Twister and Shout

6/23/18  Pleasure Bay, NE Wind, 11-16 MPH, Foiling, 10.4 Cloud Kite I get lofted. I'm foiling in light winds. A big lull hits and I'm working the kite to keep it up and stay on the board. I pull hard on the bar and I'm up about 20' in the air before I can blink. It's like I'm just plucked out of the water, right off my board, by some large invisible hand. By the time I can think about punching out I've leveled off so I sine the kite to try to keep from plummeting. I drift for a second, then I plummet. I hit pretty hard but I'm in deep water, far enough from the beach. I'm O.K. just a little shocked and dazed. If I was launching or landing at the moment that it hit I would have landed on the concrete wall, steps, flagpoles, sidewalk, or parking lot. None of those surfaces would feel soft and cushy from a 20' drop. It could be unpleasant. We'd have to change the name of the bay. Earlier in the day I had seen a mini twister of sand spin across the beach down near the lifeguard chairs. I'm guessing that what's picked me up. I was kiting down in that area when it hit. Scuttlebutt says these mini cyclones are caused by planes that are routed low over P Bay in a NE wind coming in to land at Logan Airport. They're known as wake turbulence or wingtip vortices and in extreme circumstances have caused following planes to crash. They can last for up to 3 minutes before dissipating. I kite for another 15 minutes but I can't get it out of my head. Every time I approach the rock wall or the beach I think about how I don't want to be a bug on that windshield. P Bay in NE is off my list. Sorry P Bay. I know it not your fault. I want to live to kite another day.