Light Wind Domes
Foiling far from shore on my Kite-Trek board, I have been experiencing wind conditions that I have never known before. For instance, I would never have believed that on a day with a steady wind at 13-15kts and white caps all around, I could encounter light-wind areas of a few square kilometers where the wind dies down below 8 knots or so, whitecaps disappear, and there are just glassy ripples. How is this possible on a windy day? What makes these spots on the open water so special that the wind seems to avoid them? I visualize such areas as ”pillows” of colder air sitting just above the surface and the wind, trying to find the path of least resistance, flowing around and over this invisible obstacle. Of course, at the shoreline, we all understand this phenomenon, we call it a Doming Effect, and there is nothing notable about it. On the open water, however, I would never expect to find these invisible “Domes”!
Having been in this situation quite a few times already, I have learned to pay attention and read the water surface around me. I actively try to avoid these Domes which are harder to spot on a light wind day and can act like traps. No joke: you can literally kite yourself into a “hole”, which you have to body-drag out of if you want to avoid self-rescue. This, of course, is possible only when you correctly identify the situation and understand what’s going on. Being out on the open water where there are no clues about the surrounding wind such as flags or trees, it is very easy to believe that the wind has just died and your kite in the water is the inevitable start of a long self-rescue. A few minutes later, however, the 13-kt wind miraculously comes back, white caps engulf your area, and you wonder why your kite is already packed on your board wet and useless. Make no mistake, this phenomenon is not a normal occurrence as the special “dome creating” conditions have to be in place, but it occurs often enough to be definitely noticed and experienced, especially in the spring.
