i am wondering....

[le noun]

How many kites are going to land in the kite-tree at alameda tomorrow.
Should we start bets?

[sanjose_kiter]

My bet is 0 - none - too cold to kite.

However, I plan to carpool with a fellow kiter from San Jose to A-town around 1PM.

[manplesvanuatu]

it wasn't cold enough to keep the summer beginners out but so many of them on 12M kites. Albeit I arrived late, and apparently the wind was up and down all afternoon but I was still able to use a 7M kite and feeling Lit the whole hour from 4 till 5Pm (my guess).
anyway I saw a few of them got spooked when they were landing their kites way overpowered. I am glad there were no accidents as far as I know there yesterday. But that place is always ready for something silly to happen. If you are a seasoned kiter and know how strong the wind is..please deter the news to launch their 12M kites. They just don't have common sense yet so shine them some light. We all have been clueless at some point or another:-)

paul

[androka]

To the Guy who wanted me to launch his 12M kite directly downwind from him.

Sorry I didn't launch you. After I asked you to move horizontal to the wind and you stayed directly upwind and when I setup your kite it yanked me into the water so I put your kite back down and walked away while you yelled at me.

It takes me about a year to forget how goat rodeo Alameda is.

[manplesvanuatu]

I think I saw something like that yesterday Androka. Yes I think you did the sensible thing. I should have walked over and extra validated your point. Learning in strong wind and cold days like that...and that kite was rather large too.... what was the person thinking?

[edented]

It's always a mess there with people rigging every whichway, leaving kites wherever, and not knowing where to launch from (and other general miscommunications). It takes an obvious consensus for people to clue in and conform (as at Sherman), but there's always going to be silly people (like the guy who came up to grab a drink, fuss with gopro, then walk up to the shack and talk to his girlfriend - all with his kite at 12).

I also noticed that the beach has eroded back since the last dredging - not much space for 24m lines in that mess.

That being said, it did end up being a gusty 11-12m day from 12-4. You arrived when it picked up again

[mjwarne]

There was a deflated blue kite with no rider attached to it drifting in the water around 4pm.
It was a few hundred yards out slowly drifting south east - someone probably found it this morning washed up in the bird sanctuary.

Does anyone have any idea what happened to the owner?

[sanjose_kiter]

I saw a kiter with a 10 meter got lofted and fell on the sand. Fortunately she was rather cool and kept situation under control till another kiter arrived in time to hold her down and together they landed the kite without further incident.

Place was a zoo at time with not enough space to launch / land.
The wind was all over the place - 12meter condition from 2 to 3:30 . After 4pm, it is 7 or 9 meter condition with gust upto 35 - 38 MPH. Over all it was a difficult day but we were just glad to kite and to be there.