had a 20kt rainy southerly, would it have more "power" (for want of a better word) than a 20kt NE, because the air is wetter and denser and therefore had more mass?

I mean if its not that windy then its not a great idea because yes your kite does get heavier...but if not then no...no problem at all in fact its really quite fun haha

lovey said...

orright, on my third beer and the inner drunkard is coming out... just a question i've often pondered when out kiting in the rain (which sucks, by the way)

If you had a 20kt rainy southerly, would it have more "power" (for want of a better word) than a 20kt NE, because the air is wetter and denser and therefore had more mass?

i always think that is possible and i always get driven when its a southerly, but wind graphs tell me my windest sessions are in the NE winds. Sure the southerlys are gustier so this helps me getting pounded. or maybe having a wet kite fills all the minute holes with water and it flys harder. i'll just finish this case and ponder some more..

GreenPat said...

I'd be dubious about the theory that salt preserves your kite. When salt water dries it leaves fine salt crystals behind which can be sharp and abrasive. I think this would reduce the life of your kite rather than preserve it. Just my opinion.

Had a chat to a kite repair dude this week who is adamant the majority of tears he sees are from salt encrutsed kites and that the salt residue weakens the fabric.

Makes sense to me.

kiting in the rain is *epic*

the positives outway the negatives A LOT ... that 'getting wet feeling while being wet' is sweet as; your face feels refreshed (despite the stinging ) due to that clean rain water, and you don't have to worry about dropping the kite cause its already soaked!

only real negative is the potential danger...was out yesterday, rain came through -with a front - and in the space of a couple seconds it got 10knots stronger (which was good 'cause it was fairly light). But at other times it's just started NUKING & everyone was purposely dropping their kites in the water to miss the squal. So....keep checking UPWIND to see what the weather conditions & clouds are doing. at other times the wind has dropped COMPLETLEY.

BUT taking all that into account...

U GOTTA TRY IT MATE!!!

lovey said...

orright, on my third beer and the inner geek is coming out... just a question i've often pondered when out kiting in the rain (which sucks, by the way)

If you had a 20kt rainy southerly, would it have more "power" (for want of a better word) than a 20kt NE, because the air is wetter and denser and therefore had more mass?

Feeling bored & geeky to.
No expert but feel like blah ing on with what I do know.....

I think rain is not going to give you more power, but lets talk about temperature.
Wind energy (not quite the same as force by the way) is related to velocity cubed & density. So denser air should be more 'powerful' but the effect is not nearly as dramatic as higher wind speed.
Air is compressable so air will be denser if at higher pressure and at the same temp.
Air also expands when heated - PV=mRT
most of the time this means pressure x volume = 'somenumber' x temperature.
So this kind of means that if you double the temperature and keep the pressure the same the density (sort of opposite of volume) will halve. Only thing is temp is in kelvin & 0degrees C = 273Kelvin (I think) so if you change the temp from 0 deg C to 27 deg C this is only a 10% change in Kelvin so density will only change by 10%.
There is also a relationship between viscosity & temperature. Viscosity (which relates more to drag than lift - now starting to stretch the grey cells) for most normal fluids increases as temperatures decreases. Not sure if this would offset the above.

In summary: Lower temp should equal more powerful wind, but effect should be pretty small.

Here endith the lesson (until someone who really does know what they're talking about decides to join in!)

Looks like we got ourselves a good old fashioned PHYSICS off.

ROWDYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

SandMcGroper said...

general_dude said...

lovey said...

orright, on my third beer and the inner geek is coming out...
<SNIP>

Feeling bored & geeky to.
No expert but feel like blah ing on with what I do know.....

I think ...
<SNIP><SNIP>

In summary: Lower temp should equal more powerful wind, but effect should be pretty small.

Here endith the lesson (until someone who really does know what they're talking about decides to join in!)

You're correct: colder air is denser, so at the same speed as warm air it has a higher energy content and your kite delivers more power. Rain would also contribute to this, as rainwater would increase the average density of the fluid flowing over your kite.

Kite's generate lift in two ways: bernoulli effects and simple wind redirection. The lift described by the bernoulli equation is a function of fluid viscosity; that is, the more viscous the fluid, the greater the drag and lift generated. So as temperature drops, viscocity increase and your kite delivers more power. The difference is going to be slight however. The majority of the difference in kite power comes from the increased density of the fluid.

(This is so unworthy of a poor imitation of me.... You are not ready, GrassMcGroper.)

Temperature, pressure, density, bernoulli effects .....sorry, but I beg to differ.

Its the HUMIDITY - the % amount of molecules of water dissolved in the air - that gives air the significantly higher DENSITY it needs to pack a whollop in the wet.

One cubic metre of air at low pressure is, by definition, less dense than air at high pressure at the same volume, humidity and temperature. "Density" ordinarily depends on pressure, temperature, volume and humidity. It depends also more on WHAT is held in solution by the air - be it water vapour, rain, ice, snow, smoke, pollution, or cats and dogs. Pollution will increase air density, and can increase air density well beyond 100% humidity levels. A Volcanic eruption can lead to astonomical air densities.

Therefore kiting in volcanic smoke would be a lot easier than in a snowfall, but you'd be "Smokin'" in more ways than one.

Generally though, DRY air is much less windy than WET or HUMID air, because WET air, just like anything else that gets WET, is a lot heavier (or more DENSE) than clean dry air.

Air that is below 0 degrees is driest and usually @ 0% humidity. At 100% humidity, water comes out of solution. We usually call this Rain, but it may simply form cloud depending on air pressures, temperatures and other atmospheric effects.

Weather is a very very very very very very very complex subject so all ignorance is excused. ANU have just spent a staggering $30 Million of our money to setup a Sun Computer to model weather. Its the most advanced system south of the equator.

Some one ought to tell 'em Seabreeze has already got the weather solved...

You just ask Laurie.

Speaking of which, thanks for the green arrows this weekend, Laurie!

It seems there may be quite a few seabreezers who did physics, engineering or something of the like?

i like kiting in the rain... but dry your kite out...
my 2 month old kite is full of mold stains cause i didnt..

Today was total crap I'm afraid...didn't get out but looked crap on charts.