The kite in the electrical storm trick.

Got a bit of a shock today whilst kiting along down at Hampton when a storm front came through. I did a jump transition and thought my safety had hit me in the knee. Got a bit more air and got static shocks to both knees and elbows - obviously there was a bit of charge buildup around. I soon took evasive action.

Anyone else had this happen ?
I get out now and again during storm fronts, but never had anything like this in the last 11 years of kiting.

Yup, had it at Rosebud back in March... the forecast seabreeze had failed to arrive so when a storm front rolled in during the arvo we couldn't help ourselves. Got little jolts every time I got airborne. Lasted about half an hour, then the wind swung around very suddenly SW'ly to about 50kts and I bailed. No seizures or fatal cardiac events. I wonder what the current is. Perhaps go out with a waterproof avo-meter next time?!

Looks like there are some folks with bigger cahunas than me...I thought I was about to get electrocuted. Yep - I was definitely getting bigger shocks the bigger I went. Sure was a wierd feeling, I think I would avoid it again next time though - I love kiting but I like life quite a bit too.

Nope - I didn't bail due to the static shocks, just headed past the cloud front. Myself and a mate bailed because we'd been out for about 2 hours and were pretty spent. Not sure why the other folks pulled out, but the wind was a bit up and down following a pretty consistent session - I figure it may have dropped just after we came in.

Gotta love a winter session though, after getting a bit cold you feel warm for the rest of the day.