Beaufort Wind Scale
Sir Francis Beaufort, a rear admiral in the British navy created the Beaufort Wind Scale in 1805 to describe the wind’s effect on sailing ships. He used knots to indicate the speed of the wind. The chart provided shows wind speed in miles per hour based on the conversion of 1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour. Europe still uses the Beaufort # scale. Today we can use this handy tool to determine the approximate wind speed to fly our kites.
Most kites are packaged with the recommended wind rating that the particular kite will fly in. All kites are not the same, some have fiberglass frames (heavier) and some have carbon frames (lighter). Kites with no frames require more wind than framed kites. Therefore one should know what wind ranges your kite will fly in. Just check with the labels that come with your kite to find the recommended wind speed. In general most kites will fly in 5-20mph winds.
Before attempting to fly your kite you want to make sure there is wind where you are planning to fly. Just look at the trees, the smoke from chimneys or the water to get an idea of how strong the wind is blowing. After a while you will be get pretty good at judging wind speeds by just observing the movement of the trees or water.
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APPEARANCE OF WIND EFFECTS |
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# |
Name |
mph |
On Water |
On Land |
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0 |
Calm |
< 1 |
Sea surface smooth and mirror-like |
Calm, smoke rises vertically |
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1 |
Light Air |
1-3 |
Scaly ripples, no foam crests |
Smoke drift indicates wind direction, still wind vanes |
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2 |
Light Breeze |
4-7 |
Small wavelets, crests glassy, no breaking |
Wind felt on face, leaves rustle, vanes begin to move |
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3 |
Gentle Breeze |
8-12 |
Large wavelets, crests begin to break, scattered whitecaps |
Leaves and small twigs constantly moving, light flags extended |
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4 |
Mod. Breeze |
13-18 |
Small waves 1-4 ft. becoming longer, numerous whitecaps |
Dust, leaves, and loose paper lifted, small tree branches move |
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5 |
Fresh Breeze |
19-24 |
Moderate waves 4-8 ft taking longer form, many whitecaps, some spray |
Small trees in leaf begin to sway |
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6 |
Strong Breeze |
25-31 |
Larger waves 8-13 ft, whitecaps common, more spray |
Larger tree branches moving, whistling in wires |
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7 |
Near Gale |
32-38 |
Sea heaps up, waves 13-20 ft, white foam streaks off breakers |
Whole trees moving, resistance felt walking against wind |
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8 |
Gale |
39-46 |
Moderately high (13-20 ft) waves of greater length, edges of crests, begin to break into spindrift foam blown in streaks |
Whole trees in motion, resistance felt walking against wind |
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9 |
Strong Gale |
47-54 |
High waves (20 ft), sea begins to roll, dense streaks of foam, spray may reduce visibility |
Slight structural damage occurs, slate blows off roofs |
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10 |
Storm |
55-63 |
Very high waves (20-30 ft) with overhanging crests, sea white with densely blown foam, heavy rolling, lowered visibility |
Seldom experienced on land, trees broken or uprooted, "considerable structural damage" |
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11 |
Violent Storm |
64-72 |
Exceptionally high (30-45 ft) waves, foam patches cover sea, visibility more reduced |
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12 |
Hurricane |
73+ |
Air filled with foam, waves over 45 ft, sea completely white with driving spray, visibility greatly reduced |
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