Skivved off work early to hit the beach.
Went home, got changed, loaded up the car, drove out, parked, humped my gear across the road down the steps on to the beach, unpacked my Synergy - damn, I've brought the 15 instead of the 19!!!
The forecast was for 5m/s falling to 4m/s from 3pm to 9pm. So about 8 to 10 knots.
Hmm ... I had put the Flysurfer Speed 1.5 17m in the car (just in case) so I humped my ickle Synergy back across the road and got stuck into the Speed.
Well. A bit of a finicky monster, in my beginners opinion. Slow turning, twitchy on the trim (I stalled it a lot), real knife-edge of powered or under-powered in these wind conditions but once you get over that hump (12 knots?) and can park and ride - man, what a ride! Boy is that thing fast! And I swear, even my idiot arse going further upwind faster than the little locals. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time trying to work the kite to make some power and going wa-aaay downwind.
Points of interest ...
Tightened the lower harness straps with both hands. This helped stop the harness riding up my bum.
Nearly had said harness yanked off though when I bailed (trying to drag my bum in the water - don't ask why cos I don't know either) and got spun around and I was sorta upside down. Not fun. Thought my pants were going with it.
Mistook my landmark on the shore and ended up further down the beach than I should have been. Couldn't get upwind well and ended up on the "other" beach. Walking back up the shore, I had to jump over a canal-thing to get back to our beach. Oops.
Getting good at riding over the waves - that's fun :)
Many Walks of Shame, a few ride out and returns. Oh well :(
The water gets colder the further out from shore you are. It's a sweet, sweet thing on a hot day!
Nose-dived the kite a few times but reverse launched it no worries! Nice, I like that.
Back-stall landed the kite easily too. Nice, I like that.
Right arm is crippled - the bracioradialis is bloody painful ... not used to the work! Not nice, I don't like that.
So basically I learned that if the regular local riders are doing the WoS then I've got no show of riding. Still better than sitting in front of telly though!
EDIT : just looked at the Yahoo! weather here that also gives the data of what was ... apparently, it was 4m/s to 3m/s ...! 6 to 8 knots! No wonder I was walking :D
Grrr sux when you grab the wrong kite. My 19m and 10m Chargers are the same color so I made the mistake once myself. At least you had the FS with you. Great kites if the conditions are right but can be complete bears if the winds are funky. and the Speeds are not speedy when it comes to turning. SLOWER THAN DEATH. If you get a chance try out a Psycho4. Molly's 19m turns pretty damn sweet. Still no Charger tho. =)
ReplyDeleteSame bags for the Syns, all on the spare bed and I didn't even check the number cos I was sure I'd put the 19 "just there" ...
ReplyDeleteThe Speed isn't the most maneuverable but like a big ol' diesel truck, it just keeps pulling. Glad I got forced to try it though - I've been a bit paranoid about the bridles and weeds or sticks on the beach creating kitemares for me but it's been a sweet kite so far!
You think the Chargers are better?