Here, have some of mine - I've got plenty! :D Mwa-ha-ha-haaaa!
Skivved off work an hour early and went to the lake. Forecast was for 12 knots so it was another Silberpfeil day. Unpacked, checked the steering setting doohickey and found one side was on 'standard' the other was on one step towards soft :o fixed than then side launched (less sketchy than usual!) and got onto the water about 4pm.
What do you call it when you're cutting through other people's wake at 45° and going way upwind of them? Well, whatever it was, that's what I was doing :D Got out to the K-zone about 100m from shore and started playing around ... the wind was steady for a while, then dropped a little and for the second time in 2 days, I was the only one riding. From my vantage point out on the lake, I quite enjoyed watching little guys walking back up the beach with big directionals tucked under their arms and their biggest kites struggling to stay in the air. I cackled and giggled while soaring over the waves in endless hops. I composed threads to laugh at PMU in my head and sang songs about how great having a Flysurfer is. Yeah, I had a good time.
Finally, the wind dropped right off and I was riding, but going downwind a little and was headed for the beach ... when the white caps are just starting seems to be the useful bottom end for the 'pfeil, how ever many knots that is! Those who usually watch me walk weren't even getting up on a plane, while I coasted into the beach doing little jumps ... do I sound smug and self-satisfied? Cos I am :D
About 20 minutes before sunset (5:50pm?) I called it a day and waited for people to move their kites off the beach so I could land and pack up. Fuckin' awesome, yet another cool days riding I wouldn't have had, if not for the white monster!
What I learned today ...
• You CAN kind of ollie the board by standing up straight then stomping on the back foot. Works better if you carve a little upwind first.
• Kite is MUCH better behaved with both the WAC (?) lines set to 'standard' instead of just one. Bar forces eased up a bit too - or maybe my muscles are just bigger :D
• To get a fast turn in, keep the bar sheeted in a little - but not too much!
• It's so easy to get speed out of the Silberpfeil! Sheeting in drops the kite towards the water a little and drops it back into the powerzone then just point the board downwind a touch and away you go!
• The Silberpfeil really is an easy kite to fly; it's hard to believe just how much power it's got!
• Toeside riding is nearly impossible in light wind - I just can't edge properly either is probably not helping.
• My new favourite thing to do is stretch right out, lean wa-aaay back and drag my head in the water :D flat water riding WOOHOO!
Checked the weather report ... 8 to 10 knots according to them, I'm guessing up to 12.
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