Charge! Argh!

Things ... they move slowly but they do move. Took a while to sell of enough Synergy's to fund the upgrade to Chargers, but it's happening slowly. Here is the story of the first to arrive.

"What are the odds!?"

The postman ... they come in the middle of the day when, of course, nobody is home and leave an "Undelivered Notice" which means I have to call and get the post office to redeliver it sometime between 7 and 9 in the evening.

Now the amazing thing is that they ALWAYS seem to arrange it so that mail arrives at the house on a Tuesday - when I have to work late and can't be home before 8:30pm ... which means I have to either wait until Wednesday night for them to redeliver, or go in and pick it up Wednesday morning and deal with the utter retards behind the counter. Being only slightly more tolerant than impatient, Wednesday morning I left the house 5 minutes earlier than usual and went in and picked up the light-rasta Peter Lynn Charger 15 that arrived - on a Tuesday, of course - from Spain for me.

"I wonder what the weather is up to?"

Very light work load today; I'd planned on goofing off and meddling with my slightly broken Psycho3 13 and unpacking the Charger and having an Ooh-Aah Ogle session when about 11am I wondered what the wind would be doing today ... checked the Yahoo! Weather page and was disappointed with the prediction of 1m/s but checked GPV anyway - whoa! 10m/s northerlies from 2pm!

Crap, my swim suits are at home wet in a puddle at the bottom of my harness bucket. Check the air temp forecast to see if I've got an excuse to pussy out. Nope, 8 degrees C - that should be ... survivable. Ok I'll make a run for home during my lunch hour, wash my gear to get the lake funk out of it and hopefully dry it out a little from the spin cycle. Done.

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Got to the beach at 4:30pm and I'm all alone - nobody else is there but the wind is crankin'! How odd ... could it be because IT'S FREEZING you freaking dolt!

I get changed and unpack my secret weapon against wind-chill - the jacket of the $40 rain suit I bought from the local DIY store ... in 2003 :D it's done me good service on the bike but it doesn't breath at all - which is good and bad.

Unroll the 15m Charger ...




Check the bag ... says 15 yup - gee it's small! Maybe I'm just used to looking at the 19m Synergy all the time, but I swear it looks too small to be a 15! Sticks in (ah that's why it was sold - spar cap stuck in the sleeve! :D ) set the straps to 1/2 all round and the VPC second knot from the top - too cold to stand around checking the manual to see if that's right. Fills quickly.

"Who ordered the Clam Chowder?"

Thinking the kite is totally full, I close the zip then go back and to put my harness on, hook into the bar and get ready to launch. Dither a bit trying to decide if I should use some trim or not, cos the rear leaders looked muy short - the Synergy launched best with no trim but had pigtails ... the Charger does not. Go for about 2 inches of trim.

Line comes off clean, tip comes up and for a few milliseconds, it looks all good - then the kite clams up. Flaps around while I try the tricks - more trim, less trim, jerk the center lines, jerk the bar, run backwards, run forwards ... I get close on occasion - close to a bow-tie too :D - but eventually I get it into the air. Phew!

Pulling hard, good lofts so should be good to go on the water.

"Skunked in the shift!"

Water is cold but my poo-hoo jacket does its job! Wind is almost directly onshore (NE) so I gotta walk it out a fair way ... kite is a bit twitchy while I get the board on, probably cos I'm rushing to get out of the water! Finally get it done, dive the kite and off we go.

Working it like a mofo but I'm not getting upwind away from the beach. Make one turn, head back and am making ground now. Another turn, more ground. Turn again, heading down the beach but the wind has definitely gone ... while walking back up the beach, it almost dies off completely.

Stand around on the beach playing with kite kite, enjoying the sunshine and trying to warm my right hand up. Wind changes direction and is now NW and finally, the 9m/s has arrived!

"Warp factor 9, Mr Sulu!"

With the wind cross-shore, I ride out only a short distance ... fighting my way through the breakers is tough, I'm going downwind a lot to keep speed in the kite and board - every bounce over a wave costs me ground upwind and pull from the kite.

On the turn to head back in - sweet mother of mercy! the Charger screams across the window so fast I almost don't have time to get myself pointed back in the other direction before it's pulling so hard and shooting into the wind!

We're off like a race horse heading back to the shore! Riding with the waves, the water is flatter so we're really hauling ass! The beach is rushing towards me - I edge hard, shoot upwind for a bit, stall the kite then send it back the other way for another burst of mad speed!

This kite is so fast and reacts so quickly ... take eyes off it for a second, look back at it and I'm diving it straight at the water LE down, and I swear - without a meter or two of a crash I've turned it and sent it back up again! Bar pressure for the turns is lighter than Synergy, more like a big LEI but is a bit heavier on the sheet-in, like my FSers on "Hard" WAC ... which is probably a good thing!

Out and back a few times, on to the beach to warm my hands up ... then back out again. Repeat until the sun is starting to slip behind the hills ...

A quick review ... wind was about 7 to 10m/s.
I think the 15m Charger will rock in 10m/s plus ie. over 20 knots constant. So it probably won't get much use around here :(
Charger is faster than the Synergy through the window and in response to turn input - the near-crash and recovery happened a couple of times!
Holds a tighter line through the corner and pulls harder on the way through than a Synergy, I reckon - speed sure is power!
Less bar pressure than the Synergy - more like a heavy LEI, although sheeting in hard was an effort - that was more like a Flysurfer on "Hard" WAC setting.
Auto-zenith is no more or less vague than the Synergy IMHO; hunting from left to right but generally "up".
Think it needs pigtails - will ask the experts.
The little jumps I did on land seemed very floaty, compared to the Synergy. May just have been the wind but when the water is less cold and I won't mind being dunked in it - we'll see!

"Oh that's why it was so cold!"

Drag my gear back across the road, looking forward to a warm shower at the club house but - the water is all off! Bah. Probably a good thing cos the pins'n'needles as my skin reacts to the hot water is unpleasant. I get back into dry clothes and head home.

Within a few hours, we've got snow again ... 2 inches fall overnight. Bah humbug.

What I learned today ...
• Winter isn't over yet.
• Rain suit is the bomb for keeping wind-chill down ... wonder if they do gloves? Should find the pants too :D
• Charger - so fast, lots of power with the speed but it's like a 2-stroke - gotta rev it up! Gotta rev ME up!
• Gotta work on the launch.
• I think the 19m is also going to suffer from the lament of the arc - 15 knots or more for anything groovy to happen. But it'll be fun trying!
• Charger will be awesome when I can get some flat-water riding in ... it's hard work in choppy conditions keeping speed in kite and board.

Win Win Fail

Left work and headed down the lake like a bat outa hell ... forecast looked good so I took my refurbished Psycho3 13 and the Crossbow 16 (just in case) to the beach. Wind had dropped off from what I had seen on the Locus webcam and Grandpa and Uncle weren't amused either.

Setup and launched the Psycho3, testing out my Mixer Test and all the other stuff I'd added. Hadn't hooked into the Ozone Megatron chicken loop properly (?) and it just off the hook and out of my hands - folding up nicely on the FDS. Recovered the bar and relaunched without any issues. Flew it around for a bit, all seems good ...

Win!

... so I get into the water. Yikes it's cold! The sun has gone behind clouds so it's not going to warm up and it looks like a front is coming through from the north. Wind isn't up to much - can get up but can't get onto a plane. Give up after about 50m and walk back up the beach ... leave the kite in the air while I stand around trying to decide if it's too cold to continue with a proper test on the Psycho ...

... wind picks up! Get back in the water and we're away! This Flysurfer is about as powerful as powerful as my 16m 'bow but will fly in less wind; it starts to work about the same time as the 16 but needs a little more wind to really pull.

Had about a half hour of powered back'n'forth, some nice little load'n'pops. Was being very careful on the turns cos it makes so much lift! Is relatively fast and needs an eye kept on it, kind of hard to park. Makes best power when sheeted in a little; compared to the Speed, doesn't make so much when given its head and let run through the window unsheeted. Good riding though, should jump like a mother!

Win!

Decided to head back into shore cos the front had arrived and it was snowing 0_o and was feeling my oats so at the end of a port tack, I tried a downloop turn ... didn't have the kite high enough to start with or underestimated the turning speed - whatever - dragged the RH wingtip across the water until it crashed LE down. Tried to try a relaunch by pulling just one leader line, and while the kite scooted across the window, it didn't launch. Went to a both rear header launch ... up! and away.

Started off on a starboard tack, dived the kite but it pulled back to the left and wouldn't respond to steering. I sheeted in hard to slow it down and it hit LE down again. Relaunch, turn to the left and stall. Repeat. Something seriously wrong there!

Kite is getting close to the bad end of the beach with shit all over the shore and it's bloody cold so I unhook and let the kite go to FDS which on reflection may have been a mistake ... wind up the FDS and then the lines for a self-rescue. Unfortunately, the kite has drifted onto the shore and is now tangled up on a branch of bamboo ... I untangle it gingerly but when I lift it, I think I hear a rip :(

Fail ...

Drag the kite back to sandy beach, lay it out and check it over. There a 5cm tear on the LH wingtip right where a bridle line joins. Nuts! Everything else seems fine though, apart from being wet and covered in sand.

Relaunch and it flies like the zipper is open, even though the kite is inflated. Water drains out of the LH tip but it still wants to stall out that side of the window. Gradually as it dries out it wants to stall less but is still flying all borked-like. Wonder if the mixer balls have slipped ...?

Land and pack up - I'll have to hang it up to dry cos it's COVERED in sand! Pity ... poor ol' Psycho! :(

What I learned today ...
• I need to NikWax or Seal'n'Glide the Psycho3 ... it gets very wet and very soggy.
• Stay away from "that" end of the beach :(
• Want a Psycho4 now! But what size?
• Ozone Megatron loop is hard to activate with frozen hands!
• Self-rescue with a FS is no worse than LEI; in fact, probably easier.
• Balls on the mixer may not be the best solution ... going back to the knots.
• Check the RHS of the mixer and release that twist there ...

2 in a row

Behaved myself and hit the lake straight after work rather than skiving off early. Wind seemed good so I carried my 16 & 13 Crossbow over to the lake but despite all the white caps, it was weaker than it looked so I pumped up the 16 and jumped in.

... how fast can I get the board on my feet and started? Pretty damn fast when it's cold :D nearly went haywire though as I missed my front footing at first. Couldn't see any snow on the hills on the other side of the lake COS IT WAS FRICKEN SNOWING UP THERE and it was covered in cloud! Had to bodydrag back to the board once ... not nice!

Had a nice time out playing, trying to get back into the groove. Wind was a bit gusty, alternately had to work it or edge hard to hold an upwind tack ...

Did some nice hop to toeside, downloop the kite then carve out the other way turns and tried some jumps but my timing is off and I'm afraid of really sending it cos it's cold in the water! Did it properly once though, and got a good jump straight up - I think I can see how it works better now!

Stayed out as long as I dared - sun was setting and I could feel the temperature dropping. Landed and packed up ... must have arrived about 4:30pm, got back in the car at 6 - probably an hour on the lake :)

What I learned today ...
• I'm a pussy.
• Sending and jumping properly is fun but needs more commitment than I was willing to give. See above.
• Love the Recoil upgrade for the Cab bar - downloop fast and powered turns rock!
• LE seems softer when I come back in than when I went out - hoping it's the cold air decreasing the volume of the LE and not a leak :(
• I need gloves.
• Seem to be getting a little better at riding toeside ... watching vids and thinking about it helps :D

Was it worth it?

The wind was forecast for a miserly 10 knots but I thought it'd be nice to test out the Speed 2.5, post-repairs and tweaks ... it was a nice sunny day - what better way to spend it?

Got to the lake about 2:30 and dragged my SA2.5 over the road ... set up, launched and got a run out and back before the wind fell off and I had to walk up the beach. Sat around for a while waiting for the wind to come back up, but it didn't so I gave up. Wound up my lines but left the SA2.5 on the beach.

Went back to the car and got out the Psycho3 13 and all the bits'n'pieces I'd ordered for it. Took it over to the beach then started setting it up - connecting lines and whatnot. Ordered a lineset from FS which came with the full length of 12, 6 and 3m - unlike the FDS that was on the kite originally :( so like my SA2.5, I have to use the FDS with shorter lines ... nuts!
Finally got it all together and launched!

Hmm ... FDS is now too short. Landed and added the frangible link bit. Better. Kite still wants to back stall so I trim it a bit ... WOW this things fast for a foil! And pulls hard too ... gonna be good!

Sun is falling but the wind's picked up so I land the Psycho3 and launch the Speed2 and take a few tacks on the board ... running out of beach so I come ashore but drop the kite and the fucking FDS line loops and knots itself around the other lines so I have to run away securing the kite and sorting that out before I can walk back up the beach.

So the answer is - yes :)

FFfffff ... uuuuuu ... haaaa ... reeeeezing!

Thought I'd go down the lake, fly the Outlaw and check-out the Ozone CL mod ... natch, I left it at home but Hiro-chan was there so I went and had a look at him for a bit but the wind-chill was nasty so I went home. 8°C on the Yahoo! weather forecast ...

However ...!

Driving home the sun came out and I thought about 2 months with no riding so I sucked it up, took off the skirt and put my water gear in the car, turned around and drove back!

Got there about 3:30pm and pumped up the 16m Crossbow cos the wind had dropped since erm 3pm and by the time I'd done that, I was sweating :D grabbed the board and got in the water.

"Oh wow water's about as cold as last time I was in it" ... except for the wind-chill! Crikey!

So began the first session of 2011! Boy am I ever rusty ... tooled around for a bit, timidly tried to jump (lol) but the wind was on and off - even had to drag into shore cos it dropped off but I found a new hat so that was nice - but I got in about an hour's ride until my frozen balls screamed ENOUGH and I packed up.

Bit desperate, but good to be back in the saddle :D

What I learned today ...
• I really should invest in a wetsuit - shorts, 2x rash-gaurds and a t-shirt doesn't really cut it.
• Snow on the hills beside the lake is probably a good indicator of how cold it's going to be!
• The Ion Ballistic shoe things work good to keep my feet warm but they make it tough to get feet in straps and actually make my feet hurt like my ski-boots are too tight :(
• Warming up in the shower at the clubhouse ... the pins and needles were interesting. Couldn't warm up properly until I got in the bath either. One good thing about Japan - baths!

UPDATE Feb 26
Grandpa made a movie of Hironobu that day and I make a brief cameo :D

Notes to self on DIY of the Megatron chicken loop for Flysurfer bars

With pictures and more or less information.

Update - ordered some Samson LashIt! twine from the US ... made from Dyneema and UV coated, 180 feet for $25 plus the same for shipping 0_o 1.75mm and 500lbs (230kg) breaking load - just what the doctor ordered! Hopefully :D and there should be much less grunting and swearing involved ...
Update on the update - LashIt! has arrived and looks excellent - adds very little to the thickness of the 5mm and oddly enough, looks exactly like what is used in the Flysurfer depower line ... will get into making a line tonight and promise to take pictures!

Supplies
• About 150cm of 5mm (3/16) Amsteel Blue SK-75, breaking load 2,500kg for the depower loop line
• and 100cm of 2.8 of Amsteel Blue SK-75, breaking load 750kg for the "core" ... probably the 2.2mm LashIt! would have been better than the 1.75mm but cest la vie and all that.
• 5/8mm ID/OD PU tubing - goes under the spinning handle and is easier than reusing the Ozone stuff ... it's just compressor line anyway
• Ozone Megatron chicken loop (duh) with the "Spinning Handle" for the 5th line safety
• Heat-shrink (or whipping line - synthetic)
• Needles and thread (synthetic too)

Tools
• Long-nosed pliers
• DIY pull fid - made from coated 20-gauge wire, put the end you want a loop in, in a drill and spun slowly till at least 1m long
• tie ball to push the tubing, about 20mm

0. Skip all this crap and use the Beal line. The easiest option by a country mile, but 1,200kg breaking load bothers me ...

1. Cut the PU tubing to fit inside the "Spinning Handle" - about 6cm long.

2. Taper the end of the 5mm Amsteel ...
• measure and mark at 70mm, 90mm and 110mm
• pull out 2 braids at each mark, starting at 110mm and working towards the tip
• should leave about 3-4 lines at the tip - if there's more, pull out a few more between the marks - keep the taper smooth!

 


3. Splice the 'core' into the 5mm Amsteel with the wire fid. Leave some sticking out on either end so you can pull it tight.

 

4. Start the lock stitch about 5mm from where you plan to cut. Slide the heat-shrink over the 5mm. Stitch out away from where you'll cut, then when you turn around to stitch back, cut and heat-shrink it then stitch back to the end and over the heat shrink.

5. Figure-8 knot in that end - that'll be going inside the CL body.

 

6. Remove the suicide-leash loop. Feed the tapered end of the 5mm up into the body of the CL, orientated so that the knot will be inside. Pull the 5mm though, smoothing it over the core. Pull hard to seat the Figure-8 stopper knot.

7. Feed the tapered end of the 5mm into the PU tube - twist and push!

 

8. If all goes well, the gods are smiling, the planets align and you hold your tongue just right - you should be able to pull out the 5mm and slide the PU over the taper, down the line and over the part with the core. From here on, use the ball-thingy to push the PU tube down to the CL body. Smooth out the 5mm over the core and seat it hard against the body of the CL.

9. Fit the spinning handle onto the PU tubing ... using a smaller core makes life easier - zero strain with the 1.75mm LashIt!. Leave the screws just snugged-up for now.

10. Make sure the 5mm is smooth and taught over the core; measure 40cm from the spinning handle body (40cm is standard for FS kites - J. suggests 40-45cm; my SA2.5 is 48cm) and then figure out how much you need for a Bowline ...

11. Cut the line off square and secure the tip with heat-shrink or whipping - and lock stitch ... I had planned to cut 1.1m of 5mm and end up with 1m of depower line but somehow it ended up as a finished length of 70cm which is about perfect - you can easily (kinda!) tie a bowline at the trim strap and still have 45cm of depower. That's before it's put under load and tightens up ...

 


12. Feed the depower line through the bar, fit the gust absorber and feed/pull through the trim strap - make sure there's some 8mm OD PU tubing in there!

13. Bowline at the trim strap. Get it tight! It'll all snug up on the next flight, so be prepared to adjust front leader lines or mixer 0_o'

14. Tidy it all up; refit the suicide-leash loop, tighten the screws on the spinning handle (make sure it and the PU tubing is seated hard against the CL body), cover the gust absorber.



15. Go fly! Check to stretch etc and SailKote the line!

Testing, testing ...

Took the Synergy 19 down to the lake for a quick test flight after work - I'd put
Ronstan Orbit series 20 blocks (pulleys) on it a while back, but only now just got around to flying it.

Used the same method as on the Charger to attach the block - little pig tail through the block then "Lark's Head" onto the strap on the kite. I used 3.2mm Amsteel Blue (in red) and stitched and knotted the pig tail. I think I used about 140mm but I forget now ... anyway, it was a tight fit to get onto the kite, but now it's only about 5mm longer than the OE pulley. Although the Ronstan is larger diameter so it all balances out I guess ...

... anyway, the kite flew fine, the pulleys worked as they're supposed to and all the rigging looks bomb-proof. It may just be psychological, but I swear that the steering/sheeting response was smoother ... and crisper, if it's possible to be both at the same time!

Well, that's done - now to sell all my Synergy's to fund my upgrade to Chargers ... I don't suppose that you know anyone that wants an immaculate 8, 10, 12 or 15 and a barely used 19, do you? ;)

Edit : 15 is gone, 19 is going I think ... need to sell off the tiddlers. Got a line on a 19m Charger - woop woop! - so I can see what all the moaning is about ...

Arc info!

About the VPC, as posted by Tungsten at www.arcusers.net here!

If you are a light weight, you get away with less VPC (or none at all) in the smaller sizes, and a bit to decent VPC in your low wind kites.
The more your arse is on the lard side (like mine), the more of this healthy shifting VPC effect you will fancy; the lower the wind, the more VPC, the higher the wind (high winds are gusty winds), the less instability you want, so less VPC; as an extreme, you may take the VPC off for the crazy winds.
You sure have to spend a bit of time to find your decent amount of VPC effect for the bigger sizes you use, get used to it and enjoy.

So moving the rear line towards the leading edge is increasing the VPC effect ...

Boxing Day Bimble - The Movie!

Hit the lake beach this afternoon to try to get the Synergy to bow-tie and film a recovery and test out the Ozone Access SB harness and finally fly the Flysurfer Outlaw 10m I've had for AGES but have yet to take out of the bag.

Partial success with the Synergy bow-tie thing - try as I might, it wouldn't bow tie or even misbehave too much, despite the iffy wind ... gusty norwester and turbulent near the trees but the Synergy was stable. Got one bow-tie, but as it propellered down, it bounced of the ground and straight back into the air :D

Set a jump and sent the kite across much faster than I intended and went soaring - thoughts of the tragedy in NZ recently flashed through my mind and as I hovered over the safety release, I started going down and relaxed - foot slide to bum landing ...

Had a nightmare with a line tangle as I packed up, dunno WTF that was about. Set up the Outlaw and had a play with that ...

What I learned today ...
• The Ozone harness is nice, feel the pull fairly equally between waist and leg straps unlike the Fusion - the leg straps only seem to be there on the Dakine to stop the harness riding up ... ha!
• One size fits all only just fits :( over ski-pants it'll be tight. Back on the diet!
• The Outlaw feels like a fixed bridle flying on the Ozone Turbo bar - not so much depower effect through the bar.
• Not as lifty as I thought it would be, but it is a small kite. Will be good for landboarding.
• Likes to collapse like a F.B. as I guess it has much less internal pressure when it's not flying.
• I'm a chronic mouth breather :( you can hear "huh-huh-huh" on the video and it's not like I can even blame having a cold ...!

Christmas Quickee - The Movie!

A short blast with the Synergy 19 in over-powered conditions :D
I went to the lake with the intention of filming my de-bowtie technique (should I have managed to pull it off again) but the wind was just too full on. I also didn't have the right shoes on for scudding so I just played around a bit ...
Didn't get the camera angle right either :(

I am the Bow-tie freakin' Master!

Toddled off to the lake today to have a play with the Psycho3 13 ... why not, it's holidays and I've got nothing better to do! Didn't take board or togs cos I figured it was too cold, but it was actually quite nice down there and no colder than the last time I was on the lake. Oh well.

Wind was supposed to be good but was shifty as hell, going all the from east to west at one stage! Gusty too.

Checked out the Psycho and put it up. Bridle had a little tangle so I had to put it down. Sorted that out and up she goes - much easier in the very light wind than the S2 19 (or even what I remember of the S1 17) but that's to be expected with a smaller kite. Got a good feel for it in light to moderate wind and it certainly will be a fun tractor! Need to tidy up the bar ... packed up, started to head back to the car but then stood around for a while shooting the breeze with Miyachi. The wind picked up so I thought, "Why not haul out the Synergy 19?" which I did.

At first the wind was good but then it dropped off, and I thought the wind would be too light to even fill let alone launch. Picked up again and I got a good fill. As I tried to launch the wind shifted so I struggled to get the kite in the air - was running around from north to west and back again to stay upwind of the kite.

Note this well - got it into the air despite not being 100% inflated on the ground AS ALWAYS and managed to get it filled on the way up to the zenith but then the wind dropped and I lost control.

Bow-tie. Managed to untangle it from the bar though - can't remember exactly what I did, but noticed that I might be able to get it LE down so pulled a rear line to do that, that just relaunched by the standard method. That worked the other 2 times I bow-tied :D who says you can't bow-tie a Synergy?

Wind came back with a vengeance - HOLY FUCK what a difference pulling the straps up and shifting the VPC makes! Had everything set at 1/2 for so long ... all tight and it's a mighty beast! Had to watch the jumps cos they were getting silly high and the landings were rattling my teeth! Massive long scuds took me from one end of the beach to the other until I hit a bank thing and got lobbed over it!

Wind died off, but by working the kite I kept it in the air while the guys out on the water with the LEIs were swimming in.

Excellent CarlTB stall landing and after switching the VPC lines to the opposite position (don't like it) a painless relaunch was enjoyed.

Great afternoon, now worn out and have sand in mysterious places ... and am thinking about Chargers now!

There's a Psycho in my closet!

The Flysurfer Psycho3 13 I bought used from an Italian in the navy arrived yesterday ... unrolled it today to pack it up nice. Bar needs a bit of attention but for the price, the kite is in great condition! Enjoy the pics :)

Rebble, Rebble! - The Movie!

Old movie I thought I'd uploaded from March, 2010.

End of winter ride in the park on the ol' landboard, earlier this year, filmed with a helmet mounted GoPro.
You'll notice around 3:28 the very, very good reason for wearing kite killers! Also note that the back strap in no way affected my ability to ditch the kite when the gust hit ...

Learning to Fly - The Movie!

a.k.a. 37 going on 13. Usually it's years old, not degrees Celsius although the parallel is striking! Between summer and today. Ok not so interesting, shutting up ...

Forecast looked kickin' and it coincided with a holiday! Awesome :) so despite it being 13°C I headed out to the lake at 10-ish with my Crossbows and Synergy 19 in the boot.

Pumped up the new 2011 13 cos I wanted to get some GoPro of big jumps before the end of this season :D on reflection, I probably would have had more fun on the Synergy. Oh well.

Got on the water about 11 and while it was a bit of a cold shock to the body, it wasn't that bad. I started out the Rip Plus but I just wasn't feeling it in the chop (waves!) so went and got my trusty Flydoor from the beach. Much better!

The 13 'bow is a bit twitchy ... really gotta keep the speed in it and the board to get a constant pull - not as tractor-tastic as the 16, strangely enough. Took a bit to get used to but I got it after a while. So with the camera rolling I got stuck in ...

Wind was muy gusty ... was a touch over-powered in the gusts, just powered in the lulls (didn't lose much ground downwind) and generally was just about right. Had a great time trying to go as big as I could and got slammed good many times - obviously I'm trying then according to Law of Carl :D

Had a great 3 hours or so on the water but my thighs were started to give up - literally - so I headed back into shore in the next lull. My emergence from the water was greeted with guffaws from those standing watching - they're all in full length wetsuits and I'm in t-shirt (and rash guard) and shorts; but I wasn't cold until I got off the water and was just standing around trying to pack up!

What I learned today ...
• Don't spit into the wind.
• Miyachi said, point your board downwind more when you land the big jumps!
• Still got a few degrees C more to go until it's too cold :D
• The line mount on the GoPro - don't push the camera back against the base, it points too far down. And I really need a 16Gb-er. The Rain-Xing worked good though.
• I need more time on the Rip Plus but it's hard to invest that time when the Flydoor is so much easier to ride!
• Don't breathe out on the way down, underwater ... sometimes, you don't float back up so good.
• You can (and should) direct your body by turning and looking where you want to go - you can drive your body around much easier.
• When in doubt - stomp on the rear foot!

And here's the footage ...

Probably the only one worth watching so far. Artist merit - zero. Skillful tricks - zero. Big splashes - many. I like making the big splashes.


Learning to Fly from Kevin Henry on Vimeo.

Some pics!

Finally we have a yard big enough to lay out a kite in flat and still be able to walk around it! This yard is bigger than our last house, and THAT yard was considered frivolously enormous! It was the largest in the neighborhood by a long shot ... ah, Japan - better to build your house right out to the borders of your tiny bit of land than it is to have a bit o' lawn you can dig your toes in, keeping you away from getting intimate with the audio track of the neighbor's bodily functions :o

Click for big ones :)


My 2010 Cabrinha Crossbow 16 ... plenty of room to spare!

 
Synergy 19 ... the Sea Blue actually looks much nicer in the flesh - the Synergy's are truly pretty kites! Which makes it equally hard to shift to Chargers ...!

 
Synergy 15 has little use but also is a beautiful colour!

 
A completely unused Synergy 12 ... still so brand new it hurts :( just don't have the wind for it here!

Night kiting

... by Feyd a.k.a Hardwater Kiter. Just in case he doesn't upload anything to his blog (har!) here's a pic of his night rig in a Charger.



Quote from PKF ...
"Changed my lighting system. Put the Million in and Superflashes on tips.
I'm so gonna get arrested for causing a disturbance.
...
All lights together weigh less than a pound. Gonna have to call the authorities before I go out to give them a heads up :D"

The last, was a comment about how people have called the cops after seeing night-lighted kites and mistaking them for UFOs :/

If I can get more details or pics, I'll add them at a later date.

No joy

Went to the lake. The wind wasn't really there. Got in the water, got on the water for a bit, splashed around, got out, went home. Tits.

Yo turbo'd my Core man!

No work this weekend so we trotted down to Hamamatsu. Forecast was ass but I took a full load of kite gear and lobbed my Core 6.7 and new Ozone Turbo bar in the boot too ...

Arrived at Maisaka Beach about 4pm with a touch of wind, so I unpacked the Core and Ozone and had a play while the wife went walkies.

There was hardly any wind so set up was no problem - walked the lines out of the bag, had a quick fly so I remembered what flying on handles was like (it's been a few months!) then landed and swapped to the Turbo bar ...

Compared to my homemade thing, it's much smaller and nicer :D the amount of "depower" throw is much less, as is the trim and the leader lines are much shorter. Something to work on for the rest DIY version ...

Launched and had some play time ...
Works real nice! Strangely enough :D
Brake input is enough for turning but a bit limited for actually stopping the kite but you can trim in more.
Kite turns lovely - tight enough to turn almost on a wingtip yet not lose too much speed - and is super-stable, easily recoverable in the light winds when it luffed - quick tug on the center lines.
Tested the various safety releases ... red hat above the bar is the best without a doubt, but I'd need to train my instincts for that one. Chicken loop release with a leash to the landing handle is probably easier to do but the leash doesn't spin with the bar and that lead to tangles.
Also played unhooked and the bar could be trimmed to fly nicely like that but DAMN the whole point is to take the strain through the harness!
Compared to my Version 1.0 DIY crossober bar, I had too much depower and the leaders were too long, but they handled pretty much the same ... although being able to stall the kite with the bar on my version was handy. Probably unnecessary too :)

So I think in the end, the landboarders will love it but the buggy guys will probably stick with handles. There's a little loss of fine control that you have with handles but you gain more consistent power and a much longer ride!

Brass monkeys come to mind ...

Didn't sleep well last night cos the wife was thrashing around like a spastic and talking in her sleep, waking me up non-stop and when I finally woke up, my guts were griping so I stayed home and sat on the crapper for a while.

Got bored so drove to the lake to check the wind. It was ridable but was offshore - westerly and a little southerly - so I drove over to the Pacific coast and checked out a beach there, called Rinku Beach. Maybe - it might also be called Centrair Artificial Beach. Westerly was driving onshore around 40 knots I reckon :o I had to lean into the wind, the car was bouncing around in the carpark like an elephant was humping its leg and opening my mouth made those "blowing over the top of a bottle" noises ...! Nice little beach though, enclosed by water breaks but you could get outside them easy enough and there's enough sand and grass to setup and launch foils or arcs. Headed back to Shiga and went to Locus again. Had a chat with Miyachi and impressed him with my splicing skills then the wind kicked up and a couple of the uncles were going to the lake so I changed and charged over too ...

Dead-on cross-shore wind, a first for me at Locus or indeed anywhere - must be coming in exactly west. Bit worried about fucking up and drifting off up the lake! Wind isn't up to much by the looks of the whitecaps - I really want to use my new 13m Crossbow (in the limited edition Color 001 :D ) but decide on the 16. Yahoo! weather informs me it was 12 knots ...! Don't believe it.

Launch the Crossbow and jump on the water ... whee! bit fresh :o Noticeably cold but not take your breath away ...

Blast out, blast back it's ok, I'm making ground upwind just fine. Throw down a few jumps, get some nice floaty ones. The uncles are watching, haven't launched their kites yet ... the wind is just enough then after 10 minutes it dies right off ... the 'bow Hindenburgs on me just at the shore and I actually catch it and carry it ashore, wrap the lines up to get them out of the water then lay it all out again.

We wait a bit, and the wind picks up good again and the horizon promises more, so I launch and hit the water. Bit iffy but I'm riding and holding ground. Uncles finally launch their kites and the wind picks up more! It's a touch off-shore (eep!) and it's creating a bit of a hole nearer the shore, with a strong band way out but I don't want to get stuck all the way out there ... gradually, I dip further and further into the jet stream. It comes and goes but I keep riding for another 90 minutes till about 5pm.

Nicely powered, a little too much in the gusts but that just makes the jumps more fun :D I'm loving the Recoil upgrade to the Cab bar, doing some nice hop/toe-heel carving turns with a downloop and then unspinning the bar like a cool guy :D Also love sheeting right out or dropping the bar and then not having a tangle of balls and trim ropes! Definite must for 2010 Cab bars and freeriders!

What I learned today ...
• Recoil is the shit!
• I'm fine ON the water, warm up IN the water but once the sun goes under the horizon and I'm OFF the water, I'm freezing my nuts off. Better to change out of wet clothes and THEN pack up the kite!
• Downloop on the carve toe to heelside is sweet!
• Cross-shore is a bit scary, especially when it shifts to cross-off :o I'm less inclined to play silly buggers when I'm faced with a 3-hour walk if I get blown off downwind ...!

I'm the man! - The Movie!

At long bloody last! OMG I'm not wasting any more time meddling with that damned Sony Vegas again, trying to straighten out horizons frame by frame!

This was one of my first sessions of actually riding around, doing stuff and having fun like a REAL kiteboarder ... instead of just trying to stay on the board or battling to go upwind.
I was feeling rather impressed with myself so yes I'm trying to be tongue-in-cheek with the title ...!



Get more details of the original event here ...

2 kites, 1 session - no cups!

Careful observation of the weather witchcraft website gpv-weather.info lead me down to the lake at 11am. Started out nicely powered on the Crossbow, but soon was wa-aaay overpowered - 8m/s was forecast but it felt like 10+. Packed it up, went back to the car and got my 15m Synergy.

Man, I'm glad I did! Had an epic session of hard riding, hard landings and a few big jumps though not as many as I'd have liked. Was much more in tune with the little arc and had a great ol' time throwing it around and going easy on the bar :)

I was the only person on the lake for about 90 minutes! The wind dropped of as others were starting to show up - I guessed they'd turned up for the afternoon blow that I guessed wasn't coming - so I slogged into shore and self-landed.

Waited around for the wind and it didn't seem to be coming. Picked up a bit, so I unpacked and re-pumped the 'bow ... faaaark!

Got about 30 minutes of noodling around before I muffed a jump and the kite inverted WTF!!! How about that, the LEI inverted and the arc didn't. Horseshit. Recovered the inverted LEI with arc technique but the right steering line was wrapped around the power lines. Unhooked and sorted that out then spent about 10 minutes body dragging around trying to find my board ... found it then noticed the wind had died so I slogged into shore again ...

The rest of the afternoon was spent telling people "No seriously I'm not cold at all in my shorts and t-shirt/rash guard. Yes I know you're wearing a full-length semi-dry suit but I'm still not cold!" and waiting for the wind. There was a gust around 4pm that got us all excited but it didn't pan out so I called it a day ... apparently the wind picked up as I left the beach but by then I was actually starting to feel cold. And very hungry!

What I learned today ...
• An LEI can invert. It sucks.
• Stopper ball on the Navigator bar is the best idea ever!
• Landings seemed much harsher today, maybe it was the smaller kite. Certainly need to send the kite more to launch.
• The wind in winter is a fickle bitch, but when it's on - it's ALL on! Should have taken the smaller board with me too!
• I need more constant wind so I can start trying aerial transitions etc again ...
• Lazy turns (big radius) up the top, tight turns down the bottom keeps the kite speed and pull constant.
• I'm becoming an expert at packing the very large Crossbow in to the very small Cabrinha bag ... deflate, lay out, roll wingtips into center in flat folds, fold the kite LE to TE in thirds and here's the important bit : put the end with the wing tips into the bottom of the bag and pull the bag edges up over the kite, then zip the flap up and stuff the folded end into the bag ... it should almost fit perfectly.

This is ...

... snowkiting! A classic moive! Hoping to get me a piece of that action this year too ...

snowkite "the way" 2010 from simoneborgi on Vimeo.

Typhoon-powered Synergy

I did sneaked out of work at 10:15am and headed for the lake :D
Day 2 of the typhoon in the Pacific south of here, throwing up big wind but today the rain had cleared and the wind had eased off. A little. Got to the lake about 10:45am and checked the wind. Nukin' somewhat and probably way too much for the 16m Crossbow although I notice erm That Guy is out on his 15m Bandit.

I decide on a Synergy and as the wind was forecast to die off, chose the 19m ... you should have seen Auntie's eyes when I told her it was a 19!
Unpack, inflate, attach lines, try to launch and - Bowtie City, population me. WTF have I left the deflate zipper open or something? I manage to untangle bowties a couple of times, but it just won't open the wingtips when it gets into the air and now it's losing pressure and has done multiple twists. Leash the bar to a sand bag and untangle, check the lines. Meanwhile That Guy has landed his 15 cos he's over-powered ...

Trim in 1/2 way then try again - no worries to be launching! Ah, so that was the problem. Kite feels muy powered on the beach, should be a good session. Air temp on the roadside signs is 15 degrees C and of course the wind chill is healthy but the water still feels warm! Away we go, working the kite to get out from the shore - wind is directly onshore. Head out to the K-zone and start playing ...

Synergy is nicely powered; as I think it bloody should be, it's 19m of sail up in a large amount of wind! I guess but obviously I'm spoiled by the Cabrinha - bar pressure is ... substantial :D maybe I should stop trying to fly it like a Crossbow, muscling the bar in and hauling it around. I try to get into foil mode, turning the kite without sheeting in. Better. The arc was a good choice cos it's gusty as a mofo out here!

I'm not really feeling having to work the kite almost the whole time to make power and thoughts run through my head of selling all 3 Synergys :( Also, much harder to go upwind and keep the kite powered ... requires a lot of finesse on the bar and to not be choking it and keep the speed in it. Work it like you hate it goes through my head ...

Despite my struggles, I'm having fun - although I can't seem to jump as easy as I can on the 'bow. A few jumps are great but most are let-downs. One feels like about 5m or what I seem to remember as 5m from the view off the QEII diving board to the water ... but then the water at QEII was not rolling with whitecaps! One jump I guess I sent the kite properly and I went up like a fucking rocket WHEE! pity I didn't land it :D

Synergy on the Navigator bar flies nicely, and although it stills jelly-fishes when I "ride waves" or toddle off downwind, it's not as severe as with the Zero7 bar and there seems to be no chance of inverts.
The grip is grippy when wet although gets squeaky (WTF?) and I still prefer the Zero7 bar grip.
Depower on the cam-cleat is nice, that's a good change. I use it a little till I get used to the gusts and just ride them out, leaving the kite trimmed in just a smidge.
Spinning rotorhead thing is good too for the OCD in me to keep the safety line untwisted and clear.
Probably not related to the Navigator, but the kite went down at the edge of the window after I muffed another jump ... I'd just let go the bar totally. After get dragged a bit, my head popped above the water in time to watch the Synergy hit the water LE into the wind, tips clap together then literally bounce right back up into the air :D neat!

So, I got 2 and a half hours on the water in what GPV-weather.info tells me was 10-12m/s aka 20 to 24 knots but it had to be gusting over 30. Talking to Miyachi, he thought it was 15m/s gusting to 20 (30 gusting to 40 knots :o ) and he was looking at the live weather station feed from the windsurf club down the road. Most of the time, the Synergy 19 was powered fine but often required more board speed than I was comfy with in the conditions to really park'n'ride and I'm too lazy to work the kite that much ...

... mind you, with all that bar pressure and having to work the kite, it probably wasn't a bad thing cos it kept me warm. Once I got off the water and convinced Auntie to land the kite for me, I realized that my arms were cold as the rashguard was holding water in it's sleeves. Got back to the club house and had a quick shower and put my clothes back on and noticed how unbelievably cold my nuts were ... yikes.

What I learned today ...
• Trim in about 1/2 way when you try to launch the Synergy on the Navigator bar.
• Keep the Synergy moving and don't choke it by sheeting in hard when you want to go across wind.
• Don't sheet in when you want to turn the kite; just pull on that side and let the kite zoom through the turn.
• Be real aggressive with the Synergy when changing direction, flying lower across the window than you normally would with the 'bow or Silberpfeil.
• I guess like a C-kite you really have to work the board direction up- and downwind to keep speed up, you can't just sheet in and accelerate away ...
• Wear bloody sunblock you numpty! Ow.

The Royal Skunkage

Checked out the live cam at Locus and thought it might be worth a drive-by. Drove-by, thought it might be worth getting out of the car and having a closer look. Had a closer look and thought it might be worth unpacking the kite. Unpacked the kite and AH-HAHAHAHA says the God of Wind, here have this big skunk to go with your zebra pants.

:-/

Packed up and went home.

Epic, gusting to Stupid

Well from my point of view anyway ...!

Wind forecast was 5m/s on one site, 10m/s on the other - we got the latter, at the very least!

I'd wrangled a day off work and had headed down to the lake about 1:30pm. Got set up (gah! pumping) and ready to go just as the wind arrived around 2pm and two tacks saw me right upwind into the K-zone - out past the 100m markers from the beach. Aah, nicely powered so far! Oh but wait - here comes some more wind ...!

Initially, I seriously contemplated going home and getting my 15m Synergy as I ended up with the Crossbow trimmed right in and was fighting hard to keep an edge and go upwind but after the first jump, all thoughts of less power were yoinked from my mind!

What a rush! Straight up into the air higher than I'd ever been before and as I dangled there, I could feel the kite surging up even further but I sheeted out a little and gently lowered myself back to the water ... and so the tone was set for the next 3 hours or so! Massive jumps and long hangtimes with power enough for riding toe-side, carving the 'waves' on the lake and sliding turns miles downwind! Even landed a jump blind, by mistake and rode along for a bit thinking "WTF do I do now?" until I fell over, saving myself the hassle of trying to figure out how to turn around :D

Kept riding till just before dark, about 5:30pm now :( last one off the water and packed up on my own. The wind was still blowing good and I was jumping every chance I could but I was getting tired and was ending up on my ass more often ... still, what an epic days riding!

What I learned today ...
• My initial success at aerial transitions must have been Beginners Luck.
• Straps get loose too easy and my feet are fond of slipping out, leaving the board dangling from one foot :(
• Without my fooling around on the shore with the kites "jumping", I wouldn't have been quite so prepared to completely relax and enjoy the honking big air time I got today!
• It's much easier to land a jump you muff the launch up of, when you have time to move the kite or swing yourself around.
• Which is good, cos either the angle the waves were coming in on my 'goofy' side were messing up my take-offs or I'm not as ambidextrous as I thought I was! Totally fouled up jumping that way and it got worse as the day went on ...
• Watch the chicken loop! Somehow, mine had unhooked and I don't know for how long but I'd been riding around attached to the kite by nothing but the donkey dick :o
• Board speed + power in the kite + good carve to load the kite = mega-WHEE! so don't be a pussy and ride hard!

Sunday Slog

Everyone was telling me on Friday about how great Saturday was going to be, but I had to work and couldn't find a sub ... Sunday was supposed to be ok though so went out for lunch with the wife and she came down to the lake with me.

We sat around waiting for the wind which was due at 3pm. Hiro-chan did his homework, the wife poured over the shopping catalog (we need curtains), people sat around talking or watching DVDs in someone's car. I was productive and tested some ideas for a depower line with core ... looks like I've got a working prototype! Wind finally started to pick up around 3:30pm so there was a mass migration from the carpark to the beach.

The wind was picking up so I pumped like a schoolboy on his first hot date and rigged quickly, only to join everyone else in standing looking at the horizon like the Moai statues of Easter Island ...! Finally, someone hit the water. They were slogging so we all waited. And waited ...

... finally the wind picked up enough that I wanted to give it a shot. Fail. Back on shore, more waiting with the kite parked at the edge of the window. Finally, people were looking powered. Damn, if I'd had the Speed 2.5 I'd have been riding already!

Finally get on the water! Nicely powered on the Crossbow so I throw some jumps to show off to the wife :D Later, she tells me that the best ones were over my head in height and the rest were above waist height ... she was impressed with my progress since the last time she saw me ride - my ego is suitably massaged ;) despite my laughable attempts!

Fight my way upwind away from the pack and proceed to play. Enjoy some toeside riding and carving turns, still can't nail the aerial transition ... pushing way out past the beach to make the most of the wind but it's dropping again and I don't want to get out here with a downed kite, drifting into the trees like Mr Helix did on Friday.

Slog back onto the shore in the falling wind and check the time - sun is just brushing the top of the hills, must have had about 90 minutes on the water. Hmm, may be time to call it a day. Wife has headed back to the car cos the wind is cold. I land the kite and start to pack up ... naturally, as soon as I empty the LE bladder the wind picks up :/

I'm walking to pick up my board before heading back to the car when So comes in and drops his kite - it looks like he's in a paddy, but as I get closer I see he's opened a cut above his eye and is bleeding. Turns out he smacked himself in the head with his board! He goes back to his car and calls around for a hospital (long story, it's how things are done here ...!) and I pack his kite up for him - I owed him one for packing up the Phantom when I busted my wrist!

So not a bad day, but I would've had another hour on the Silberpfeil ...

What I learned today ...
• Getting my boost-thing down with the 'bow ... nowhere near as much hangtime as ol' Relentless but it's pretty good. Use kite speed to lift, not sheeting in hard ...
• Much easier to ride toeside as the 'bow is more inclined to keep pulling downwind. I think a lot of that is to do with the Speed - when I switch the board around, the increased drag shoots the Speed forward in the window and I lose power, trying to ride downwind with a kite that is trying to go as far upwind as it can ...!
• I really must start jumping on flat water - or stop boosting up the face of waves - cos I'm sure it's reinforcing bad habits :D
• My "lifting the leg" muscles have finally developed - I can swing my legs up without feeling like an old man :D

Friday Frash

Hmm, doesn't work as well as a title like "Thursday Thrash" does ...

Skipped out on work early and hit the lake, arriving about 3:30pm. Had to pump up the Crossbow cos the Silberpfeil is out of action. The wind up for sure, and I would have thought twice about launching ol' Relentless ... but probably would have anyway :D wind was forecast to drop off as sunset approached.

Back on the Crossbow was a bit of a shock! Felt like zero bar pressure after the Silberpfeil and turned a bunch faster - kite was all over the sky will I got my LEI touch back. Despite all the whitecaps though, there wasn't much excitement on shore with the 'bow ... hmm. Oh well into the water.

Got up and riding ok although it was a hard bloody slog trying to go upwind. Got a couple of line lengths off shore and just started riding beam tacks, playing around.

My jumping was off - different feel to the Speed, different technique too. I think a lot of my 'jumps' involved me just standing up and jumping off the water by myself, without the kite :D started to get the hang of using the kite after a while and had some nice floaty poppy jumps. Yes, very different to the Flysurfer! Gotta actually send the kite rather than just pulling in the bar! One great thing about the 'bow though ... I intentionally overflew it several times, swinging underneath it like a pendulum and of course it didn't collapse and didn't fall out of the sky too much either. Nice.

Tried some aerial transitions but couldn't get anything - best I got was not sinking as the kite changed directions. MUST have been beginners luck, that other day! Did manage to lob myself downwind at one point, ralley-esque with the board flying off my feet towards my head :o Also landed on my back hard too which was unpleasant but not painful - but I can see how people break ribs!

The wind died off and I had to slog to get back to shore, narrowly avoided having to walk! Oh how I do miss the Speed - I would have had another 30 minutes riding if I'd had the Silberpfeil in the air! Still, beats the ass off sitting in front of TV ;)

What I learned today ...
• I love my Flysurfer.
• I hate pumping.
• Need a helmet.
• Open your eyes when body-dragging - dragging headfirst into the board hurts.
• The 'bow is very fussy about body position or stance relative to making power.

A session too far

Skivved off work and went to the lake. Got there about 3:30pm and unpacked the Silberpfeil and got on the water; just me and Auntie were there.

Tough slog to get upwind in the light breeze but I got a few line lengths off the beach in the direct onshore wind, then started playing. Wind picked up and I forced myself to try toeside both directions and toe- to heelside carving turns. Tried to jump higher and higher with the kite, which lead to a mixed bag of results :D A couple of times I collapsed the kite, once I dropped it and got it a little tangled but relaunched it fine. Several times I screwed up and slammed the kite LE down :(

Kept riding after the sun slipped behind the hills in the west and kept trying to jump ever higher ... guess I pushed it too far cos I ended up with my head underwater, ass in the air and must have slammed the kite LE down again real hard. Relaunched the kite and noticed it flew a bit odd and looked a bit odd so I recovered my board and rode back to the beach.

Landed the kite and found an A bridle line had ripped the knot off a LCL so I replaced that but when I relaunched, noticed that a rib on one side looked funny. Landed the kite again and checked it out - yikes, ripped it through the middle, LE to TE! Time to pack up ... just as well I did cos that was when I discovered that the Spare Parts line had be shredded - only the core was keeping a 40cm section together :o

Piss. So I got to send it away for repairs ... and will be forced to pump up my Xbow if I want to ride any more :(

What I learned today ...
• The Silberpfeil is not indestructable :D
• I need to figure out how to avoid nosediving the kite at full power ...
• Don't land jumps with your knees straight ...!
• Really tighten down the lower straps on my harness so it sits snug under my butt cheeks, then the leg straps tight then upper straps tight-ish ... eases the wedgie effect.
• Don't trust the stick in the ground to backstall land the kite - especially if it gets wrapped up into the safety release! Borntofli's method is much better ... walk down the FLS line.

Surprise sunset solo soul session

Headed down the lake after work, forecast was 5 m/s on one, 8 m/s on another ... no white caps on the water but the flag is fluttering. Miyachi says "You can ride now! You're the number one low wind rider now!" so egged on, I head to the beach with the Silberpfeil ... it's got to be about 4:45pm by now and the sun is sinking but don't you love how easy it is to unpack a Flysurfer? Roll it out, sand the trailing edge for a hot launch, check the bridles and launch!

Am surprised that there is passably good wind, enough to jump & float around so I take to the water. It's as flat as it's ever been but there's enough wind to ride a beam reach so I cruise around, enjoying the lake I have all to myself. Slowly the wind picks up enough from me to ride upwind a little and some guy with the Locus 2011 Crossbow 14m comes out to join me. I make silly buggers with jumps, having some fun, working the kite and practicing my light wind techniques ... all too easy with the big Speed & Flydoor.

Crossbow guy doesn't get away from the shore and has to walk a couple of times. Someone else pumps a North Rebel 16m up on the beach, but doesn't even bother getting wet and packs it back up after a few minutes. I'm still riding, having fun ;) seems although the wind isn't whipping up the water, there's enough to ride! A very nice surprise!

Miyachi comes out, takes the 'bow and rides for a half hour just before sunset and I chase him upwind - I'm faster and going more upwind! We pack it in as the light is starting to fade from the sky and we pack up in the gathering darkness. Probably got just over an hour on the water, but it was a great ride and I had the lake mostly to myself!

What I learned today ...
• The surprising low end of the Speed 2.5 still amazes me. I thought I'd be floundering around a bit, despite Miyachi's confidence!
• Even in light wind you can still yoink yourself and go floating downwind so far under the kite you can collapse it. Not a huge worry, as it can be relaunched piece of pie. Was a bit of a body drag to the board though and was tough to spot it in the gloom ... thought I was going to lose it :o
• When getting a wedgie, pull down the harness with the handle-pass strap thing ...

That's more like it!

Finished moving house today and headed to the lake at about 2pm ... one weather site was forecasting 8m/s from 12 and another 6 from 3. Turned out the latter was correct.

Waited around will about 2:45pm and the wind was starting to pick up. I launched ol' Relentless and waited on the beach while Grandad and the guy in the helmet tested the waters. Eventually decided to give it a shot and hit the lake myself about 10 minutes later.

Underpowered at first, but as I tacked out away from shore and the LEI users :D the wind picked up and then we had a good long run of I'd guess 2 hours ... just a tad underpowered for most of the time but very comfortable conditions, especially compared to yesterday. Good time cruising around, boosting "big" jumps and playing silly buggers. Not really enough wind to ride toeside (why do I need so much wind for that?!?) and I had to keep an eye on the kite.

I did my first 720! Left the board behind though which was a problem ... went floating downwind spinning around with my bum tea-bagging. That was when I bowtied the kite and spent a few minutes getting it back in the air again - much less than the guy with the F-One trying to relaunch :D had a long body drag upwind to get the board though ... have to say though, that without my experience with foils on land, I can imagine how tough it'd be for someone with only LEI experience to cope ...

Wind slowly died off around 5pm by my guestimates, and as the LEIs started dropping like flies I headed to the shore. left it a bit long and had to walk up the beach ... I'd nearly forgotten how to do that :D Reverse landed the Silberpfeil, and waited for a bit. Wind picked up a bit so I had another few runs out and back, mowing the lawn; getting annoyed at Lil Grom who has NO FUCKING CLUE about the water rules let alone basic politeness like RAISING YOUR KITE WHEN YOU'RE PASSING UPWIND and STOP WALKING OVER MY LINES you little maggot.

Packed up just on sunset. Satisfying day!

What I learned today ...
• A good springy carve sets up the best jumps!
• It is possible, like the archetypal cartoon, to jump straight up so fast that you just leave the board behind, floating on the water.
• 270 degrees of rotation does not a back roll make :( over-cooked an edge-load and as I took off, realized I was going to spin to tried to turn it into a 360 ... didn't work :D
• If you gotta bail, either ditch the board completely or lift your feet and land on your ass ... trying to get your feet under you when there's no hope of riding it out is bad for the ankles.

WTF?!?

Forecast was for 6-7m/s (to hell with knots, I'm keeping it metric) one way weather page, 8-9m/s on another ... seems like we actually got 5.

... went down the beach about 1pm, pumped up my Crossbow and looked expectantly at the horizon. Big pile of S.F.A. Packed up the 'bow and unpacked the white monster - Silberpfeil has been unleashed!

Wind finally picked up enough for me and the aircraft carrier to get moving around 3pm then finally picked up good. Had some fun, was enough wind to try silly buggers (paragliding anyone) then suddenly all hell broke loose.

Mad wind, I'm wishing I had the 16 and trim the FS for full depower and tentatively give it some ... great lofty jumps, Batman! Suddenly, the winds dying off and suddenly I'm sailing through the air :o got yoinked off the water like a ragdoll ... tried to keep my feet under me but I'm coming in at a cocked up angle so I ditch the board and make big splash!

Recover board, then get moving again - wind is all over the place (apparently it changed direction) so I head for the shore thinking it'll die right off ... it does, I make it all the way in when the wind drops to nothing and the kite stalls, making a nice tangled mess in the weeds behind the sandy beach - but thankfully, NOT in the water or the shoreline where there's like, bamboo spears ready to rip holes in my shit.

Untangle kite, wind up lines and wait for the wind again. Picks up a bit later but was just teasing me and I dropped the kite in a mess again.

Finally, just before sunset the wind picks up ju-uuust enough that I can mow some lawns and was the sand off my lines ... pack up go home.

What I learned today ...
• Don't forget to put on sunblock. Dick.
• Really gusty wind is a handful with the Speed. Be prepared and stay cool.
• The FS chicken loop/safety system is absolute rubbish ... I gotta get another Ozone Megatron on there ASAP!
• You can never be too far away from learners.

Shore Whores - I can see you ... just ...

Hit the lake again and again, the forecast was for more wind than I thought I'd be comfortable with (20 knots) well it wasn't again and again the died off to unrideable just on sunset.

Before that happened though, I had a great time riding wa-aaay the fuck upwind of all the Shore Whores who couldn't get away from the beach. Wind was directly onshore and the current was coming in cross-on so there was no excuse for them all to be hanging around within 20m of the beach :D again (again with the again!) my biggest problem was going too far upwind and having to ride like a spaz to get downwind again!

Had a relaxed time out playing, messing around with the gusts for big (for me!) air and speed, nice fat carving turns and working on timing of the kite, pops and redirections ... got about 90 minutes riding in! Again had to shake my head at the Helix rider who couldn't relaunch and had to drift to shore ... mind you the wind was so light that even lil' Grom the 8 year old couldn't keep riding but WTF I just kept on riding anyway :D

What I learned today ...
• You gotta keep the kite moving on the jumps. That is to say, if you just dangle under it you'll collapse it ... if it's moving to a side, it stays stable and you'll have no trouble. Easier said than done sometimes :D
• It's easier to make a softer landing on the bigger jumps - did some of the biggest, longest, floatiest jumps to date an aside from a couple, I landed and rode away perfectly from them all!
• Sheet out as you're loading your edge then sheet in hard to pop straight up :D not sheeting out seems to make longer jumps.
• Redirection is crucial for a good landing - also seems to help orientate body and board correctly.

Silberpfeil 2, Helix 0

Arrived at work early so I could still put in a full day but still skip out early. Got to the lake about 4:30pm and was a bit worried about the wind ... I only had the Silberpfeil in the car and I was thinking there was a bit too much wind for it. Forecast suggested 16 knots so it was in range but ...

... launched anyway :D bit strong but I'm not scared, I got hooj keewee. Great lofty paragliding on the beach by way of warming up :o hit the water, nicely powered.

Hit the water, motored upwind out to the K-zone.

Tried an aerial transition on my second turn and went swinging off under the kite, overflying and collapsing it ... doh! Great big tangled mess on the water ... started with a wingtip looped through the bridle, progressed to an invert, another tip looped through the bridle and another invert with a bowtie thrown in for good measure! Thanks to my experience with my foils on handles, I actually got it all untangled and relaunched, mostly by working the rear line(s). Seemed to fly fine so I kept riding :D

Got some toeside riding in which seems to need a lot of power on the FS, else it luffs. Wind was dropping off so went for more conventional riding. Started playing with sending the kite while jumping and trying to redirect, but it's a lot to coordinate for me at the moment. Dumped the kite in the drink again swinging under a jump ... and got it tangled up yet again! Got it untangled and launched before the guy who dropped his Helix could ... in fact, he had to drift into shore and get someone to help him :o now I think of it, I've never seen that guy relaunch that kite without help!

Kept riding till dark, and the wind was a bit up and down. Got really gusty just before sunset and had the unique experience of jumping, hovering then coming down to just touch the water before being picked up again! Whee! Also did some of my biggest jumps to date, landing and riding away from some of them too ... am getting enough hangtime to swing my legs around under me :o

Packed up as the sun slipped under the horizon and while paragliding on the beach, managed to bowtie the kite again ... dropped it to FLS, wrapped the safety around my board's grab-handle and laid the kite out, sanding the tip. Worked my way over the bridle and lines - no tangles (except for the twigs) ... groovy!

What I learned today ...
• Don't let the Silberpfeil overfly the window! So now silly tricks when you don't know what you're doing.
• It's easier to untangle/de-bowtie/uninvert the Silberpfeil with all it's bridling than it is to unmess an arc :o
• It's starting to get cold. Wind chill is noticeable - if I think about it! I'm usually having to much fun to notice :D

Junkies, aren't we all!

My weaseling is better than yours! Not only did I get two hours off work, I got paid for it too :D legit and all!

Left work at 2pm and headed to the lake, got the kite in the air about about 2:45pm. The only other person there was Grandad, setting up his biggest kite. Side launched ol' Relentless and it filled almost instantly ... dunno what went on there. Waited around for a bit but the wind seemed shit so I grabbed the board and hit the water.

Now, I was thinking that the "Walk of Shame" should really be called the "Walk of Can Go Upwind But There's Just Not Enough Wind And It's Not My Fault" but then I realized that the Shame is in being so desperate for a ride that you go out in what you KNOW you can't ride upwind in. Kind of like taking home the fat bird from the pub at the end of the night.

200m walk.
100m walk.
50m walk.
Not walking any more!

Ride around having good fun for an hour or so, then the wind drops off again. I'm still getting back to the launch spot but it's getting to be hard work. Get out of the water for a few minutes for a drink then the wind comes up. Ride until just after sunset! Another 3 hours under my belt. The regular addicts turned up gradually about 5pm.
Yet again, I'm the last person walking, the first person going upwind and you can just see it going through their minds - "Hey look fattie out riding upwind and playing, we can too ... holy shit why won't my kite stay in the air? Why can't I get up on a plane? Why am I walking? What's wrong here?" :D

Pulled a couple of the biggest jumps I've ever done today ... got more aggressive with the kite than normal and it was hang time baby yeah! Landed one, crashed the other on landing. Made some half-hearted attempts at aerial transitions. Loving popping over waves and noodling around, carving up the backs and fronts.

Got that Flysurfer feeling again today - shooting across someone struggling to get up on the board's wake at 45° into the wind :D What good fun!

What I learned today ...
• Light wind is bloody hard work : holding a good stance and trying to make the most of the power is killer on the legs!
• It may be related to sore legs, but my stance goes to hell when there's not enough wind to just stand on the back of the board and shoot upwind!
• The Silberpfeil actually works around the sky pretty good and fast; just go easy on the sheeting.
• Bindings don't stay bloody tight for more than about an hour >:( stupid things!

Oh, you want some wind?

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.

Massey Ferguson called - they want their tractor back

Took the Silberpfeil down the lake after work ... set up and launched in what felt like 12 knots - whatever it was, I wouldn't have wasted time launching the 'bow. Just checked the weather report, which reckoned 10 knots. It was sketchy either way.
Hot launch, pulled the LE up and let it sit for a bit then walked back and it wanted to fly so I let it go up. Half-inflated and it still dragged me off downwind! The center section inflated very rapidly but more of the tips stayed uninflated* until they popped out - I'd say over all, it inflated faster but at different rates :D I let the kite fly to the zenith ...

Well bugger me!

Off I go, sailing through the air downwind waggling my toes at the ground. Kite collapses above me and so begins an entertaining 5 minutes of groundhandling tests :D managed to loop the tip through the bridle at one point but also managed to untangle it. Really wants to overfly the window and collapse; gotta work the brakes hard. Decided I'd be better off on the water ... if I could keep my feet on the ground!

... grabbed the Flydoor and hit the water. Ok Armin, where are you hiding the Massey Ferguson in all that white cloth? Chug chug chug I got hauled along by the tractor in the sky despite the wind being so low ... I almost felt guilty - I shouldn't have been riding! Again I had the bizarre experience of watching kites fall out of the sky and 50kg riders having to walk and I'm working hard to keep an edge against the power and am hauling ass upwind :o
Point board, hips, knees, toes, anything else I can, upwind hard, straight out to "my" zone, about 100m from the beach. Thought I'd play silly buggers and sent the kite up to 12 hard and jumped :D oops I got yanked off the board and went soaring! Body dragged nicely well upwind to the board.
Wind kept dropping and finally I had to admit defeat and walk about 50m up the beach - wind was probably 6 knots, no white caps or waves and the flag was limp. I kept an eye on the horizon as another front made its way in ...

Jumped back in the water when that front arrived a few minutes later and now I'm thinking 15 knots or maybe a little more. Would've been "meh" on the 'bow but I'm cooking on the Silberpreil! Have another good 1/2 hour play time, have to watch the gusts cos they're trying to send me skyward. Again I'm having to do strange things to go downwind back to the beach - at one point, I just stood bolt-upright on the board and let the kite pull me downwind (slightly!) like I was riding a travelator :D load'n'pop was easy and when moving the Silberpreil wasn't so inclined to collapse. Vigorous sending induced long floaty hang times ...

Thought it was going to rain so made a dash for the shore. Stood around for a bit trying to figure out how to land without FDS then noticed Miyachi so called for a landing - good man! I think I've got him trained on foils :D he grabbed the tip then pushed it to the ground, I joggled over and sanded the tip ...

What a kick-ass kite! Light wind session are saved - roll on next summer! Only an hour or maybe 75 minutes, but half of that was saved by the Silberpreil!

What I learned today ...
• Be heavy on the brakes on the land and don't piss around. Get into the water ASAP.
• Actually likes more brake input when flying.
• Tough workout for the arms but is easy to work. If you have to work it, the wind is TOO light! Park it baby yeah!
• Easier to roll the tips downwind to the center ... rolling into the wind is tough.

* all comparitive statement are relative to my ol' Speed 1.5 17m

Silberpfeil

Some pics of the new and (hopefully) low-wind session-saving Flysurfer Speed 2.5 19m Silver Arrow ...

Just cos they call it a typhoon

... doesn't mean there's a bunch of wind :( just powered enough to ride but the rain put too much of a damper on things so I packed up and came home.

What I learned today ...
• Can drive on local roads to Machiya and it's just as fast as the highway ... and it's free!
• Wet kite sucks ... trying to dry it now but very paranoid about psychotic neighbors.
• The ocean is a much nicer place to ride when you can cope with waves!

Catch a typhoon by its tail - The Movie!

Hopeless in Hamamatsu

Not enough room in the car to take a board but forecast for no wind anyway so that was fine ...

I did, however, take my new Navigator bar that arrived from Ricardo of ripsessionkites.com like, 10 minutes before we were due to leave - perfect timing! - and also took the Synergy 19 & 12. Just in case.

Friday was crap. Saturday had some wind though ... and MASSIVE waves that had been whipped up by the passing typhoon - thank god I didn't have a board or I might have tried to get out there :D unpacked the 19 and set up with the Navigator bar ...

Coming from weeks of LEI flying, at first I found the bar pressure heavy and the turning slow ... until I got back into Arc Mode - a little sheeting in and pulling the bar will whip the kite around nicely. Get some speed into it to keep it lively. Don't sheet in too far for too long ... ah yes, know I remember! Soon had the Syn 19 whipping around nicely! Some great scuds and jumps but really, the wind was still too light ... maybe 12 knots at most. Good to test the light wind annoying habits of the arc on the Nav bar though ;) spent about 2 hours noodling around.

Landing the kite by trimming for power, flying slow as I could to the edge of the window and stalling the kite, then letting it power up a tiny bit and bouncing back until it was directly downwind, the unhooked and dropped the bar ... perfect flagged landing, no twisting!

To review the Navigator ...
• Well designed bar; nice attention to little details, like the recessing the line tidy bungy loops & being able to change the bar size.
• Safety through the center of the chicken loop - awesome!
• The Ozone Megatron-esque safety - awesome! Although looking at the leash that has the Zero7 red hat, I'm wondering if the Zero7 bars couldn't be modded like that ...
• Double depower line, spinning head and cam cleat trim - very nice, works well and should be bullet proof, although I'm a little worried about the result of long term stress on the spinning heads erm spinning parts - we'll see. A mile of depower.
• Bar foam felt weird - too smooth ... I like the rougher Zero7 foam better ... and the foam around the depower line's metal runner through the bar seems poorly trimmed - like a bit of an afterthought. I'm betting it'll get mangled pretty soon and be a moot point though. I preferred the bolder colours of the Zero7 too ... the curved line through the foam is not just a design element; it's harder than the other foam and gives you a good feeling for where you park your hands. Meh, I know what I mean ;)
• Power lines have the V some way up the lines, with the front line safety kind of like the Zero4 ... seems to work nice - the kite flattened out a lot less in moments of low airspeed and held a stable shape much better in turns etc. Perhaps a bit more responsive to turning inputs when not moving compared with the Zero7. Kite can still invert though, when I intentionally flew it fast past the edge of the window at about 11 o'clock (I was trying to get the kite as out of shape as possible to see how much of a difference the bar made) ... the kite sank down and inverted to land LE down and I depowered then walked toward the kite to flip it over - no problem. Also, just once, the kite went to the RHS of the window and stalled and the safety line fell through the metal ring and the kite REALLY started to get out of shape ... as it was out over the breakers (beach was narrow today) I jerked the center line to recover it. So I think it's a good thing.
• Line extensions ... hmm, not sure. By that I mean, not sure if I'd notice a difference :D
• Adjustable stopper is pretty good but I'm wondering how much utility it'll actually provide ...
• Didn't like : heat shrink = LOL ... nuff said!
• Didn't like : the big ugly knot that's hidden under the neoprene booty that covers whatever is going on behind the cam cleat ... nasty! Spoils the smooth lines :)
• Didn't like : like I said, the wishy-washy colours ... FIRE TRUCK red and BOTTOMLESS PIT black please!

Great bar, looking forward to piling the hours on it ... again, massive thanks to Ricardo at ripsessionkites.com (yes I'm pimping!) for the excellent service and taking care of me!

PS. Wife called the courier and they just delivered my Speed 2.5 19 Silver Arrow! Now to unwrap ... OMG it's Christmas!

Catch a typhoon by its tail

Big blow forecast for the P.M. Nothing in the morning so I kept checking the live cam ... nothing ... nothing ... kites! Jump in car! Rush to lake! Take anemometer to the shore! Crikey! 20 knots solid, gusting to 30 ... probably better not unpack the Crossbow 16 then :( and can't use my arcs cos I have no bars!

Waited for Miyachi of Locus to get back to shore then asked to borrow a small kite off him. He lent me an F-One Bandit 11 ... bit rough going from arcs to FSers to one-pump Crossbow then to separate strut inflation on the Bandit! Got my brain around it, set up and launched.

So started an epic session. Lots of fun. Lots of wind. Lots of crap in the water and what suspiciously looked like a couple of fencing posts! Wind was cool, water near the river mouth was full of soil and cold, the rest of the lake was still warm.

Impressed with the 11m - had it trimmed for almost 100% depower and didn't really give it any more until about 3pm when the wind dropped a bit. I must have stumpy arms cos I end up trimming all my bars so I can lean back and sheet it without over-powering ... and there was certainly plenty of wind! And the kite made good power, hardly had to be worked at all! The Bandit was a bit twitchy in the gusts and later on, it started to distort the leading edge after I got used to the power and started throwing it around. Had some good fun with jumps and stuff and did what I feel to be my biggest, longest jumps to date ... on an 11m kite!

Started out on the Flydoor with my GoPro on the Kitehero fin mount but the battery died (forgot to charge it) after 20 minutes. Had fun on that then decided there was enough wind to make the effort of carrying the Rip Plus to the shore ... bit of a difference to the 'door but got up and riding and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on the Plus.

That was, until about 4:30pm. Had just fallen over, got the board back on my feet and dived the kite when there was a crack and the bar flew away ... uh? Pulled the bar back in and discovered the hardware on the chicken loop had snapped!!! Somehow got back to shore and packed up. Miyachi said not to worry about it but I'll slip him some money when I get a price for it ...

What I learned today ...
• If your harness is giving you a wedgie, you don't need to stop kiting to adjust it! Just fall over head-first downwind with the kite powered ... the water pulls the harness out of your ass.
• Kitehero fin mount probably isn't designed for heelside fins - knocks the camera around A LOT ... pity, cos the Flydoor only has heelside fins. I have about 10 minutes video of my board's top deck.
• Rip Plus is a fun board, stiffer than the door so it pops better. Needs so much wind though. Don't like the footpads and the stance feels funny after the 'door.
• Everything is easier with more power :) jumps are easier to do too!
• I need my arcs!
• Needed my rashgaurd for the extra warmth too - the water (in spots) felt cold and the wind chill is noticeable.
• Miyachi is a great guy!

Then Shang Tsung says - The Movie!

Forecast looked iffy but thought I'd try anyway. Went to the lake and pumped up the kite, waited around, talked to So, launched the kite, fought to keep it in the air, tried to ride a few times to test the board mount for the GoPro, waited around a lot ... no joy today.

What I learned today ...
• The self-land technique - the one that doesn't involve pulling the safety. I might have it sussed ...
• I really need that Speed 2 19m ...!
• Need to red Loctite the bolts on the board :(

I'm the man!

Forecast looked passable from 3pm so I headed down to the lake at 2pm ... set up and sat around for a while waiting for wind. Guess I hit the water about 3pm and for a change, I had the GoPro with me.

Wind was a bit iffy and I lost ground downwind trying to keep board speed up ... wind eventually picked up though and I started making my way upwind. Then I started to show off all the silly shit I've been doing recently :D Once I got comfortable though ... seemed to take a while to find my rhythm or timing whatever and I fluffed up a lot of attempts at doin' stuff.

I did manage to pull off a couple of aerial transitions on the first attempt (one for each direction change) but then couldn't get it working after that ... not really enough power in the wind to ride toeside so I didn't bother much with that. Just had fun load'n'popping everything I could.

Stayed on the water till dusk, packed up in the dark and dragged my weary ass home. Great day!

What I learned today ...
• Aerial transitions are possible but I'm not sure how I did it :D
• It's a hell of a workout, kiteboarding is! Thighs were burning, arms are pumped up ... I'm going to suffer tomorrow O_o
• I need a 16Gb SD card cos I missed some of my best slams when the 8Gb was full after only 2 or so hours :(
• Footstraps annoy me - they don't seem to stay tight. Need to figure out how they work :o

Flabby Starfish and the Chicken-flavoured Gravy - The Movie!

Rescued from a dying drive, here is the crappy movie I had to rebuild from scratch - twice. I don't think it improved with age ...

Weather forecast fail

Wagged work and hit the lake ... forecast was for good wind all afternoon so was looking forward to nearly 3 hours riding before I had to pack up and go to work in the evening.

Well ... wind was sweeping over the hills to the northwest, rather than down the length of the lake from northeast which made it quite gusty. Like, worried about involuntarily taking flight to worried about the kite falling out of the sky and having to swim. Really weird, the waves were huge (for a lake) and the wind sounded and felt like it was blowing, but the kite wasn't making power. Rode it out, working the gusts to keep up speed until the wind dropped right off. I managed to ride back to launch site - sorta - then waited on shore for about 10 minutes until the wind picked up enough to ride.

Got another hour of riding in just powered ... got 'aggressive' with some 'jumps' and enjoyed that. Then the wind dropped right off again and didn't want to come back up so I gave up - it was almost time to pack up anyway!

Glad I skivved off early or it would have been a bit of a waste of time ... looking forward to my Speed2 19 SA arriving - should solve the slogging problem!

What I learned today ...
• You CAN land light as a feather - just requires paying attention to where the water is and where your feet are ;)
• Sometimes, I get a real dumb on and can't get my stance right and nothing feels good. Other times, I am style and grave and speed. Go figure.
• Same goes for jumping, turning and carving for either direction 0_o can go left and jump but 10 minutes later I can't even get off the water ...!
• It is REALLY annoying when, as you're getting off the water to pack up, your kite falls from the sky and gets sand dumped in behind the struts and soaked >:(

On again, off again ...

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 ...

Summer's gone

Forecast was 6m/s (12 knots) which usually means it's going to be a good time on the lake ... I guessed it was actually 15-20 knots, gusting to 25. Took 2 hours off work (got permission from the boss this time!) and hit the lake ...

Got there about 2:30pm, pumped up and got in the water ... there was only 2 others there but the rest of the crowd turned up a few hours later. Didn't really matter cos I went upwind hard and headed away from the beach; had the lake all to myself!

Had the board set to wide stance, thought I'd try it out ... find it a bit harder to edge and go upwind, just couldn't get the weighting as comfortable as before. Didn't spoil the fun though! Engaged in the usual silly playtime, trying to load'n'pop, carve turns, ride toeside etc.

Got a few nice lofty floaty jumps in and even (intentionally) redirected at the right time for the weightless landing ... most non-load'n'pop jumps were very messy though! Got dunked, lobbed, spun around and dragged ... all good fun! Put the kite in the water (for the first time) several times and it relaunched sweet, except twice - once it was directly downwind and I had to supply some input from the bar, the other time the steering line got wrapped up in lake weed under the water.

Wind was a bit gusty for a while, got quite violent at times - Hindenburged the kite in a lull but the wind came right back up after that so it relaunched fine. I stopped for a drink about 4:30pm and when I got back out on the water, the gusts had settled down. Rode until sunset, packed up in the dark - another 3 hours riding under the belt!

What I learned today ...
• A good load'n'pop is done crosswind, not upwind.
• Put the bloody donkey-dick in before trying to pull trim straps 0_o
• Much easier to carve turns and ride "waves" with power in the kite, pulling on my harness rather than just trying to glide around the turn.
• Wide stance is harder to hold down power.
• Need to Loctite the screws on the board's handle :-/
• Throw the kite around like an animal.
• Turns, be they sliding or carved, are best started with the kite low in the wind (about 45 degrees or a little under) and then sent straight back across.
• Even the monster 'bow floats around nicely so that playing silly buggers on the waves means the kite is always there and ready to pull, with a minimum of control input.
• Keeping tension in the lines by playing with board and body angle to the kite is interesting.

Summer's gone ... the solid Autumn winds are here (no more walking!) and though the temperature is still pushing 35 degrees, with wind chill makes it actually warmer in the water than on the board. Not that it was cold out of the water ...!