Weather forecast was for 6m/s again so I hit the lake after school. Got down there, unpacked and set up by about 4:45pm but nobody was on the water - the half dozen or so other kites there were looking glumly at the horizon ...
Jumped in and had a quick run downwind but the wind died as I turned around and I ended up body dragging back up the beach. Tooled around on the beach with the kite in the air until it dropped in a lull ... reverse launched it and amazed the locals then kept waiting for the wind to pick up, which it did after a while. Everyone hit the water again and we got a few minutes powered up until the wind died off ...
At the end of that gust, I had the bizarre experience of riding upwind, well powered while everyone else's kites were literally falling out of the sky. I was running out of beach though so I tried to turn back the other way but lost power and had to walk back to shore. Floated around in the cool water waiting for the wind but it dropped so much my poor 'bow fell outa the sky. Pulled it onto the land and sorted it out.
Just as I finished, the wind picked up and Granpa the test pilot (he weighs about 45kg ...!) hit the water and then everyone jumped in! I self-launched the 'bow and hit the lake! Spent the rest of the time until sunset, maybe an hour, nicely powered and having fun. By fun, I mean playing silly buggers, crashing, getting lobbed, submarined and generally having a great time!
I was the last one off the water and everyone avoided my eye when I was looking for a landing, so I used an anchor and self-landed.
What I learned today ...
• Normal stance on the Flydoor is better - I can edge easier and the board flexes more (dunno if that is good!) and has more (easier to get at) pop.
• Self-landing with an anchor is technically easy but can be a bit fiddly.
• Reverse launching the 'bow is not only possible, but very easy. IF you have enough wind!
• Today would have been a good chance to test the 'bow and the Speed side-by-side ...
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