Reading wind and weather: forecasts, clouds, squalls, waterspouts and the signs that decide whether you ride today.

Half the wind kitesurfers ride is made by the sun rather than by a pressure system. How sea and land breeze work, why the wind fills in by midday and dies by evening, what strengthens it, and why forecasts miss it.

A forecast is a model, a camera is the water itself. The live stream from the K1 spot in Mui Ne, the wind sensor and the weekly forecast — and how to decide in thirty seconds whether it is worth going.

A forecast is three hours old by the time you read it. The sky is live. Which cloud shapes mean gusts, which mean the wind is about to double, and which mean you should be on the beach — with the rule that keeps you out of trouble.

Cumulus, cumulonimbus, stratus, lenticular and the gust front — a working guide to what happens under each one, why the wind lulls before a cloud and gusts after it, and which sky means pack up now.

A waterspout is a tornado over water, and they appear on kite spots more often than most riders think. How they form, how to recognise one early, how far away is far enough, and what to do if one develops while you are on the water.