VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

OK here goes.................desperate to fly a kite other than at Cooks I went to Esquimalt lagoon today to try it out. nice SW at 12-15 knots. With nobody to help I set up for a somewhat downwind self launch which I have done lots of in light winds now. Well............hooked into bar, pulled some lines looked OK. Went to take off and left line snagged spun the kite around, tried to compensate, snagged again and kite headed for road and ended up wrapped around somebody's parked RV.

I got very lucky, nobody injured, no car accidents, and only a small 1 inch tear in the ripstop canopy. I might still try this again but will bring somebody to help launch. I figured it would be good once you get away from shore, not much area to launch and land though. Has anybody had success at Esquimalt ?? Another lesson learned ...........


RM

If you head out on the water on a side off wind with you kite in the air.
you might not come back or end up at sax point.
Wear a pfd, and if you are at esquimalt make sure it is ONLY SOUTH WIND.
not SW, it is to gusty.
if you are just learning. i am not telling u what to do but you might be better
off waiting for the thermals to come back in May.
Take a 1 days lessons to teach you all of the safety and self rescue,
you also learn how to be self sufficient and launch and land your kite safely by your self.
It will be the best $300 you ever spent and your kite will last longer..
Good luck.

Who in Victoria do you recommend for a lesson?

all advice is good advice...........Planning a trip down south to hone the skills. I am quickly learning winter wind is all storm wind and can be pretty gnarly. And yeah it does seem SW always turns to west there...........and off shore.

RM

Glad you are okay....having said that, the only other thought apart from the usual "take a lesson" or "wait for better conditions" or "don't sail or kite alone" is this:

This is the type of event that will get kiting banned from the local beaches.

Whatever happened to forming the wind association locally so we'd have a voice and can defend our positions, did I miss something or did it die a quiet death Thought there was a thread on this but can't find it now....

Yeah kus I was waiting for that response. For that reason I was unsure weather I should post here or not. I posted so others could learn from my mistakes. I know I could have done a few things better but you make compromises all the time in this sport, or so from what I have seen (cook st anyone, now there is and ideal launch, narrow beach, logs, reef, cliff, power lines, cars, people, dogs, houses, need i go on) Have most kiters ever self launched when you knew help would be better ? I think that is a unanimous yes.

What you guys did not see is that this all happened pretty slowly and I was never really in trouble. The winds were light enough and I maybe should have just dumped after the first snag but having some OK flying skills thought I could free it. The kite did not hit the RV powered but sort of tumbled into it on the ground. Are there risks involved ?? you bet, just like any other south island launch. At least it didn't end up in downtown power lines or someones yard like some more "experienced kites" have. We all make mistakes and can learn from each other new or old.

An oh yeah, because there are only words here and no body language (80% of communication) I will let you guys know that I am pretty mellow and have no animosity at all, thanks for the feedback Kus.

RM

The mistake you made was not knowing the capabilities of yourself or your kite, PLUS the unpredictability of the sport, kite control takes a lot of TOW to master, wait for summer and better conditions or go south.

....and the comment wasn't meant to be personal at all, I just think we need to come up with some rules ourselves or someone else will make them for us.

Again, we've been so extremely lucky with our close calls and somewhat serious but not maiming or lethal injuries to date. We had talked about signs and labeling certain beaches at a particular level, doing our part to educate the ever curious, annoying, albeit rightfully accessing Joe Public. I keep seeing launches where people, their kids, dogs are potentially exposed to lines, launches etc. yet nobody speaks to them advising them to stay clear, all that.....

I ramble....I just think it's only a matter of time, I try to work all day long with people playing the odds....and some of them lose badly. If you don't want to end up like Boundary Bay or Spanish Banks/Jericho we need to take some steps.

Here are a couple threads worth reading palm57 & we appreciate your communication: http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2950 http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2072

already read both safety threads, more than once. No question judgment was not the best. Lesson learned.

RM

Rookieryan you're now officially old news.We have a new KOOOOOOK!

BK any comments?

I used to windsurf a lot down at Esquimalt. On the rare occassion that a kite would show up, they would usually end up in trouble.

The SW can be nice but it usually doesn't last long before it switches to a gusty side off west wind, especially this time of year. The SW can be gusty and flukey too though so it's not exactly ideal either.

The handful of kites that have had success down there, were either really familiar with the conditions or they got lucky with the SW.

A downwinder to Cook St during a summer thermal SW is probably your best bet, but I would do it early and I wouldn't do it alone.

Once or twice in the 8 years I sailed there, I got out on a south wind. It was awesome, smooth wind and made for a perfect reach to Cook St and BACK! That is probably the best wind direction for Esquimalt but it's pretty rare. NE can work in the winter too but it can shut off pretty quick so I wouldn't recommend it for kiting.

The lure of Esquimalt for most people, myself included, is that it seems like a safer alternative to Cook St especially in the big winds. I had some great sessions down there and more than my fair share of not so memorable ones including long swims, long walks, and some crazy gusty conditions at times. These mishaps were probably more related to my level of experience than the location.

I think for windsurfers, Esquimalt is a decent local alternative to Cook St. For kiters, I think it's an accident waiting to happen. So, perhaps what we need to discuss is a good safe place to kite during a west wind, other than Cook St. What are the options??
Good luck....and thanks for posting. We've ALL been there whether we admit it or not.


Rob

Thats the feedback I was looking for..........if nobody tells you these things the only way to find out is to get some experience and maybe learn the hard way.

RM

Don't forget to use and update the WIKI for sailing sites, these are exactly the kinds of issues that can give a newbie a good idea of benefits and dangers of each potential launch site. I read over the entry for Esquimalt Lagoon and it does cover most of the points raised by W247, although maybe in a little more positive light as a ws/kiting spot.

57Palm/RM, your penance for dropping your kite on the RV could be to go in and update the WIKI a little!