PHREERIDER
Posts: 5781
Registered: 2-13-2008
Location: SC
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Mood: chilled....but ready to SAIL!
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daily grind ...charger's first nitrogen bath
hot moist air has arrived along with nature's fertilizer truck.
out on CH15/ATB/surf, just to start out on the atb to loosen up, big thunderheads over the main land about 3-4 miles away.
CAUTIOUSLY, watching this thing move away for about 30min.
all seemed clear(in chad's world). launch and quickly jet down the beach on the ATB. as i am looking at the grey / black clouds over the tree
canopy , a spider web of lightening arcs across the sky. immediately trans . back to launch spot to drop.
as i air hop off the ground in a trans. my thumbs at the bar center arc/spark with audible CRACK over my ipod music. felt like a 110v bite. very
alarming and instantly drop the rig at that spot on the flag line.
the other 3 times where all similar conditions, on venoms, carbon bar and bare foot, with bites and cracks on the toes and feet. kite was dry ,
i was wet.
this incident CH, Al bar, shoes AND on the ATB. and wet kite as well.
i knew i was safe, i had my helmet on!
i guess that's my annual nitrogen bath ...seemed early.
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Kamikuza
Posts: 6415
Registered: 1-9-2005
Location: Shiga, JAPAN
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Yikes dude! 
Yeah... I got a kite. Or two...
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cheezycheese
Posts: 3760
Registered: 8-18-2009
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY
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Mood: Ready for action !!!
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Defintely a CHARGED up session, eh...? Pun intended... 
US888
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PHREERIDER
Posts: 5781
Registered: 2-13-2008
Location: SC
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Mood: chilled....but ready to SAIL!
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thankfully the amps haven't been enough to hurt me or vaporized my junk!
this is where the repetitive stupidity qualifies, what i feel, my normal insanity
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Todd
Posts: 2320
Registered: 3-3-2008
Location: In my Freightshaker
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Wow. Glad you were ok, I don't ever wish to experience that.
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acampbell
Posts: 3879
Registered: 7-26-2006
Location: Las Cruces, NM. Sometimes
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Mood: Digging Deserts and Mts.
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Nothing like a crackle and thunderclap to remove any ambiguity from a situation. Glad you are OK. "Scattered afternoon thunderstorms" is the
permanent forecast from now till October.
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silvereaglekiter
Posts: 710
Registered: 1-22-2008
Location: central VA
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Mood: Propelled by the Air Revel in Flames Reside on the Water Delve in to the Earth
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that sounds about like being on a 300 ft Cell Tower/lightning rod when a storm roles by. fun stuff
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lad
Posts: 1498
Registered: 12-5-2008
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Mood: chilling...literally...
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I get best results rubbing my lucite control bar with my fur gloves!
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indigo_wolf
Posts: 5101
Registered: 12-25-2008
Location: Washington, DC area
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Mood: Weaned by leopards, raised by wolves...
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Puts a whole new meaning to the words "riding lit."
Be safe... or at least lucky.
ATB,
Sam
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, does anyone?" - The Body by Stephen King
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BeamerBob
Posts: 8308
Registered: 5-11-2007
Location: Down on the bayou
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That's just TOO close. Did lightning pop anywhere close in time or vicinity? That sounds like a "feeler" that didn't quite connect.
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Hardrock
Posts: 906
Registered: 6-12-2008
Location: Upstate, SC
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Crap, thats where I get my wind.
Passing clouds always give a good little blow near by.
Have to make myself a new rule now. 1 1000 2 1000 3 1000, pack it up!!!!
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arkay
Posts: 1793
Registered: 10-23-2008
Location: Oregon
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Youch! You just need to move out to the west coast were we don't have lightning or thunder  Plus the jet stream is always pointed on shore 
US503 - Manzanita, Oregon
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mgatc
Posts: 444
Registered: 10-16-2008
Location: Florence, SC
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Benjamin Franklin would be proud!!
Phree, you keep re-defining "hard core"
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teklife
Posts: 57
Registered: 4-8-2004
Location: new york, NY
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Mood: No Mood.
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had a similar thing happen to me once on my v10 at kite island in barnegat bay, nj.
there was a storm many miles away; where we were, everything seemed fine. my friend joe was out with my kite and came back telling me the bar was
giving him some serious shocks.
he was walking back letting the kite auto zenith.
i thought it was impossible, the bar, covered in neoprene was shocking him? where was it coming from? there was no lightning around us at all; could
it travel down the lines and through the kite? i touched the bar thinking he was full of #@%$#!, and... ZAP!
ouch!
holy #@%$#!, the bar was electrified!  
for some stupid reason i touched it again, thinking, what are the odds that it is still charged up? again i got a heavy shock. it was then that i
just pulled the release to flag out the kite. that was really weird. the bar is carbon. i later found out that it conducts electricity, but still,
through the neoprene, kite, and lines, it seemed really strange.
furthermore, there was no lightning anywhere near us at the time, but you could see it far out, many miles away. the invisible electrical energy in
the air just seemed to electrify the bar.
-ssameer (mykl)
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zero gee
Posts: 433
Registered: 10-12-2008
Location: Winnipeg and beyond...
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"A lightning flash can travel horizontally many miles away from the thunderstorm and then strike the ground. These types of lightning flashes are
called "Bolts from the Blue" because they seem to come out of a clear blue sky. While blue sky may exist overhead (or in part of the sky overhead) a
thunderstorm is always located 5 to 10 miles (and sometimes even farther) away. Although these flashes are rare, they have been known to cause
fatalities."
"The average lightning bolt is 6-8 miles long and can easily travel 25 to 40 miles horizontally prior to turning downward toward the ground. In
October 2001, the visual lightning detection system measured a single bolt that traveled from Waco to Fort Worth and then Dallas, Texas – a total
distance of more than 110 miles"
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PHREERIDER
Posts: 5781
Registered: 2-13-2008
Location: SC
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Mood: chilled....but ready to SAIL!
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out of the blue flashes ...seen a few of these on clear sky usually very hot and humid . we had a fatally on the beach about 2-3 years ago.
BB ..yes strikes within the area about 5-7miles best i could tell. and one dead pine tree i noticed, almost same spot.
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Hardrock
Posts: 906
Registered: 6-12-2008
Location: Upstate, SC
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| Quote: | Originally posted by zero gee
"A lightning flash can travel horizontally many miles away from the thunderstorm and then strike the ground. These types of lightning flashes are
called "Bolts from the Blue" because they seem to come out of a clear blue sky. While blue sky may exist overhead (or in part of the sky overhead) a
thunderstorm is always located 5 to 10 miles (and sometimes even farther) away. Although these flashes are rare, they have been known to cause
fatalities."
"The average lightning bolt is 6-8 miles long and can easily travel 25 to 40 miles horizontally prior to turning downward toward the ground. In
October 2001, the visual lightning detection system measured a single bolt that traveled from Waco to Fort Worth and then Dallas, Texas – a total
distance of more than 110 miles" |
That got a guy in the mountains not too for from here a few years ago. No clouds for miles then one bolt, can't remember if lived or not but the
weather channel showed the lighting strikes for the day and pointed out the one so very far from any others.
PL V19m, P15m, V13m
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pokitetrash
Posts: 977
Registered: 6-16-2008
Location: Edgefield, SC
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Mood: Happier than Richard Simmons with a wheelbarrow full of ding dongs!!
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So is the kite, bar, lines creating static or are they picking up a small dose of lightning?
At OOBE field in the summer heat, we often get late afternoon thunder storms nearby but we fly until we get scared off the field. Maybe I need to get
scared sooner...
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PHREERIDER
Posts: 5781
Registered: 2-13-2008
Location: SC
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Mood: chilled....but ready to SAIL!
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has to do alot with the air saturation with high potential for discharge to the ground. lots of + elements in constant collision with the rig. it
is the highest "pole" in the area. once you associate the air quality and local lightening strikes you'll know when to stop.
it a guess but.. the kites are usually covered with tiny film of ocean moisture AND dissolved NaCl on its skin only providing plenty of + . so it a
flying salt bridge and that's may limit its potential in inland areas, which may making it a fraction safer inland . but thunderstorms are dangerous
...and thats about all there is to it.
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