Hurt my back lifting weights this morning - no, really, I was doing kettlebells and on the up-swing, something in my mid-back spasmed and left me whimpering like a little girl. Finished my workout though :D I'll be skipping the 'bells for a while.
Despite that, the wind was forecast to be a teeny bit good today so I thought I'd head out for a look anyway - being my last week of holidays and all. Got to the lake about 12:20 and the wind was picking up, so I thought I'd go for it with the Flite and the new OR Freeride bar.
Pumped it up and laid the bar out - nice! That sure is a lo-oong depower line LOL! I like the orange too, it matches my bike :D and it's easy to see when spinning the bar.
A bar review then...
OR ditched the ergo bend and adjustable width cos they said nobody used them and I have to admit, I don't on bars I have that do. Shame, cos I like ergo things; been using an MS ergo keyboard for 20 years now :o
Bar is of a thick diameter (bucking a trend) and has serious finger ridges. I like both so far - but I was in 2mm gloves again today. The bar ends are the 'horns' like Ozone bars and do their job just fine. They have 'built-in' bungy line-tides with a tab that tuck away when not it use - I like that design touch.
Line adjustment is under the floats. Oh Shit! handles are velcro secured for tidiness.
The depower line has two areas about 50mm long that have a smaller diameter line spliced inside it - I guess they are there to give tactile feedback for the stopper for depower throw and for max trim. If/when I replace the depower line, I'm going to splice in a red line and loop it over like Naish bars for a visible reference. Swivel is the Mickey Mouse-ears things with a neoprene covered pulley for the depower line; apparently, these things work just fine but they look naff. If I get anal, I'll replace it for the Naish/Mutiny/Slingshot plastic sexy thing.
Lines are 23m long, plus the depower/leader lines are at least 3m I swear! Look like Ozone lines too - red for left, blue for right. Pigtails are on the end of the lines. Bridles are short but do their job to roll the kite over easy.
QR is old school; a flap that releases the chicken loop, similar to the Naish system but external - easy to reset in the water. QR/CL body is rugged black nylon. Chicken finger is bolted onto the body, so it swivels and is easy to engage... I'd prefer it to be integrated into the body cos that looks slicker ;) no swivel below the bar but you don't need it.
Safety is one end of the depower line - when released it pulls through the CL body and the kite goes away; works just fine, the stopper slides up to the swivel. Depower is the other end of the depower line, below the bar, a cleat on the CL. Forgot to test it but it held fine. I imagine you could leash to the depower side if you really wanted too... QR/CL body will 'lock' or nest into the bar nicely...
Relaunch... finally tested it today several times. It's almost automatic! A poorly timed looped had the kite LE down directly down-wind of me; the kite was on it's back but had tension in the steering lines, so it floated away to the edge of the window, came up on it's tip then got off the water and hovered a few feet in the air when I tensioned the bar :o fabulous!
Re-ride... hmm. Kite goes totally onto its back, completely depowered, the depower line goes all the way through the CL/QR body and up to the swivel. I hauled the bar back in, reassembled the QR (easy!) then expected the depower line just to feed out till the kite was in 'normal' configuration. Didn't happen so I manually fed the line through the swivel... kite stayed on it's back, despite me pulling on the rear lines. Oh noes! it's going to be a C-kite launch. I was too lazy to swim around so like a dummy I just kept pulling the lines until... I tangle it all up :D manage to invert the kite and relaunch it but now the rear lines are through the fronts - OMG it's actually an arc!!! Got back to the beach though...
I guess I gotta work on that!
...
Back to the kiting. Tether-launch, hum'n'har about board choice then head out with the 'radical. Works fine! The water is unusually flat so it's super-sweet riding! Upwind is good so I get to playing. Man it's good to be able to ride the fun board in light wind and on flat water! Despite the light wind, I'm having a great old time! Front-rolls, back-rolls, transitions - oh my!
I'd been on the water for an hour by myself before I decided to test the re-ride. Got back to the YMCA beach and tried to land the kite to throw the bar through the lines... it wasn't co-operating so I walked back to our beach and noticed that asshole guy who tells everyone what size kite they should be using had arrived. Self-landed, got a drink of water, then got back out on the lake.
Having such a great time! More people arrive - Tall Skinny Guy, Can't relaunch my Helix guy, and Dennis the Menace.
I don't want to stop but I'm starting to fell REALLY tired so I call it day - the wind has dropped anyway, just as it was forecast to do. I get back to my car at 4:30 - I was out for 3 hours!
Back didn't bother me either ;) bi-winning!
Moment of the day was front-roll, back-roll, front-roll, back-roll, jump-downloop transition, back-roll... like a BOSS.
Mood of the session was surprised extra-stoked exhausted.
It sucks when you only have your 6mm suit and it's 20˚C out!
Weather was reported as 8 to 12 knots, gusts to 18; 16˚C at 61%.
Wind felt like 75% gravy, 24% almost gravy, 1% oh damn I'm walking.
What I learned today...
• Relaunch is awesome.
• Re-ride is need practice.
• Have to start putting my 3/2 in the car - too damned hot in the 6mm, I was dying out there! But the water is bloody cold!
• Got a repair to do on the 6mm too :( stitching coming undone under the chin.
• Jumping with the Flite: best results from riding fast, edging but not braking then leaping when it pulls up, sheet in and... I can see my house from here! Sheeting out some once it's sent seems to help but I had good results just riding up the face of waves with the bar in too :D
• Sheeting out on a too big back-roll chops the height but you don't lose control.
• Knees up on the front rolls!
• Backrolls on my goofy side are feeling pretty much like on my good side!
• If you do a bunch of loops all in the same direction, the depower line will twist but you can loop back in the other direction to sort it out.
• The depower line will clack on the hole through the bar... distracted me till I figured out what it was.
• Sand washes out of the bar holes etc very easily!
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