Weather Watching

Whats the Wind doing?

A question that we here often as instructors. Will there be wind today?  Hows it looking for the weekend?  What i wouldnt give for a direct line to 'Huey' for on the dot forcasts.  I've been instructing on the Sunshine Coast now for a few years and think i have seen it all.  The second season I was teaching we had the monsoon come so far south the whole summer was a rainy mess. Another season we saw perfect NW'lys for Double Island Point (spot near fraser) at the start of the season, then Sunny warm NE'lys for most of the rest. Amazing!  What kind of weather will we get this time?? Half the fun in kiteboarding is learning about the weather, making a prediction and being spot on. Wind gambeling! The prize is a cracking session!!

Working for Martin and The Australian Kitesurfing Acadamy is a huge advantage.  Coming from no experience at all I have tried to soak up everyting Martin has given me.  He comes from 10ys kiting experience and befor that 10yrs Paragliding. His knowledge of the wind and weather is rediculous, so its great to be able to learn from that. Like a little sponge.

On the Sunshine Coast we are soooooooo fortunate to have lots of weather stations close together taking and uploading readings every half an hour. If its your day off and you plan to go for a kite, why not have a look at these readings inbetween waking up, shower, breakfast and cartoons.  After a few readings you can decide where to go. Its so easy to see if the wind is switching around or getting stronger. Have a look at these readings  in the observations section in The Beauro Of  Meterology web sight, it will blow your mind watching a south easterly change moving up the coast.  They give us a really good idea of whats happening at that moment and what might happen soon. Along with the Radar Viewer for rain and Tide charts for water movement we can accurately figure out with these three bits of info, where we need to be for the next few hours and what we need to bring. Gear, Towel, Esky. Check,Check,Check.

But what of longer term forcasting? I personaly do not believe in the 7 day forcast. As for the guy on the weather section of the news? DONT BELIEVE HIM, lies all lies! The closer the forcast the more accurate its possible to be (you would think).  I love The Beauro for there observations and forcasting and also love having a glimps at Windguru simply because it has everything you need to see on one easy to read page for wind, and also surf conditions. Its very user friendly for a quick look at whats gong on overall. 

If you have just had a couple of lessons and are now out on your own with a band new set of gear and rearing to go, the best place to start is getting your self familiar with the weather in you area. Look in these links for you clostest kite beach and keep an eye on what the wind is doing. Also in the BOM sight there is a Learn about Meteorology section for those of you are REALLY excited. 

Basically it comes to this. The better you are at predicting the weather the more sessions you will have, the better quality sessions you will have and the sooner you can enter "PRO Kitesurfer" stardom and compete against Aron Hadlow......... or ..... the more FUN you will have :)
 
See you out there,

CJ