What did you do with your kite today?

First time in the buggy since JIBE. The temp today was 40 (way too cold for the water) and reported winds 20-30 so it was a pretty obvious choice. Fun day, and I don't think I had forgot too much. Used my smallest kites. And never had to get wet.

What did I do with my kites today?

Sadly, but wisely, left them in their bags as I pioneered a new remote playa, solo, in central Oregon.
Instead, I rigged my Blokart for the gust factor 6 (5-30 mph) winds = Last Blast of Summer.
So hyped to find such a sweet buggy riding spot close to our new home in Bend.

Speeds in mid 30s on perfect surface. Begging for kite buggies.
If you are in the area, let's meet up for a session.

Quote: Originally posted by Wind_dog

What did I do with my kites today? Sadly, but wisely, left them in their bags as I pioneered a new remote playa, solo, in central Oregon. Instead, I rigged my Blokart for the gust factor 6 (5-30 mph) winds = Last Blast of Summer. So hyped to find such a sweet buggy riding spot close to our new home in Bend. Speeds in mid 30s on perfect surface. Begging for kite buggies. If you are in the area, let's meet up for a session.

Got to be exciting to find a new playa! Can you please drop a pin in Google Maps, post the coordinates, or in some way indicate where this hidden gem lies? Enquirering minds want to know!

Schaub Lake, just an hour from home.
43.316106, -120.984483
32 acres of ride-able velvet.
Just a micro playa, but much closer than Alvord, the mother of all playas.
Hourly wind data available from Fort Rock Guard Station RAWS
Winds forecast to double today as a front moves in.

Quote: Originally posted by Wind_dog

Schaub Lake, just an hour from home. 43.316106, -120.984483 32 acres of ride-able velvet. Just a micro playa, but much closer than Alvord, the mother of all playas. Hourly wind data available from Fort Rock Guard Station RAWS Winds forecast to double today as a front moves in.

Awesome sauce as some would say (and you know who you are!).

Dropped Pin
https://goo.gl/maps/LHSG51MciBM2

Kite+Longboard today - complete with mist to keep my kites damp. Been a while since I have been on pavement. After I got my buggy haven't been using the longboard much. Today, though, the wind reports from my buggy field were never promising while my longboard spot was good. Moral of the story - it helps to take the best ride for the situation.:D

Also some static flying. The 2 M closed cell foil I made (Firecrest V2) can be used 2 line, 3 line or 4 line. I'd been using it mainly 3 line with the kite boat on really windy days but decided to go back to 4 line for high wind buggy days. Embarrassed to admit that when I put the quad bridles on I got them backwards (center line went where the tip line was supposed to go and vice versa.) So today, I got them back where they belong and it flew much better.

So we're on a trip to meet some friends flying into Vegas. Stopped at Page Az and got an afternoon session on the 15 slingshot. But unfortunately the wind turned off shore and I had to call it in less than an hour. But who can beat Powell for scenery So hit the road to get to Vegas. Been talking to our good friend Brian Holgate about a potential session at Six mile. So called him Wednesday evening, only to find him still behind the camera( till )1 am + :o . Talked him into putting the camera down Thursday and managed to find perfect conditions at Six mile. 18 to 22 with mild gusts. Swells up to 5' were tough on me, I had trouble making turns. But none of that kept me from having a total grin plastered on my face which is still stuck on this morning. We finished the session with an incredible sunset with Brian and I tacking in together. Awesomeness:D

suprising less activity and posting , I guess it become colder and colder each day at the other side of the world .

well it were hot and sweaty here every single day of the year .
Thought nothing like winter , We do have constant windy and a lot occurrence of heavy rain season which stating from early Dec and last probably by end March.
These day wind become steady 8 -10 knot on-shore with stronger wave thus make the beach smoother with hard pack sand .
I share some stoke here .
There is our land-sailor guy updating their sail outlook .
This year I am thinking to get more water time , after 2 season still clocking more walk of shame .

Sunday was my first ride on a gravel "park and ride" field. Great wind with far away trees, which are the best kind of trees.

Felt really loose under me, slipping and sliding, but fun stuff and then a blow out. How helpless was I without a spare. Wind of change + 100.00 = a new tire, and a complete spare shipped. It would have been worth a lot more while the wind was cooperating.

In my excitement about the new field, I forgot to shut off something and had a dead battery when it was time to go. Thankfully I was with the other Raleigh traction kiter. Mr Granville to the rescue.
32 degrees, red NC dirt caked on my gear, blown tire, dead battery.
Yet somehow it was still a good day.

There was something else in my life that was like that when I was younger and married, I can't quite remember what it was, only that even when it wasn't done perfectly it was still pretty okay good.

That looks cool @randy - did you make yours with a longer extension? I could see that popping apart at inopportune times.

So my day yesterday... finally get out of the house, by 3 it's blowing way too hard to try out my 8m, stop by @abkayaS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s for a minute - he set me up with a 2.9 reactor (I had taken my beamer out of my bag just as I was leaving home... what the heck was I thinking???).
I was hoping to try out my snowboard, but by this time all the snow had been blown off the beach. So, skunked on snow kiting this round
I'm a complete kook with FB lines... I have not once been able to get a kite out without a hopeless tangle. Spent 30 mins untangling lines (abkayak showed up just as I was getting to the end and helped with the last little bit).
Wind is blowing sand Lawrence of Arabia style. Common sense would tell me "don't launch", but there was none of that to be found. I let off the brakes, kite jerked into the sky, zoomed it to the edge of the window, ended up over the water, thought "this isn't a good idea if I lose my friend's kite", jerked it right back into the wind window (what a kook!), launched myself a few feet into the air, let go, rag dolled myself into the sand, then chased the kite down the beach (luckily no harm to me or the kite!). Abkayak and I both wished we had go pros...
Will listen to myself and stick to smaller kites and/or lighter winds for now, particularly when I'm not flying all the time - total brain fart not just hooking in and scudding on launch.
Got some good footage of abkayak zooming around before my phone froze to death, was a pretty pink winter sunset...

Quote: Originally posted by jeffnyc

That looks cool @randy - did you make yours with a longer extension? I could see that popping apart at inopportune times.

It occurred to me that could happen. I just made a temporary setup to see if it would work as hoped with some of the kites I have. Now I will make a better version maybe with a new pair of handles. The fit is pretty snug and you don't want it too snug or you can't take apart or put together on the fly, so it is a bit of a balancing act. My intended use only requires it to work as a bar for short periods of time (mainly taking the kite boat away from shore and getting in) but I will probably use a longer ferule in the center to shore it up.

Here's abkayak from this sunday (you can see the sand belting away on the beach... along with abkayak)

(Don't know if it's possible to post vimeo here - anyone know a way?)

Link: Atlantic Beach 12.10.17

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Great video. Makes me wish I was there. Lots of wind today, but I have cold and the ground is still wet, muddy and a even a little snow is left so no buggy today. Did fly my foil with the "Convertabar" we have been discussing. Here is a little video to give an idea how it works (though my crappy camera work failed to show it all very well.) But, the interesting thing is the bar seems to work really well in this configuration because you get more leverage on the brake lines than on the power lines. Turns really well in bar mode.

Interesting. Lots of winds for sure! Hard to tell if this was just an effect of the pilot resisting a lot of pull, but it seemed to me that the wind window expanded quite a bit in handle mode.

Very astute observations Steve. First, despite the small size of the kite, I was being pulled around by it a lot. Second, the zenith angle (and hence the window) was far better with the handles. I suspect that the reason is that in bar mode, I may have had a little too much brake applied so that the kite could not achieve its full window. Should be simple to just move the knots a little and improve the window. Like most foils, this particular kite needs no brake tension, but with this much wind it still works with a little brake tension. Now - the question is - if I get to zero brake tension, will that result in less turning performance? Anyway, some tweaks needed. Does seem like some of the kite companies ought to think about making a convertabar. Seems like a perfect project for Stefan Born.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Very astute observations Steve. First, despite the small size of the kite, I was being pulled around by it a lot. Second, the zenith angle (and hence the window) was far better with the handles. I suspect that the reason is that in bar mode, I may have had a little too much brake applied so that the kite could not achieve its full window. Should be simple to just move the knots a little and improve the window. Like most foils, this particular kite needs no brake tension, but with this much wind it still works with a little brake tension. Now - the question is - if I get to zero brake tension, will that result in less turning performance? Anyway, some tweaks needed. Does seem like some of the kite companies ought to think about making a convertabar. Seems like a perfect project for Stefan Born.

I suspect you are right about the brake tension affecting the window. I am thinking that you had your brake lengths about right for a comfortable wrist angle when flying in handle mode. Looser brake lines might screw that up, but perhaps a middle ground could be reached.

I could see Steffen fiddling with something like this. I like to fly his smaller NS3s from Z-bridled four line setups from handles. I could see using a combo bar in that setting. His NS3s of course have his 3rd central line for nose scrunching and flagging out but he still might be interested. I have some reasonably regular email contact with him back and forth. Would you be OK with me suggesting this (giving you credit of course)?

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Please do contact him. He's the best innovator out there now. Might link Bob's video as well as mine, since his shows it all better. Prism already has a bar (Tensor) which can be used in bar or handle mode, but you can't switch on the fly with it.

Sounds like a plan! I used to own that very Tensor and know exactly of what you speak.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Please do contact him. He's the best innovator out there now. Might link Bob's video as well as mine, since his shows it all better. Prism already has a bar (Tensor) which can be used in bar or handle mode, but you can't switch on the fly with it.

I heard back from Steffen. He was most appreciative of the innovative spirit shown by us "old guys" and sees this as a vital part of infusing new thinking in the fairly uniform kite sector (slight paraphrasing of his wording as English is not his first language). He is aware of the dual bar/handle concept. They worked with some prototypes of this sort of thing in 2005 but ran into problems at the plug connection. Under high wind conditions they ran into problems of pulling the handles out of the shell. In gusty winds having the handles stay together was a little iffy. He speculated if perhaps a better connection mechanism could be developed and was worth the thought.

Randy, he specifically called you out with warm greetings!

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

That was nice. I never got anywhere in this sport until I got the NS2. I was in a few cities in Austria and Germany last week and was trying to see if any of the local shops carried Born kites, but no luck. Tried the convertabar again today in windy conditions, and did have some problems with the bar coming apart, and having a hard time putting it back together. I think the 2 are related. Because it was very windy, it was hard to reseat the handles, which meant that they weren't connected as well, leading to them coming apart. Was't a big problem because my hands are always in the right position to convert back to handles. One handed bar flying could be an issue, though for my intended purposes that would be limited to the few minutes from launching the kite to moving my kite boat off shore and getting in. Once I am off and sailing, handles would be preferable anyway. I have a few ideas on how to make the set up more secure though.

An idea I had (not saying it is a good one....) would to put rolling elements in the female part of the joining setup with a sort of positive spring loaded fit akin to a ball bearing like PL does with their buggy foot pegs. The release could be a cantilevered lever to push the ball bearing back down and allowing you to pull apart the two halves. Yes, I thought about grit, sand, etc. As I said, not sure if this is a good idea, just something I was thinking about to make the coupling/uncoupling smoother. :karate:

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by Randy   That was nice. I never got anywhere in this sport until I got the NS2. I was in a few cities in Austria and Germany last week and was trying to see if any of the local shops carried Born kites, but no luck. Tried the convertabar again today in windy conditions, and did have some problems with the bar coming apart, and having a hard time putting it back together. I think the 2 are related. Because it was very windy, it was hard to reseat the handles, which meant that they weren't connected as well, leading to them coming apart. Was't a big problem because my hands are always in the right position to convert back to handles. One handed bar flying could be an issue, though for my intended purposes that would be limited to the few minutes from launching the kite to moving my kite boat off shore and getting in. Once I am off and sailing, handles would be preferable anyway. I have a few ideas on how to make the set up more secure though. An idea I had (not saying it is a good one....) would to put rolling elements in the female part of the joining setup with a sort of positive spring loaded fit akin to a ball bearing like PL does with their buggy foot pegs. The release could be a cantilevered lever to push the ball bearing back down and allowing you to pull apart the two halves. Yes, I thought about grit, sand, etc. As I said, not sure if this is a good idea, just something I was thinking about to make the coupling/uncoupling smoother. :karate:

I was thinking of something like this in the handle- to pop into place to lock in the coupling, and you push down on the button to unlock. (Maybe that is something like your suggestion.)

Another idea - run a small rod through the handle and put a slot with a 90 degree bend on the coupling. Then you insert the handle at an angle then turn it to lock in. I might make a mock up of it.

So here is the improved version. To prevent the bar from coming apart I first glued one side in place - this should cut the problem in half. Then I put in the spring button thing (what's that thing called?). This should help in making sure it is aligned and prevent accidental coming apart, while still allowing it to come apart when needed. I also cut away the t-coupling I used. A regular coupling would be better but I didn't have one.

Wanted to buggy today, but figured the field would be much too wet, so decided to ride my ATB instead. I finally figured out (I think) why the 3m Peter Lynn Skin kite was so hard to fly. I discovered the brake and leader lines were reversed in the odd sort of z-bridle the kite came with on one side. I won't blame the factory because this could have been something I did early on by mistake. Makes a whole lot of difference. Worked perfectly today. I was frustrated with this kite - and really puzzled why the 4.6 m version flew so well with my buggy, but this one never would. So if nothing else, I do seem to have the perfect ATB setup. But, I really do want to try this with the buggy now.

Notice my "eyebrow cam" view! Unfortunately - the camera cut my head off later on.

I got in a couple super fun snowkite trips.

The weekend before last, Tunkwa! There was a couple inches of edge-able snow, fairly steady wind, and luckily met some other kiters out there. Lunch from the Kekuli Cafe was also a highlight. It was my first time kiting on snow, and it was an amazing intro.

Last weekend, Green Lake. There was boot deep pow, and the gustiest wind I have sailed. I learned a lot! I got there early, waited and watched the wind until others arrived, and then got in a couple sessions.

Looks fun Randy. I didn't know what a land sailor was so I looked it up. Did you ever use it with the mast? I'm waiting for you to throw a strop on your handles so you can do this with your kite:



I added official granny wheels to my board a few weeks ago, but still haven't had the chance to test them out. Yours look like the ones they use on industrial dollies, but I think they work on mobility carts as well. The grey granny wheels don't leave marks on the floor. The treads on yours look great for off roading where you're at, supposedly the straight groove treads on the grannies are better in the wet sand.

Yeah - I did a lot of landsailing over the years, including at JIBE when the wind was offshore using old windsurf rigs. It seems like it take less wind (and less effort) with a kite than with a windsurf sail but you can sail in places you could never kite. The terrasailors came out around the year 2000 or so, and were intended for use with windsurf sails. I used mine for several years, and pretty much wore it out. I got this one from a friend of mine who never really used it. I got interested in the "granny tires" reading one of your posts, I think.

That picture reminds me of the times I practiced waterstarts on my terrasailor in a parking lot.

Here's a picture of my original landsailor taken ages ago. BTW - for parking lots, longboard skateboards are better and take a lot less wind.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

No templates today. We had a ton of wind and the prospects of riding my buggy in mud and wet grass wasn't appealing so I tried using a single handed handle (homage to our favorite kite innovator) with my 2.5 M NPW in a nearby parking lot. I started getting the hang of it pretty quickly. With some more practice and a place to ride with better wind (such as no trees 30 from where I'm riding) this could be a pretty fun way to Streetkite. Hopefully the ground will be dried out a bit and there will be some wind left over for riding the buggy.

Well played Randy, well played. I liked the single handle mod; way to make a scratch day into something you could work with. I'm scheduled to get my single handle flyer back from Germany later this week and hope to borrow somebody's board at IBX and try a little cruising around like you showed in the video. Nice music and still cuts on the bumpers; I definitely got the Western vibe.

I did the improbably yesterday - I installed and dialed in an auto pilot for my Single Keel NPW kite. I'm still trying to figure out why I wanted to make a single kite out of an NPW, but for whatever reason it worked. The autopilot is the shinny thing you can see sometimes at the end of the bridles.






Oh, and I buggied too, but it wasn't that memorable of a day.

Today I grooved my first Nanco tire. I did 8 grooves, spaced at 1/2".


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Perfect day at the lake. No people in the way. Or to watch me botch the launch and landing.

More of the same today. Two or 3 cars just stopped to watch me from what I could tell. Then, I a police car pulled in. I could see him shooting pictures/vid either on his phone or a camera. I thought "A crap - first rule of Street kiting - don't get busted for street kiting." After a few minutes he came by and said "Hey that's really cool. Have fun," Police have come by this spot before, but never talked to them.

Finally "finished" my 4.5 M g-kite and got a few minutes of enough wind to get it into the air today. Coming soon to an island near you. Not quite finished, but didn't have enough wind to see if bridle tuning, etc is needed. Maybe tomorrow.

....? nope. Genius.



:bigok:

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

We have been in serious wind draught but I did finally get enough wind to fly my latest - a Stealth NPWC kite. I'm figuring that once I scale it up, this will be perfect for places where kites have been banned.

Randy - outstanding! Have you considered flying it on fishing line? Even stealthier!

I thought of that. Spectra invisible would probably be perfect. :D

I made an invisible kite bag too. No more trying to figure out which kite is in which bag.

That's pretty cool Randy!... what kind of material is that?

Definitely recognize those fields too long

Randy, that is ingenious! When you said stealth, I was thinking the lines were going to be invisible. I clicked on the video and thought meh.

Then it dawned on me, where's the kite!! That made me laugh. Seriously impressed! Please make me a stealth LEI, money is no object...ish. This fits my humor perfectly.

Oh and the holes in the kite thing. Inspired! :D

Best yet Randy. I needed it yesterday when me and the 10 got drenched.

Thanks everyone. With all this encouragement I'm thinking i will try to make an invisible buggy engine. Maybe debut at JIBE 2019. :D

RedSky - if I just had some plans for an LEI, I have been wanting to try to make one. Since money is no object, I'll hire a design team to start working on it.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

We have been in serious wind draught but I did finally get enough wind to fly my latest - a Stealth NPWC kite. I'm figuring that once I scale it up, this will be perfect for places where kites have been banned.

That is wild Randy. I love it!!

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

RedSky - if I just had some plans for an LEI, I have been wanting to try to make one. Since money is no object, I'll hire a design team to start working on it.

I allowed my enthusiasm to get the better of me. :D
Invisible buggy engine for JIBE 2019. You must do this!

Me and my family tested out the 7.5m Brooza we ordered from bigkid. It arrived today and me and my brothers decided that we would be going to the beach instead of the movies. It was pretty easy to convince our Dad to come to the beach with us since he has been pretty excited about us finally getting something bigger than a 4.4m Buster. The wind was about 4-5km/h and the kite had no problems staying up in the sky. Got hit by a 12km/h gust later that day at the park and the kite had no problems dragging me 20ft across the grass.

What did i *learn* today?

Quote: Originally posted by 48K

Foils - especially large foils like the PL Reactor 8.6m - can collect a LOT of sand inside them! Coming from single skin (CQ) I did not anticipate this and am rather sloppy with my kite set up...tending to heap piles of sand on the trailing edge to keep them down while I set up lines etc. I only realised my error when I later tried to fly a sack of sand around in the sky haha! Any tips to avoid this in future?

Sure, go back to SS! :evil: Flysurfer Peaks, Born-Kite NASAStars, LongStars, and RaceStars suffer from no such malady. Pile as much sand as you want on their trailing edges and watch it magically shake off upon takeoff. Problem solved. You're welcome.

Incoming. Found on eBay U.K. . Paid too much, but......What price love?

:Ange09:

Quote: Originally posted by Ed Cline

Incoming. Found on eBay U.K. . Paid too much, but......What price love? :Ange09:

Is that one of limited addition Peak2s? I always thought those had the coolest color schemes.

Omg.
Best SOBB ever.
Wind, weather, fun, food, friends new and old.
On Windy Wednesday, I parked my LS2 3.5
while I took a burger and. Blokart break.
When I came back, It was a sand scuplture.
Not an issue for a sinhgle skin. La dee da.
If you haven't been to a SOBB, don't miss out.

Quote: Originally posted by Wind_dog

Omg. Best SOBB ever. Wind, weather, fun, food, friends new and old. On Windy Wednesday, I parked my LS2 3.5 while I took a burger and. Blokart break. When I came back, It was a sand scuplture. Not an issue for a sinhgle skin. La dee da. If you haven't been to a SOBB, don't miss out. Does this link to a pic work? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KLy0eD-HBZ5-9e1Fqtz4R2qM-wx...

Link doesn't seem to work

Sounds as if you had a wonderful time at SOBB. Wish I could have shared the stoke with you in person! I'm sure the little green SS shook off its sand sculpture without a wimper. :duh:

i had a solid 30+ onshore w/ a dead low tide last night...
1.5 hrs w/ a 2.6 Viper...was over 40, way too often
i find that less fun and more exciting now that I'm old and all banged up
but if thats whats being served you take it, make the best of it
and do everything you can to make it back to your beer intact

Finally got my latest project off the ground. It is a 6 foot Speedfoil. (Plans based on the Flexifoil Stacker I believe.) A bit different from my usual NPW's and single skins. Still have some tweaking to do. I made the spars out of cheap Walmart fishing poles, but wasn't sure how much bend was needed. I decided to start with the full length (about 8 foot) then if there wasn't enough flex cut out some from the middle. I assume (w/o any proof) that for higher winds you want less bend and for lower winds you want more. Anyway, I ended up making as short as possible (6 foot) with as much bend as possible and today it flew. I had a hard launching it till figured the way to do it lay it on the ground, let fill with air and then with a little coaxing it will eventually just pop up on its own - if there is enough wind. Also figured how to flip the kite over when it landed upside down. Here are a few pictures. Not enough wind to really get it going fast but I was getting the hang of it.


I was always interested in making one of these, but was never sure where to get something to make spar out of. The plans talk about fishing pole rods, and finally found some that looked like they might work for $5 at Walmart. (Needless to say - I am not a fisherman.)

https://www.kiteplans.org/planos/speedfoil/speedfoil.html

what happened today ?


At very least . today i try to repair my kite .

I had just ripped off the outer layer of my Liquid force elite 15m 2 week ago . feel devastated then keep it for 2 week . Today take a look and try to repair it .

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Wow! That's impressive! How do you shoot the video from in front of your buggy - a drone?

Thanks Randy!

I'm using the GoPro Fusion 360 camera. It uses some trickery to hide the camera mount/arm to give the impression that its floating mid-air.

I used the camera in my film SuperTracks with interesting results.
http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=35090

Great to hear about your epic session and the Kite Laydown 360 Jibe.

Quote: Originally posted by jeffnyc

Tom - you're doing some great stuff with that cam! Can't wait to see the next one. That water hit was pretty scary. Glad you straightened right before, that would have been painful. I hope your GoPro mount doesn't become a spear.

Thanks jeffnyc and I hope so too, but what a way to go! A full HD impaling video. This is only my second video with the Fusion, so I hope to get more soon.

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

Quote: Originally posted by Randy   Wow! That's impressive! How do you shoot the video from in front of your buggy - a drone? Thanks Randy! I'm using the GoPro Fusion 360 camera. It uses some trickery to hide the camera mount/arm to give the impression that its floating mid-air. I used the camera in my film SuperTracks with interesting results. http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=35090 Great to hear about your epic session and the Kite Laydown 360 Jibe.

Thanks. Sounds like a really cool setup.

You are a tough act to follow, but I had another good one today at my pavement paradise. Rode with my 4m Round Flex kite and a 2.5 M NPW 21. Aside from the usual fun stuff I worked on tacks with my Flex kite. Actually nailed a few of them, and the rest were no worse than my bad jibes.

My tacky video.



My too long NPW video.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Yeah riding on pavement is certainly different from grass. It is even easier than hard pack, but close. Apparent wind is a big deal. I might start out slow, but gain speed quickly. The bigger lot I'm riding has various slopes as well. A lot of times it is very slow going until I go downslope a bit to gain speed and apparent wind. Then I'm off and running in any direction. The smaller lot has a downslope that goes upwind - it is much slowed than the upslope end which is more downwind. It is pretty narrow and has trees and other obsticles that produce turbulance, so it is sort of a backup place when the big lot is not available. It is only available a limited number of days a year because of the wind direction and it gets crowded during warmer weather. I used to only ride my ATB with somewhat longer lines at this place, but riding buggy is much easier and more fun so I will probably stick with that. Buggy needs more room to turn and short lines seem to work pretty well.

Keep at it. I enjoy watching this type of riding. Its interesting how people innovate to take advantage their local conditions and topography.

Quote: Originally posted by markite

an up and down winter for conditions - often good conditions during the week days and then a storm or rain and melt or no wind on weekends. Finally got a weekend with beautiful ice and a little wind for a few hours in the afternoon. Got to play around on the two different blade set up I have to se what the differences are - put together a short clip to show some friends the surface would be good for skating - not much but happy to finally got some kite time in

I swear I remember your headstock bolt coming loose or was that my imagination? Nice Deadman btw.

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

I swear I remember your headstock bolt coming loose or was that my imagination? Nice Deadman btw.

You're right, it was this same buggy with little rake angle on the front fork. Riding hard one day sheared the headstock bolt. All fixed up and just need some good wind to try and break another one. Bid dump of wet snow today so that will have messed up the ice for blades. fingers crossed for a good weekend to get out on skis or snowboard.

On a side note - Justin Bieber bought the property in the far corner of the lake last fall. He was spotted around town a few times a couple of months back but I've seen the same lights on every day for the last month so i think he's been busy traveling with his wife lately. Was hoping he would be there this winter and would come out for a kite lesson.

:D that looked like so much fun, Mark! Thanks