Baldivis Kite Buggying: anemometer

Showing posts with label anemometer. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Equipment checks...

Getting ready for the Lake Lefroy land sailing regatta, buggy checked over, tyre pressures checked, bolts tightened, GoPro chase mount reinstalled, safety gear checked, anemometer and GPS plus spare batteries.

New kite's set to arrive Thursday, if the Manta II hasn't sold that's coming too. KAP kite and all my camera gear all packed and charged.

Everything is ready to go into the ute on Thursday ready for an early start on Friday morning.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Knots or kph...?

I usually measure the wind speed in kph (kilometers per hour) but most of the kite manufacturers you look at list knots as there primary measure of wind speed for their kites - should I start using knots?

kph and mph are both speeds that are measured by distance traveled over a period of time - 1 hour. So if you are travelling along the ground they are an accurate measure of speed.

Knots are a relative speed - they are not dependent on distance traveled and are mainly used for measuring the speed of ships and aircraft, who's speed is greatly effected by fluid factors (wind and water). If I travel at 1 nautical mile per hour in the sea I may not have traveled 1 nautical mile. The tide may be with me or against me. If the tide is with me I will travel further, if it is against me I will not travel as far. The same with aircraft. If I have a following wind I will travel faster, a head wind will make me travel slower.

So from now on I think I am going to start using knots as my preferred measure of wind speed and kite wind range and will change the units on my anemometer.

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

Anenometer

I used it for the first time on Sunday - it told me how crap the wind was to start with (7-9 kph) and how much better it was when I had to leave (19-20 kph), as my parents had decided to visit , which meant I had to cut my session short!