There was a slight breeze and I was going to fiddle with the Pyscho4 again but somehow I got roped into fiddling with the Locus webcam - locus-biwako51.ddo.jp/ - which hasn't been working for weeks. Miyachi is about as tech-savvy as the missus... which is to say, not at all. I figured out pretty quick that the new camera he got for the system didn't have the same AV plug as the old one and Miyachi was trying to use the USB plug. I fiddled with the old camera and.. bingo! Got it working again :)
Miyachi was convinced the wind was on the way, so I went home and got my gear... put a drain hole in the legs of the whale scrot. Took the old 3/2 for Miyachi to fix the seams before I chop the legs off to make it a 3/4... while we were meddling, the wind kicked it up a knot and the Master of Disaster and Mistress of Disaster both headed over to the lake. Oh goody...
I had a moment of genius and remembered that ages ago I'd bought a set of Slingshot pigtails from Miyachi - they'll be prefect to convert the OR kite to work with the Cabrinha bar... so I take that over to the lake. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking I might have to have the Psycho4 19 too cos while we've got white caps, the waves aren't very big and the wind doesn't feel strong enough for a tube...
Ooh, it looks beautiful pumped up! Pigtails work - should be trimmed about right too... rush back to put the 'suit on. Jesus it's getting too hot for that thing but I want to test the drainage...
By the time I get back to the beach, everyone is on the water - even Miyachi - so I have to tether launch. With a strange kite on a non-matching bar... joy! Despite my fears, it goes up without a problem. I check the trim - might be a tad over-sheeting but I've got grunt so I'm going for it...
Out onto the water with the Flydoor a-aaand... we're off! Nicely powered! I trim the kite a bit to ease the pressure on the bar...
What do I think of the Flite?
• Jumps are floaty and hang-time is great; height is very good but I think the Psycho get me up higher. Setting up for a jump - sheet in, point downwind a tad and pick up a bunch of speed, then send the kite and hang on!
• Landings are easy as the redirect is precise and the kite is quick.
• Turns fast makes great power in the loops!
• Stable - I really want to see it on a bar with a stopper and see how it compares to the Naish Fly.
• Very well behaved; even when fully depowered and sheeted right out, the kite responds to the bar and barely flutters the canopy.
• Upwind is great, working the kite makes power, it builds apparent wind quickly, you can park it real quick.
• Gusts don't bother it much, although it gets a tad twitchy - the tips jiggle a tiny bit. 4 struts and it's LIGHT so I guess the jiggling is to be expected... compared to a 7-strut Crossbow!
• Comparing it to the 16m XB... turns quicker; makes more power, easier, in loops; sheet'n'go is as easy; upwind is comparable, if not better; bottom end is perhaps better; top-end is marred by the twitching but probably comparable - depends on the accuracy of the weather station :-/ and the bar pressure is probably about the same...
• Things I want to change - the pulleys for sliders or Ronstan Orbits; the tube clips - are different to the Cabs - feel funny; low-flow pump valve - seriously?; big white panel in the canopy - my OCD can see the dirt there :(By far the most fun big kite I've used! I want the 15 and a razor 12 and 10 now :D
So anyway... I was loving it! Jumps were a hoot! Started doing back-rolls and they were working so well I started doing front-rolls and they were just awesome so I started doing back-roll transitions with a downloop to power out of them and they were so good I got into the downloop jump transitions and... dang I had fun! It all seemed so easy to do!
Luckily, the Master of Disaster did his thing (fly upwind on the race board) then got the hell off the lake. He was on an 11m Naish Charger. The Mistress of Disaster was doing her half-assed unhooked railey-to-assplant thing on her new 10m Switchblade Siren series (lassie, replacing your 2012 Envy isn't going to help) and was going back'n'forwards on the same tack - she couldn't really get upwind, it seemed. I had no issues ;) She left and it was just me and Miyachi on his 10m Reo and directional...
Having a great time on the Flydoor, easily going upwind no matter how many silly things I did... thought I'd swap to the 'radical. Also easy to do silly things then work back upwind :D awesome fun to be had!
I was getting pretty tired - hadn't eaten anything but a tomato advocado salad and a milkshake all day - but I was determined to be the last one on the lake. As the sun slipped below the horizon, Miyachi finally landed his kite and I followed suit.
So to sum up today...
- Got a choco-mint milkshake
- Fixed the webcam
- Sorted the draining in the legs of the whale scrot - ju-uuust right
- Rocked the Flite til dark - like a boss
- Came home to find a job offer waiting for me
- Toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner
- Baskin Robbins ice cream for desert
Moment of the day was when I realized just how good the Flite is (or at least, how well suited to me it is) and then started throwing down :D
Mood of the session was cautious psyched exhausted.
It sucks when you realize you have to sell all your Crossbows!
Weather was reported as 7 to 10 knots, peak gust of 16 just before I got on the water about 3pm. 12.6°C at 54%.
Wind felt like 15 to 20 knots :o Seriously, the kite was pulling like a good 'un the whole session!
What I learned today...
• I have moments of genius. They may be few and far between, but when they're good, they're really good.
• The Flite is the right kite for me now and it ROCKS!
• I want my frickin' bar!!!
• It's so much easier to do stuff when you can rely on the kite! I'd find myself doing backroll downloop transitions and forget that I've done all that hard stuff and can just be enjoying carving away on the new tack!
• Might have to sell the Psycho too :o
• The drain holes work good - but I can feel cold water come in through them when I'm IN the water :( so I don't think I need more than the one.
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