wind gauge

My Comments:
anyone got any info on a good wind gauge?

There are only three reliable things that will help you decide the wind strength:
1. Ears. Does it sound windy?
2. Eyes. Are there whitecaps (not as good as ears because offshorish winds don't make whitecaps.)
3. Phone/Internet. Access the bureau weather stations that service your area. You need to work out which combination of weather stations give an accurate indication for your location.

Don't buy a wind gauge. They are useless. All you are doing is measuring the wind as it flows over your hand which has nothing to do with what is happening on the water, or 20 metres above the water (at the end of the kite lines).

Local turbulence caused by your hand, the ground, sand dunes etc make wind gauges very unreliable.

If you must buy a wind gauge get one of these:

www.hallwindmeter.com/wind.php

They never run out of batteries. They are cheap. They are fairly accurate if you know how to use them properly (but if you can do then you can judge the wind for yourself).

Hi Arkgee,

http://www.aksonline.com.au/index.php/gift-package-ideas-/kaindl-windtronic-2-wind-meter/detailed-product-flyer.html

The windmeter is a good tool to learn what the wind looks like. It's all too easy if you have grown up around the water all your life like myself, but if you're new to kiteboarding or water sports in general, a good wind meter will help you to learn the appearance of the conditions.

Every body puts **** on wind meters but when you walk down the beach before anyone is out, almost everyone will ask you what it is reading. Go figure! I use it as a yard stick to my own judgement by checking my assesment of the wind. I'm usually within 2 knots but I only know that, because I have a wind meter!

It's not good to rely on a meter, but definately a good thing to use whilst learning.

Up to you at the end of the day. Cheap ones give cheap results as Jankie admits in his thread about the low winds of the Ozone Zephyr where he holds up three cheap wind meters and all three read vastly different measures.

Cheers,

KH

Wind meters are very useful aspecially when you visit locations that are unfamiliar, or where the wind at your spot is from an unusual direction.
Of course you can use visual and audible indicators, and wind meters actually help you fine tune your own wind reading skills

https://www.kitepower.com.au/catalog/product_16505_Windtronic_2_Windmeter_cat_323.html

The Kaindl meter is the most accurate and reliable hand held, they are not affected by wind direction like small meters that have impellers that need to be held into the wind direction, like the skywatch and several others like it.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Before internet capable phones - we'd use the old Beaufort wind scale.

www.bom.gov.au/lam/glossary/beaufort.shtml

...but...of course it's doesn't compensate for site specific effects on the waters surface (reefs, sandbars etc..), but it's a good place to start.

maybe there is an iphone app for wind speed?

ther is, it called Wind Meter. It works quiet simple, you need to hold the mic in the wind, then its calc it.

You convince someone to get out there. If they swim in, then it's not windy enough.

I have two kites and two TT (and a couple of surfboards). If I can hear a consistent wind noise to generally quite windy I rig the 12m. If it's blowing it's tits off I rig the 8m.

If there's white caps or other guys riding powered up I used the small TT. If there's nobody else out (or they're not staying upwind) I use the big TT. If there's decent waves I use a surfboard.

If it feels mega-light or mega-strong I'll bring up the BOM weather stations and the radar on my phone and see if there is reason to be optimistic ... or afraid.

I've had my 8m out in over 50 knots so I know that if I rig it I'm fairly safe no matter what the wind is doing. I normally use the suicide leash but if I feel a bit chicken I'll clip onto the flagging leash.

The other thing I do is keep an eye on ships on the horizon. If there are scary black clouds around and the ships disappear then I get off the water pretty quick.

Sometimes I can be a little overpowered on the 12. It's not dangerous but it's not as fun as being on the right kite. My new quiver will be three kites with a 10m in the middle so hopefully it will be easier to be in the sweet spot on those stronger days.

Being underpowered on the 8m is actually quite fun so of late I have erred towards the smaller kite.

there is nothing u can do about the wind anyways. and once u down and the beach,m why would u need a windmeter? waste of resources.
you will figure out if its enough and thats all that matters..
kooks with windmeter on beach are amusing- comparing their readings, blowing in theit meters.
and reading their meters keeps them of the water [}:)]

haleluja

We had a similar situation where the wind was well over 30 knots and the experienced guys were having a great time on 7-8 metre kites.

Others were rigging up and doing a few runs then packing up because the conditions were very demanding, not just strong.

Matey turns up with a 12m old bow kite and a wind gauge. Asks our opinon and we tell him fairly accurately that it is ferkin windy and insanely gusty and very not suitable for his 12m.

Matey waves wind gauge around. Declares it's only 18 knots and rigs up his 12. Has two abortive attempts at making it to the water at much risk to life and limb and spectators.

Eventually he makes it to the water and actually rides around not too badly. Lots of explosions when he lost his edge but he did display a tiny amount of control.

The point is, if you use a wind gauge you have to do all sorts of stuff to ensure you get an accurate reading. Standing right on the water's edge with no structures or land upwind of you with the gauge held way high and take a series of readings over several minutes. On top of a breakwater is evern better to avoid the turbulence from the waves.

On top of dunes is no good because the compression gives you high readings but turbulence and rotor cause low readings.

With some gauges you also have to hold them with your finger tips and tilt them through several degrees in both horizontal and vertical axes to ensure you are getting a true reading.

Even after all that you still need to check with other people on the beach and watch the riders on the water. Before you do that, read the weather forecast. Squall warnings and strong wind warnings are a bit of a giveaway. It always amazes me to see monster storm clouds coming in and all these boofheads blithely riding around in front of them.

If you can do all this stuff correctly the input from the wind gauge is pretty much redundant.

Ten years ago wind gauges made a little bit of sense because kites had such narrow ranges. Now the only real use for them is a bit of retail therapy so you can feel all kiterly and weatherly when you can't get on the water.

does it vibrate?