If you’re just starting out with Power kites, or are just interested in some recreational flying, a basic understanding of wind speeds may well be enough. But if you’re getting into Buggying, Kite landboarding etc then a little more detail will be needed.

All our kites come with recommended wind ranges for optimum performance. Flying outside these wind ranges may well cause damage to your kite or yourself. A set of kites with overlapping wind ranges should cover you for every eventuality.

Kite wind ranges are normally expressed as wind speeds. There are quite a few different ways of measuring speed:

• Beaufort - force 1, 2, 3 and so on (as on the shipping forecast)
• miles per hour
• kilometres per hour
• knots
• metres per second.

Measuring Wind Speeds

Understanding these units and what is the right range for your kite is one thing; actually measuring it on the day you’re out flying is another thing altogether. There are a few ways of doing this:

• First, watch the weather forecast on television. This will usually give forecasted wind speeds (in mph in the UK) in a circle on the chart, with a little arrow attached to show their direction.
• A better and more accurate way is to buy yourself a pocket wind meter, but you’ll need to spend a decent amount of money to get something that is at all accurate.
• A less scientific, but nonetheless useful, method is to look for wind indicators in the environment. Watch for smoke or clouds in the sky, flags and trees moving and so on. Study the 'Wind Speed Table' below, which shows all the official measures and a list of indicators you can use.

With time, you’ll learn to ‘feel’ the wind and make your decision on which kite to use in what conditions based on your experience. You’ll know instinctively when to switch to a smaller or bigger kite from your memories of similar situations.

Other Considerations

It's important to understand that there’s a point at which kiting becomes dangerous however you’re doing it. Watch what the experienced flyers and riders do. When it gets too big, they stay indoors. As a rough guide, anything over force 6, which is 30 mph, is going to start making things very exciting to the point of danger and foolhardiness. Over force 8, or 40 mph, and you’ve only got yourself to blame.

There are some other factors to consider as well. Your flying lines can make a big difference to how the kite performs in different wind speeds. It’s all a question of weight, diameter, stretch and the kind of activity you’re doing and the drag that results from that combination of factors. You may be able to ‘tweak’ extra wind range out of your kite by flying on lighter or heavier lines -- lighter to generate more power and fly faster, heavier to fly slower and ‘brake’ the kite. Ask your Dealer for advice.

The final thing to take account of is wind direction and the smoothness of the wind. Beach sites are great because, often, with an onshore (blowing from the sea) or side wind, the wind is smooth which makes controlling the kite so much easier. An offshore wind will have to come across the land mass and any other obstacles behind. This will make the wind what kiters call ‘lumpy (see illustration below). A lumpy or gusty wind will make the kite fly erratically and, depending on its size, dangerously. Many inland sites have lumpy wind for exactly this reason. To give you a guide, it usually takes the wind up to seven times the height of the obstacle in lateral distance to smooth itself out again (e.g. a 100-foot tree or building will have a wind ‘shadow’ up to 700 feet long). Ideally you need to find the most open, exposed site you can and position yourself as far downwind of any obstacles as possible.