I just heard that hurricane Rita is now a category 5 with sustained winds of 165 mph. If anyone can appreciate a wind of 165 mph it is someone who has lived through a hurricane or the wind-riding group. So lets put that number in perspective. The power in the wind goes up with the cube of the wind speed so lets say we are out at the beach well powered on our 14 m^2 kite and the winds are a nice 16.5 mph. Now lets say Rita comes to town and we want to ride (which would be stupid, but for argument sake, go with it). We now have 10 times the wind speed or 10^3 (1000) times the power. So instead of pumping up the 14 m^2 we need a 0.014 m^2 or a 22 in^2 kite. A kite the size of a jumbo photo (4â€ÂÂx6â€ÂÂ) would be overpowering! For the windsurfers my guess is that a 7.5 m^2 might be nice sail size in the 16.5 mph winds. So when Rita hits town we want 1000 times less sail or 0.0075 m^2 or 12 in^2. A Post-it note (9 in^2) might be a little underpowered but close.
For wind turbines we design (for the very worst case at the highest wind resources) for 72 m/s or about 161 mph. Above about 55 mph we usually give up and shut the machine down. Above 160 mph we just hold the rotor tight and pray. I hope those guys in Texas realize what is headed their way.