Holy electric shock, Batman!!

[nigel]

Well what an experence I had today!!! :shock:
For the first time I thought I was going to be struck by lightning.
While out in the buggy in the crazy wind and weather we had, I felt my fingers between the kite line and the handle start to get a sharp pain like being stabed with a pin.
This then moved to my other fingers, and then my whole hand!!!
I have seen docos on lightning and have heard that just before you are struck that you get a static electricity tingle.
Well I didn't waste any time in getting the kite on the ground, and yelled to the others to get there kites down.
A few seconds later the hail started to come down.
I buggied on after the hail and later on we could see the next front approaching.
The wind picked up and I went off for a spin in the buggy completely out of control with a 1.4 C-Quad and trying to be pulled out of the seat.
Turn around and about to drop the kite down for some speed when it happens again.
Tingly fingers.
So I put the kite on the ground as quick as possible.
Again a few seconds pass and the hail comes down.

Has anyone else had similar experences???
Please share your stories or thoughts.

Nigel, lives to kite another day :D

[Gav]

sounds like a couple of close calls! At least you're given a bit of a warning before the real thing comes down the lines. Can't say that it has ever happened to me, but then again I don't own any kites small enough to fly in those sort of winds.
Gav

[kitebuggykev]

Nigel,
sounds like you had a very lucky escape or near brush I would suggest.
How wild is that though...I am guessing the winds must have been well into the high 20-30knots or more for a 1.4 to be doing that to you??
Did you get a wind speed reading at all?
rgds

Kevin

[nigel]

Yes Kev I did get a wind speed reading but the wind I took off in was right at the front of the change, the wind kicked around about 20 degrees and I have never been that out of control with any kite let alone the 1.4
The reading was gusting from 20 to 23 knots at ground level and it might have been disturbed a bit, taken from my meter.
The closest thing I have found to get good readings while I am kite flying is to use one of the beacons that are in the bay here.
It is about one kilometre off shore and about 3 klm South.
The highest peak on that day was not recorded as it went off the scale.
It has upto 35 knots listed but does continue up to 40 in the graph.
Most of the day it was reading around 30 to 35 knots.
But crazy me took off when it started to blow really hard!!! :roll:
I would love to say it was 40+ knots but I think it would be just under 40 durring the gusts.
Still I don't think I have been that out off controll before!!
Almost brown undies time.

Nigel

[goshen]

Scary stuff.

I was buggying along the Ocean Grove beach a couple of years back with Mal, on a 'stormy' sort of day, although the wind was quite moderate. Everything was fine, but we started noticing clicking sounds coming from the buggy as we were cruising along... thought the wheel was out of alignment, or the bearing stuffed, as you would. Anyway, I was following Mal, and happened to see a spark jump between the buggy and the ground, to co-incide with the clicking!!!

We kept buggying for a while (5 mins) - until the gravity of the situation actually sunk in, and we put the kites down.

I've also heard of kiteboarders going out and getting zapped when they landed jumps!

Haven't heard of anyone getting stuck by the real thing yet, but wouldn't want to be the first.

Cheers, Goshen

[jsea]

I hate to think that we are the first but i guess by the looks of this forum we are the first to put it in writing.

It was a couple of months ago now, jumping around at Wanda on the sand dunes with my mate, fantastic winds having an absoulute blast :D. We felt some tingling through the fingers not thinking it to be too severe we continued having fun (we could see rain on it's way and wanted to get the most out of the arvo) then all of a sudden there was a massive flash of white and we were both thrown back arms absouletly caning, we looked at eachother wondering what happened, when our observing friends ran over shouting "you ok? You just got hit by lightning!"

Apparently the lightning hit one of our kites and spread across to the other "sharing" the shock, probably lucky that we shared it or one of us may not have survived.

Resulting injuries :- after weeks of aching joints, mate's knees and elbows still ache occasionally and I still have an exit scar (slowly fading) on my elbow.:(

Lesson learned :- if static is felt the kites go down, no matter what the wind is like! That pain is something that I do NOT want to re-experiance and I know that my mate feels the same.

Both still flying today, we just fly on the edge of the storms now not in them :D

[blackprince]

:shock: Sounds of deep thinking.

What did the old scientists do to survive when they went kite flying in storms to pick up a bit of electricity?

[blackprince]

Here is the first recorded attempt at kite surfing:



Benjamin Franklin by Chad Crabtree

The person I am doing biography on is Benjamin Franklin. The reason I picked him is because he did a lot of inventions. He was a good statesman and a patriot.

The first invention he did in his childhood was to build a bridge using bricks, but then he got in trouble for using them and he had to take it down. Then he had to think of another way to fish so he took a very big stick and tied some string to the stick and a hook and they fished. Another invention that he did is fly a kite in the water. What he did was he put a kite in the air, his friends were in the water having fun. They told him to come in and play with them but he said, "no thanks I am flying a kite." That is when he got idea. He could go in the water and float like a boat and when he did, the kite pulled him all over.

Benjamin Franklin is famous for inventing the battery. He also is the first person to fly a kite in a thundercloud and let it get struck by lightning. The reason it got struck by lightning is because he put a metal key at the end of the kite. Lightning always goes for metal and he tried to kill a turkey but almost killed a goose. He tried to do it with electricity. His major achievements were that he invented electricity. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He is deceased which means he has died. He died April 17, 1790. Benjamin Franklin said in his will that he wanted a simple inscription to be written on his grave it said,

The Body Of Benjamin Franklin

[blackprince]

Ive just done a bit of checking and it seems that Benjamin Franklin was much smarter than he is portrayed. He kept away from lightning!

"Franklin realized that if lightning was electricity, then it must be an awful lot of the stuff, and that it must take a long time to amass in the storm. Therefore, he suggested, fly the kite early in the storm before the lightning comes near you.

"He had several variations on how to show electricity was present--you could draw sparks from a key tied to the string, or you could attach the string to a Leyden Jar, which is a device for collecting electricity (a capacitor). If the jar was empty before flying the kite and full afterwards then that is good evidence that thunderclouds contain electricity."

Maybe kite handles should incorporate a little flashing diode to give a warning before your fingers start to tingle.

Where is that design for a plastic buggy?


Still thinking.

[nigel]

I am now very happy and scared at the same time, but glad that I did bring my kite down.
Thanks for the story jsea, its a good warning to all kite flyers of the dangers we face. How many times have we all had silly looks from other people, when you tell them you fly kites?? or how childish you are for flying one.
Now jsea you have got some great scars to prove that kite flying is not for wimps!!!! They say chicks dig scars???
As for a plastic buggy, I don't think it would help.
The wheels stop the buggy "conducting", but I think you will find that part of you sits lower to the ground than the buggy frame.
So it should arc through you and not the buggy, for this reason I don't think a plastic one would help.
Lowest body part in a buggy??? Your butt????
The only way reduce this happening would be to increase the resistance of the line so not as much current (the Lightning bolt) reaches you???
Alot of buildings have a lightning spike (can't think of the exact title). This is a copper post mounted at the highest point on the building and continues down the building to the ground below, where it earths.
If it is struck by lightning then the bolt will run down this copper pathway to the ground without causing any damage to the building.
You might want to trail a length of wire from the kite lines to the ground so the bolt goes along the wire and not you????
Or just don't kite if you know there is lightning???

Nigel

[The Duke]

:lol: Naaa........ that would just take all the fun out of it wouldn't it !!!

[mattyw]

I was the mate that shared jsea's bolt! My suggestion on when to put the kite's down is...

We were jumping on the beach, the first thing I started to notice was weird cracking noises like the ones goshen was describing, kept thinking I was landing on dry sea weed or something, but wasn't whenever I checked. Didn't hurt at first but it was really loud! Then it started to hurt like crazy through the balls of my feet and toes. At this time I realised that it was static but kept flying because the wind was really good and the storm appeared to be side swiping us as it often does as Wanda and was way out at sea. Then I started getting the shocks in my hands. Curiously I was only getting zapped as I landed jumps, almost like the kite was 'charging up' when I was in the air and earthing through me as I landed. Only minutes after I started feeling the shocks in my hands and we got hit by the lightning very shortly after.

I went back down to the beach two days later and put the kite up to dry it out because it had gotten rained on after we were hit and were too dazed to pack up straight away! There was a really impresive coldfront approaching and the wind got back up over 20 knotts again. Flew for about 15 minutes and started to feel the same static in my feet as I was landing. I dropped the kite immediately and the lightning started about 10 minutes later.

So I recommend that if you ever feel static in the lines of your kite, pack up straight away, no matter how good the wind is. The rhumatism jsea and I now get in our elbows and my knee is not worth the experience!!! Just as a side note... can you believe that there was no damage what-so-ever to the kites?!!! :D We expected to find them melted blobs behind the sand dunes!

Good winds (with no lightning) to all!

[ACT]

Reading your post Goshen, one thing came to mind.

During the hot summer months the Lkae produces dust devils, some of which get real big. had one go right over us a couple of time ago and it wasn't funny.

One day someone will pick one up in a kite, then watch out. I hope who ever it is know how to redirect the kite ensure a safe landing, that is of course, if the kite is still open.

Cheers