Monday, August 30, 2010

Flabby Starfish and the Chicken-flavoured Gravy

Looked like the wind was finally going to be good on Saturday but naturally I had to work! Sunday's prediction was about the same but a little less, so I hot-footed it down to Mie to ride the southerlies.

Finally arrived about 2pm (have you ever tried to get a wife moving?), got set up and jumped in. Hadn't really inflated the Crossbow enough so it was a bit soft. That's ok cos so was the wind. On-shore wind were enough to get up and riding but meant close-reaches down the beach, trying to avoid the shore when the shape of the bay pushed the land out into the water and desperate attempts to ride upwind when the gusts hit.

Discovered that riding in the wide open spaces of the shallow water after the last wave breaks on the shore is very nice indeed - flat smooth and fast ... however - yes you know what's coming - when you run out of the 2 or 3 inches your riding on, the board just stops. I knew what was coming so was just trying let the speed run off, but ran out of water ... I got pulled off the board in the direction of travel and kind of went down on my arse, backwards but as the kite was on an upstroke, I sort of glided downwind and spun myself around to face the kite, got my feet in front of me and scudded up the beach as I got the kite under control. It could have been bad but it wasn't so I had a good ol' cackle :) and resolved not to do that again!

Gradually the wind picked up just a tad and I had some nice long rides from out launching point all the way to the river mouth at the west and back past it out to the east for as far as I dared. Still only reaching but many enough ground upwind to keep away from the shore ... the Square One is really killing my upwind eh! Had to do a few WoS when the wind dropped off but not too many - and I wasn't the only one! Gravy but not the good beef gravy, no ...

Also discovered a new technique for getting through the breakers ... those rotten little buggers that sweep in knee-high with enough force to push my foot out from under me or sink the board if I just try to ride into them ... took this long to figure it out cos I can only now do what I think is load'n'pop and you need to be powered-up or at least moving with a little speed but what you do is ride along or turn parallel to the wave then as it's about to hit, carve into it hard with a heavy back foot then pop the board up - usually you'll bounce/float over the wave. Just gotta be careful not to be too aggressive or have too much power in the kite or the pop turns into a jump and float back downwind right on top of the wave ... splat!

Wife had the video camera and took some shots - got my ickle jump on film too! Then she ran out of battery and the wind ran out of puff ... worked it hard for another 30 minutes then gave up cos I was getting tired and pissed off at the lack of go.

So I had a nice hour & a half or so of powered-up riding and another half hour on either side of slogging but it was a good day, worth the drive out there! Video coming soon!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Speed bar upgrade - done!

Ordered an Ozone Megatron chicken loop to replace the OE Flysurfer one that's getting very ratty. It finally arrived today so I installed it with some blue depower line ... should work nice :)


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Well there's your problem!

Pulled all the bits I could use off the Door today ... and took a pic of the damage. Ouch.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Just a taste

Hit the lake at 5pm, but although the wind seemed to be blowing good it had no push ... well not enough for me anyway :(

Tried to get a ride out of the Rip Plus but not enough wind for anything more than a scoot and sink. Back on the Square One, cross-wind runs and the waves push me onto the shore so I'm walkin' again with just a taste of riding until the lightning shut us down again.

Also had a taste of a real jump too, trying to get over a wave as I was running out of a steam on a tack ... more of a hover on top of the water actually :D

Supposed to be good tomorrow ...!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Desperado

Went down the lake again ...

Unpacked, setup and stared at the horizon, trying to figure out what the wind would do.
Commiserated with whatsisname when his Best Waroo 16 blew a seam and bladder.
Got bored and played superman in the water.
Discovered I CAN actually reverse launch the Crossbow.
Sat around talking to Jeff who was taking lessons with Miyachi.
Helped out the other guy taking lessons relaunch his kite ... boy do those F-One delta things fly like shit!
Fished a half-sunken Bic plastic kayak-thing out the water (!) and tried to haul it onto shore and drain the water out.

After 4 hours waiting, the wind finally picked up so I hit the lake for a 30 minute blast! Y'know, it WAS actually worth all the sitting around, desperately waiting for wind!

More more mo-OH-ore

Another day at the beach!

Got there about 2:30pm but should have gone down earlier, the wind was great to start with then died off. Could ride downwind find (no sinking) but went gradually from riding upwind to just gliding downwind and walking. I wasn't the only one though and even when So took my kite, he lost ground downwind too. I did however get a few good load'n'pop jumps done - felt good even if they were only a foot ;)

Tried to self-launch (win x2) and self-land without the IDS dump (fail) - there's obviously a trick to it. Still, it's nice to get an assist (when people notice!) so I can take a break ...

Packed up around 6:30pm. Not a great day's riding but I had a gravy time anyway :) tomorrow is supposed to be better! Should take the GoPro ...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Crossbow for the win! Sorta ...

Went down to Locus around lunchtime to see if Miyachi-san was back from Tokyo ... he was, so I ordered some Ronstan pulleys for the Speed. He said the wind was supposed to be ok this afternoon so I came back around 3:30pm to try out the new 2010 Cabrinha Crossbow ...

... thoughts on the Xbow vs Speed 1.5 vs Synergy ...
  • Not as much work to pump up as I remember the Lift being, especially easy since the Xbow is a one-pump system. Still not sure if it's full enough :-/
    Speed wins cos it requires no pre-inflation! :D
  • Easy to rig, no issues with crossed lines like my dumb-ass seems to have with the Synergy!
  • Did an assisted launch - no worries although assistant-san nearly got tangled up in the bridle and sent skyward :o
    Speed wins again though ... and I feel like a tit standing around waiting for someone to help oooh won't someone please help me help me /Homer
  • Launched and flew ok in light wind - I'm guessing 8 to 10 knots. Did a little body-dragging and went upwind fine. Bit iffy when the wind got lighter in a lull and I Hindenburged it once (recovered) or twice (slam!).
    Speed wins in light wind cos it stays in the air without thinking!
  • Very (?) different feel flying this kite compared to the foils ... needs to be sheeted in a lot to keep control and when left to its own devices wants to nose dive to the edge of the window - unlike the foils which tend to drift up and need to be kept down. Xbow is easier to ride one-handed though ... almost no stalling when sheeted in except in lulls. Parks'n'rides a whole lot easier. Sheeted-in turns look and feel like the Synergy and the general way it makes power when it flies is so much like the Synergy! Downloops for a zoom burst of speed easy and in general seems to make ok power. Feels a lot like the Synergy in general but makes more power in a park'n'ride.
    Xbow wins for grunt to keep me up and riding but Speed is way faster in the buttah zone!
  • Water relaunch ... what relaunch? In wind I could have reverse launched the Speed easily, I had to give up, swim the kite to the shore and take the lines off and walk back to the relaunch area with it >:( "Oh it's easy" says So "just sheet out and pull one line" well I did that, even depowered the kite to get more sheet out and it wasn't doing crap ... I did manage to flip it over on the trailing edge and hot-launch with an arc-jerk but that second time, nothing was happening and I tried for what felt like 30 minutes ... perhaps the wind was just too light for the LEI ...? Harsh words were exchanged ... I called the kite a "... a great pile of pumped up shit you funny bastard" and the kite called me "... a great fat talentless half-wit".
    Speed wins. Synergy a very close second for ease of relaunch, even in light winds.
  • Actually up and riding ... well, I like how it makes power and doesn't lose it so quick when I sheet in hard or edge hard. I was really let down by the board (Square One vs Door = Door WIN fatality!) and it pulls smooth - hardly feel the pull but I'm still riding! - and the bar pressure is lighter than either the Synergy or the Speed. Works good and when I get a good feel for it, it'll make good power.
    Xbow wins ... kinda. The Speed is just so much faster!
  • Assisted launch and landing - Xbow hands down :D nobody here knows what to make of the foils! Means I'll be able to take breaks now, which is nice ...
  • Speed of direction change is an Xbow win with Synergy close behind.
So I got a new toy and it's a good-un. My hearty thanks to Buzz, the Indonesia Cabrinha rep for a kick-arse deal! Had a nice play with it and a good ride ... tried some little jumps (actually trying to break the Square One :D ) and some turns and got a nice hour or so riding before the storm front moved in ... lightning bad run away.

It's all good, I'm a happy camper :)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Buying and selling

Selling my poor arcs that aren't getting much love to fund a new board ...
10m Vortex
15m Phantom
13m Scorpion
and bars are available.

Meanwhile I've tentatively ordered a 2010 Flyboards Door XL 170x50 from ripsessionkites.com in Canada who's done a kick-arse job in finding me EXACTLY what I want for a bottom-booting price - even the shipping is acceptable!
It'll look like this, I think ...



And just arrived today from Buzz at Ripcurl School of Surf - my 2010 Cabrinha Crossbow 16 with a brand new bar & lines! I gave in to the people telling me that the new LEIs are far more powerful than my ol' faithful Speed ... for sure it'll turn faster anyway! So fingers crossed we get some decent weather before the holidays are up!

... and it's purple :) Not me but it looks like this ...

Saturday, August 7, 2010

More DIY - crossover bar KB grows

More knowledge for my brains to soak up ... went to the river to meddle with my crossover bar and learned some stuff. Poor Rebble had a hard time though!

What you depower at the bar is like 2x what the rear lines move cos of the pulleys ... so basically, you can easily cover the full throw of even long handles (sheeted out to sheeted in ie. brakes full off to full on) with about 440mm of depower. You probably don't need all that though as you probably don't want to be able to totally stall the kite on the bar unless you trim for it eg. landing. IMHO pulling the bar all the way in should just tweak the brakes so you get the boost ...

The center pulley line needs at least 1/2 the length of the bar (aka the amount used in a turn) per side, below the knots. So for a 60cm bar the total length for that line should be like 70cm minimum, plus knots

Small knots at the ends of the leaders don't get tangled around the lines in loops.

Trim on each of the rear lines is a nice idea but fiddly in practice. Above the bar trim means that safety has to go but it'll be cleaner ...

A nice & pretty self-landing line creates too much drag IMO although using it for a chicken loop safety works nice, but don't trust the Wipika leash. And the Airush red handle pulled right off ...!

Probably - setting the rear lines so the pulley is lower than center will increase the amount of travel up and down that line but be less likey to use it all up. I know what I mean, don't worry :)

... I need more leader line!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Alas! My poor Door is no more!

Went back to Mie today with the wife ... wind was a little better, more consistently around 14 knots - contrary to the forecast!

I had my Door with me this time and it made all the difference. Into the water, up on the board and riding! Had a good long play in and out to my starting point, although I didn't make much ground upwind ... not a big fan of waves yet! The wind died off a bit so I had a rough time of fighting out through the waves only to be pushed back into shore and being unable to ride out past the waves.

The wind picked up again and I got out riding for a while. Noticed the wife had come back from her walk and was watching so thought I'd show off and throw down a big jump. Going out fast, I carved hard up the face of a wave and popped over the top! Felt like my biggest jump on the water but I bet it was no more than 2 meters from board to water, but I hit with a nice slap! and then another slap! and rode for a few feet before toppling over forwards.

Uh?

Try to get back up, no joy and the board feels mushy. Looks ok, what's going on? Water-start back towards shore, now I can see the back bending ... I've bent the board from edge to edge at the outside bolt hole for the right footpad :(

Bah! Not only have I ruined my favourite board, but ruined the rest of the day cos I didn't bring another board!

And ... when I was packing up, I noticed that the Speed's chicken loop is looking very munted :(

Cost per session for the Door - $14 ... not bad, I guess!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Meh

Went to Mie prefecture cos it's supposed to be pumping southerlies. On the way, thinking about Miyachi telling me about his spot at a place called Machiya that doesn't exist on maps, thought I'd go have a look in the general area I thought it would be ... bingo! The psychic navigation technique pays off yet again - ask me sometime how we got around France and Italy in the rental car :)

Kites in the sky, found the carpark, jumped out had a look. High tide, grassy area above the water line strewn with fire remains and rubbish, trees, reeds and assorted shit at the water line ... sigh, another sucky beach. Tough launch site for foils ...

Felt a bit nervous cos the wind was reading 15 knots but that was totally unfounded - spent what felt like an hour floundering in the surf ... wind was dead on-shore, couldn't body-drag out very far from shore and the bottom dropped off real quick so I couldn't walk out. I'd try to put the board on and by the time I'd got it on my feet, kite diving to pull me up I was right back on the sand again, almost. The wind was also totally up and down, not really enough to do anything much but annoy me.

Finally got up and maybe 20 minutes of riding out and back on a good reach, had fun playing a little but then the wind dropped right off so I packed up. Had a nice chat with a guy from Kyoto ... hope I'll see him again!

So could be a good spot. I took the Sumo out cos it's got more rocker than the Door so was hoping it'd be easier in surf. It is, once you're moving, but it's much harder to get planing :(

So a big 'meh' for today then ... but still better than sitting in front of TV :D

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

A little shock

Took the Shockwave down the park after finally getting around to fixing it ... I lost my touch :( gusty shifty winds meant I didn't get a good practice either. Oh well, we got southerlies for the rest of the week it seems to now I've got something kite-y to do!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Magic!

Went down the lake at 2:30pm expecting the wind to be up for the forecast 4pm blow ... didn't think it was possible to have ABSOLUTELY no wind, but there was. Or wasn't, if you see what I mean.

Sat under a tree for a while, went for a swim and then sat under the tree some more. Once I'd dried off, I thought I'd unpack my Speed and make sure I hadn't tangled the bridles etc when I had packed hurriedly last time.

I'd finished poncing around when the wind picked up and people started hitting the water. I pulled out my anemometer; although the lake still looked pretty smooth and there were no white-caps, we were getting an honest 12 knots, so I thought - why the hell not?

Launched the kite, grabbed the board and away! For probably 20 minutes the wind was in that 12-15 knots range and the water was super-smooth! Magic! Was easy to make and keep speed too ... then the waves arrived but also a little more wind and again, it was easy to play silly buggers on the waves.

Did some toe-side riding and toe- to heel-side carving turns, some pop'n'load jumps (and one real stonker that had me flying!), some 'surfing' around the waves and had a great time riding upwind! Also dunked myself a few times and trying a jump, I managed to leap one foot out of the straps, sink the other and flip myself over onto my back - splat! Naturally, I did that right in front of a boat full of cool wakeboarders ...

Had a good hour or so then the wind died off and I had to slog back to the beach, then body drag upwind to miss riding into a wall thing ... landed the Speed then sat and waited for the wind to pick up. It didn't pick up over 8-12 knots and although the locals were riding, I called it a night.

Great session though, I enjoyed muchly!

PS. talking to one of my more sensible kite buddies, he informs me that because there are no IKO approved schools in Japan (not correct) then the international sailing/water rules don't apply O_o and it may be chaos here, but at least people are polite ...! So, much like the roads then huh?