You need to get up and away from them to find the smoother air higher up. Buildings, trees, hills etc will all affect the flow of the wind the same as the water in the stream. Now, pick the whole stream up and stand it on it's edge and you have a pretty fair picture of how the wind interacts with the land. If there's a lot of obstacles, it can be a quite a chaotic mess.
Any obstacles, rocks, trees etc disturb the flow of the water and the water will often be flowing in the reverse direction as it goes around and eddies back in behind the obstacle. It slows down as it nears the bank due to friction with the land. In the center the stream is fast and smooth. You're standing on the bank of a fast moving stream. If you've never thought about how the wind interacts with the land, picture this: Wind can be cold, dense, smooth and beautifully predictable. Wind can be fickle, hot dry and gusty and pretty much un-fly-able. With all the talk of buggys, landboards and kites, it's probably fair to say that without wind, you won't be going very far at all. Jhn.holgate, in General Kiting, December 7, 2016
