Well, wind really delivered today. Got to the beach about 2pm and it was up - 8 and 9m kites out. A few spots of rain but I gamble on that blowing over and take out the Speed3 12 Deluxe for its first flight.
Mmm, in need to tuning the lines. And untwisting the centers! Prone to back stall... yup, small Speed - but I'm finding it easier to keep it on the boil and working. Turns better too IMO...
Wind is ok, having some fun. Picks up in the middle and really goes mad, then falls off again but I have a great time for three hours... mostly alone on the water as some guy has put his kite in a tree and everyone is helping.
Once again, an accident completely avoidable by simply pulling the QR first, and not holding on to the bar for grim death. I didn't see what lead up to it, but I saw the kite take off across the beach and his kite disappear into the trees. Mountains of time to QR... idiots.
And then, when I'm packing up, Taki strolls over to the beach and offers - repeatedly - to carry my surfboard back for me. This is the guy who walks up the beach dragging his brand new board behind him on its leash, and slammed a borrowed kite into the bushes and trash kites on the other side of the beach... FFS.
Weather was reported as 18 to 15 knots, gusts to 28; 6˚C at 66%.
Wind felt like comfy powered to over-powered but loving it.
What I learned today...
- Fully pre-inflate the smaller Speeds... less pull on take-off.
- 4/3 suit is the bomb, but the water pools at the top of the boots - need another drain hole up in there.
- My timing was off, so the boosts weren't as huge as they should have been... that, or I'm just used to "that" much now.
- Down-looping... watch that shit! 12 is s-o-o-o fast through the window, the pull so aggressive... it's a wild ride.
- No thrust bearing on the CL is horrid.
- The alu-block is horrid.
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