The final and most important detail we need to know about the wind is which way it is blowing. While this seems obvious, we need to know more specifically than in most circumstances and so have developed several techniques to help us pinpoint it more precisely.
This can be done in several different ways:
The easiest (at least for me as I have rather large ears!) is to use your ears and the back of your head. Simply turn your back to the wind and turn your head until you can feel the wind on the backs of both your ears. At that point you are looking directly downwind.
Flags are also another good marker, but make sure you're facing the flag at a good angle, normally directly in front works best, as it's often very difficult to see which way it is blowing exactly from the side.
As kites will always fly downwind of the person controlling them they too can be used to determine the wind direction. Again make sure you get a good angle on the kite when looking at it when using this method as at distance it can often be difficult to determine the direction effectively.
Waves can be used as they will often be blowing in the same direction as the wind. However this is not the most reliable method as in a lot of circumstances its quite easy to confuse this wind blown chop, which will help us determine wind direction, with ocean swell, which will not. Waves are formed by the movement of wind over the surface of the sea. Ocean swell starts somewhere many kms from the shore. As wind blows over the surface of the sea small wavelets are formed. Over time and distance these wavelets form together to create bigger and bigger waves, developing a fairly uniform wavelength, that is the distance between the waves and the size of the waves is fairly consistent. These waves will (generally) all be travelling in the same direction and will gobble up any smaller waves as they move to grow even bigger. If the wind blows for long enough over these larger waves enough smaller waves will be created (and eaten up) to eventually change the pattern and the direction of the waves. When these waves reach our shores they come crashing in in the same pattern that they formed 1000's of km away.
Wind blown chop is by contrast a much more localised effect, rather than being the result of the combined efforts of the wind and waves over 1000's of km they are formed by the local wind. Wind blown chop will be much smaller and much more "messy" than ocean swell as the waves haven't had time to combine and arrange themselves. It is these waves that you should look for to determine the local wind direction.
What winds should I fly my Trainer Kite in?
If you bought your trainer kite new it should have come with some detailed instructions not simply about how to set up the kite but also what winds it is safe to take the kite out in. If you bought you kite second hand or you can't find these guidelines a quick check on the internet should give you all the information you need. We've already talked about determining wind speed in a earlier lesson but please, please stick to the manufacturers guidelines. If you don't you risk injuring yourself, other people and damaging the kite.