OK just a quick question for me fellow aucklanders...how many of you have looked at the intermawebby windmeter at some stage, for someplace and figured "yeah she'll be good just up the coast from there" and spent an hour driving out there to find its complete shite? ...Most of you?

I know everytime someone mentions forming an association or a club or trying to rig up a nationals there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth and it all gets put to one side and forgotten about. However the amount of posts on this and other forums show there are a lot of people passionate about kiting...and we are all intelligent so we should be able to organise ourselves in some way or another one would think.

So without asking to form an association or anything legally binding- who else is interested in trying to raise some funds, purchase and install some more windmeters? Obvious places being Shakespear, maybe Muriwai.. who knows I'm open to suggestions...

Perhaps we could interface them with the existing system built by the windsurfers...(i presume it was built by them, maybe it is the remnants of an ancient alien civilisation...dunno).

I was kicking around forming a casual group "West Auckland Needy Kiteboarders" as a front organisation for operating a BBQ outside Mitre10 on the non windy weekends and raising some funds for the project. I appreciate that I might need a more suitable acronym first. Can anyone shed some light on what would be involved in getting some devices..ie costs, interfacing with existing system, etc...

Just an idea, let me know your thoughts...

Cheers
moshy

A wind meter at Muriwai would be cool. The amount of $$ i have put into driving out there and realising i should have thrown in my surfboard instead (when the wind thing says 15kn) may be better spent on a wind meter out there..

just think what its worth to ya?!?

Let see... one-off $40 donation times..uuhm maybe 25 people (regular west coast kiters) = $1000 ..thats a start. maybe some one could pay monthly naming rights (advertising), then surely we're geting close?

Surfers are probably more keen on a "real" west coast wind reading than windsurfers - only a small bunch of guys head out there, and its only good in a NW'er.

i guess greg from windsurf.co.nz knows the costs and infrastructure requirements etc...

anyway, i'm keen!!

oops, that was me above...

gotta watch out for this guest bashing going on around here : )

mosh: i hear what you're saying about wind meters. most of us are able to extrapolate current west coast conditions from available data, and our previous experience with how far out that data usually is in a given wind direction.

having said that, a weather station at muriwai would of course be a great thing, not just for kiters but for thousands of other beach users. weather stations are expensive - they require dedicated computers and phone lines plus all the recording kit. greg at fourwinds is definitely the man for the job, and he could do it more efficiently than anyone.

this site could help with revenue gathering from advertising based specifically around the new data.

from your observations about getting anything organised you will be well aware that you'll have to drive the project completely if you want it done.

good luck!

I have been working on a similar plan for a few more webcams and wind meters. It was just some thing I was looking into as I thought there is a need for it.

I hunted around for webcameras or digital video cameras. There are new cameras on the market that have high res and designed for this purpose. They have built in IP addresses so you dont need a spare PC for each camera and they are weather proof. They also cater for bright light on the lens. You can also get wire less cameras. I dont have the link to site here at work but could give you the details of the company in NZ who sells them They are the dealers for all the surf cams in NZ.

I went as fare as to contact the Water Front as they had a good camera to cover the Americas Cup. It is now at the top of the big brown building in town. You can see it at the top of the poll They want 7 grand for It !! zooms and pans. And thats were it is going to stay for that price !!

I know quite a bit about networking (it's my job) and could give help you out if you need it.

Generating revenue from a site will all depend on its content.
Great thing about weather data the amount of views you would receive.

I know I must look at windsurf.co.za about 10 times a day.
I still check the Orewa and PS webcam just encase I see my first kite surfer.
The shoal bay one you have to have a keen eye.. look for the white splash..

I finish work in 2 min.. I am outta here..

Sweet, well there seems to be some interest... I'll do some research and see what I can find out.

Cheers
Moshy

Something I have thought of quite frequently is a kiter-phone-geek-txt-thingy-for-wind (once again, a better name will be needed)

If a service was set perhaps a service where you could txt the name of a location, and within minutes an automated reply could come through with wind strength and direction.

I know it would be a little more complicated and expensive than a web based system, but often you're not at a computer, and besides you can actually charge people for using the service (say the usual 99c?) to cover costs without relying so heavily on sponsors.

Just a thought

What about just using word of mouth from other kiters?

People living in certain areas give a cell phone number and times when they can be contacted and the area they can give wind and weather details on (details on the internet) - then others can phone or text them prior to heading out to see what the current conditions are like...

Advantages - Accurate description of wind and weather as long as the person is confident in their own judgement - recommendations for kite size, crowding of the location, teaches the kiter how to read the wind conditions better...

Disadvantages - May be open to getting prank calls on your phone, human error & variation

This is a suggestion but im sure it would take a while to set up and get going...

The face

Yeah the problem with calling people to find out what the wind is doing, is that the person you are calling may not be answering the phone cause they are too busy out on the water!!!
If they answer you know there's no wind!!
:idea:

Already exists Manno, check out www.wind.co.nz/
Wind strength and directions straight to your phone as a txt

greg moore mailto://greg@windsurf.co.nz actually maintains the windsurf.co.nz webcams - me know coz me offered to rework the graphs tp provide history, etc. over the hols and got GBs of email data inbound for me trubble :oops: - a good guy and open to suggestions

me like the txt or (even wap) idea coz if you see dem trees a blowin you may not be pon a pc man

up for helpin on calm dayz only

I am contracting at the warehouse, overlooking Shoal Bay.

I could start up a strand for those who would like to know what is happening at Shoal Bay. The flags are above my head @@ and they give me a good idea as to how strong and what direction is prevailing.

Let me know if any one is keen.

"the whorehouse, the whorehouse, where everyone contracts a little more than they bargained for..."

yup, i'm keen to get solid human intel on a daily basis.

greg's windsurf cam data is collected from six camera sites each every 10 minutes by email if that helps then stripped out and stored on a central server - he works @ tvnz so is hip to wireless networking, etc.

check out www.outpostcentral.com for another option in data transfer.

Shoal Bay report.

4:10 pm
Seems to be blowing more SE than SW.
There are 3 kites out at the moment flat in the water due to the wind changing more towards the E.
Its probably better they are in the water as they would be heading towards the motorway.

OK.. OK..I feel bad.

Shoal Bay is going off... Tide is up.