Posts Tagged ‘weather’

Kitesurfing Safety Pointers

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Safety is a very necessary aspect of most sports, and even more so with some, like kiteboarding or kitesurfing as it is also called. It involves using a kite of between two and five metres in length to power surf across a plane of water.

This is where the greatest danger comes in, a sudden burst of wind can lift you off the water and carry you away. When the gust of wind drops, you could be dumped on rocks or slammed into the side of a building. The option is to let go of the kite and almost certainly lose it. This gets expensive, and being left alone in the open sea is not very nice either.

The fact is that you can never be completely safe when you are kiteboarding. However, the least you can do is try. So wear a safety helmet and a vest that will both minimize injury from an impact but also float. These two things alone will protect you from the lesser types of crash and assist you to swim back to shore if needed.

Gloves and knee protectors will also make life easier as will a pair of impact-resistant running or jogging shoes or trainers.

Never disable, and always use, any safety devices built into your equipment. It is there for a purpose. Some of these features might be quick release buckles or buttons and safety straps so that the kite cannot be torn from your grasp, leaving you stranded far out at sea.

Be sure of the winds that you ride. Both on-shore and off-shore winds are dangerous because the one will carry you out to sea and the other could drag you into cliffs or buildings. The safest wind to ride is a side-shore wind. A side-shore wind will be blowing across the bay, parallel to the shore.

It sounds too obvious to say ‘avoid collisions’, but in a way a collision is more perilous at sea than on land. It will take longer to rescue you and longer to transport you to hospital and you might drown. Therefore, do not kiteboard in busy waters - where there are boats or swimmers. Strive to allow a hundred metres clearance to anything that would injure you if you hit it.

Check the weather forecast and the predicted wind speed and use a kite that is suitable for that wind speed and your degree of skill. Do not try to run before you can walk.

Once your kite is aloft, get out on to the sea (or water) as soon as you can and when you are coming in, hold the kite low, so that there is less chance of you being carried away into the road or buildings.

Carry a knife when you go kitesurfing because lines becoming tangled up is not an uncommon phenomenon yet this can have a number of unpleasant effects. It can take you off to where you do not wish to go and it can tangle you up cutting deep into your flesh. Make sure that the knife itself poses no threat by storing it in a robust sheath. Wear safety goggles to avoid being blinded by spray.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, but is now involved with RX Safety Glasses. If you would like to know more, go to our website at Safety Glasses Bifocal

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Ought You To Have A Weather Radio?

Monday, November 15th, 2010

There are radios that are especially for tracking the weather. Not everybody needs one of these specialized devices, although we are all enthralled by the weather. However, the amount of information given out by most radio stations is sufficient for the majority of us. So what sort of people would profit from a so-called weather radio?

Weather radios are most suitable for people living in areas where extremes of weather can and do take place on quite a ordinary basis. If the area where you live is subject to hurricanes, tornadoes and flash floods or even severe storms, you are a likely candidate for a dedicated weather radio. Particularly if you have to travel away from home while an extreme weather event may take place.

All radio stations give weather news and weather warnings, but not all radio stations will suspend a programme to give ’stop press’ updates on impending severe weather conditions. It is the same with television stations, not all of them will interrupt the highlight film of the evening to report on an approaching storm. Some of the smaller stations are not even subscribed to these types of weather reporting services.

However, it is not only people who live in regions of possible extreme weather who might benefit from these weather radios. People who carry out specialist activities and certain jobs require more specialized weather reports as well. For example, deep sea fishermen, sailors, farmers, mountaineers, hikers and backwoodsmen have to know if severe weather is on the way.

A lot of weather radios are not only capable of broadcasting news about the weather. Many of them have a built-in AM/FM radio as well and some will even act as alarm clocks. Some are mains only, whilst others are battery powered, wind-up or solar powered.

Some are large, but most are intended to be carried easily in a regular backpack and might have earphones as well so that you can listen to a broadcast during a howling gale.

If you are just sitting at home, you may feel safe enough with the local television or radio station on, but if you have to go outside whilst there is a risk of awful weather, a weather radio is very comforting.

There are loads of types and styles of weather radio to suit all has, but a battery or wind up radio are the safest if you are away from a mains power source such as at sea or in the forest.

You will be able to find weather radios in a good number adventure or camping shops and in many chandlers. It is also easy to find these dedicated radios on line especially on eBay or Amazon.

Weather radios are not dear to buy, but some models can eat up batteries so always take a few extra sets of batteries if you are going off the beaten track.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Bose Radioss. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Bose Digital Radio.

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Calendars And How To Appreciate Them

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

The calendar is such a commonplace, everyday item, but how much do you really know about the operation of it. Why is it like that?

A DAY: The Earth turns at a reasonably steady speed about the imaginary line running between the North and South Poles named the Earth’s Axis. The time it takes to spin once is called a ‘rotation’ and this takes just under twenty-four hours. Nevertheless, because the Earth is constantly travelling around the Sun, the precise time from noon one day to noon the next is 3 minutes 56 seconds longer and this makes a day almost precisely twenty-four hours in length.

The actual time from noon to noon differs depending where the Earth is on its celestial course around the Sun, but if you average the days in a year out, it comes to precisely twenty-four hours.

A YEAR: All nine planets in our solar system travel around the Sun in almost perfectly circular paths called orbits. Each trip around the Sun is called a revolution and all the planets orbit around the Sun in the same direction. The course the Earth takes can be verified by noting its position against the background stars.

In view of the fact that you cannot see the Sun and the stars at the same time, it is necessary to note the position of the Sun in the morning and the see which stars come out there in the night. You will see that the Sun seems to pass through the twelve constellations of the zodiac during a year.

Earth’s journey around the Sun, which seems like the Sun travelling through the zodiac takes about 365.25 days. This is different from year to year, so astronomers add or delete a second in some years to keep their time accurate with the Earth’s motion.

THE SEASONS: The seasons mark the change in the pattern of daylight over the span of a year. Because the Earth is tilted off centre, different parts of it receive different amounts of sunlight on different stages of its path around the Sun, a path that we call a year. So, between approximately the 21st September and late March, the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, which produces Autumn and Winter, giving less than twelve hours of daylight per day.

From April to the 20th September, the Northern Hemisphere enjoys more than twelve hours of daylight a day, producing Spring and Summer. The exact opposite occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Equinoxes occur at the points in the year when there is exactly twelve hours of sunlight and darkness in the day. So, the vernal or Spring equinox is on or around the 21st March and the autumnal equinox is on or around the 21st September. Summer officially begins on the day with the greatest amount of daylight, the 21st June or summer solstice.

The winter solstice occurs on the shortest day, the 21st December. ‘Solstice’ is a combination of two words meaning ’sun standing still’ and the days are so called because they are the days when the apparent movement of the Sun reaches its limits and reverses course again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching Franklin planner pages. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

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