As you probably know, I'm trying to sell my Blade. When I first got this kite, I did a lot of research and found this guy, Chris Calthrop. He is
REALLY old school but I thought he had some interesting input. Check out his website.
This link is his pros and cons of a Blade versus an inflatable. Interesting stuff. If I can't get what I want for the Blade, I may take it to the
water. Crazy, huh?
GregBladerunner - 1-11-2009 at 09:58 AM
What a shame that we lost Speliopowers interest. He was our , real life , old school reference. Flying F.B. on water even today :cool2:
I had HOOJ respect for Him and we lost him to the LEI. debate
His best tip was to take a mesh bag with you. If you crash the kite you can stuff it and swim to shore with it on your board.
NO PROBLEM :Dmanitoulinkiter1 - 1-11-2009 at 10:21 AM
Neat stuff.
Unfortunately I don't get enough sessions to get good enough to try that.
When I get out I want to ride not roll up and untangle. would be my fault not the kites but thats what would happen.
Johnstetson05 - 1-11-2009 at 11:26 AM
I wondered what happened to Speliopowers. He is exactly who I thought of when I read the info on the sitebigkahuna - 1-11-2009 at 01:34 PM
There's a guy here that flies Blades (at least I think they're Blades, they're some sort of open cell Flexifoil kite) in the ocean and in the surf.
He's really quite good and makes it look easy. I noticed he uses a similar technique to the site you listed and dumps the kite over a sand dune and
then lets go of the bar. Seems to work, at least it did the few times I saw him do it. There was another surfer in California that flew Flexi's in
the ocean and became pretty well known, but I can't remember his name.Kamikuza - 1-11-2009 at 09:08 PM
The comments on that page mention 2009 so he must be around still doing the open cell foil thing - mad props!
... how could we lose him to the LEI debate around here - there's only snobr and everyone else rides arcs don't they snobdr - 2-11-2009 at 06:47 AM
Dont underestimate the power of the darksidelunchbox - 2-11-2009 at 09:18 AM
Quote:
What a shame that we lost Speliopowers interest. He was our , real life , old school reference. Flying F.B. on water even today :cool2: I had HOOJ
respect for Him
Agreed...Let's hope he makes his way back here!
I've been really thinking seriously about giving this a go. Smooth coastal winds make such a big difference in stability. Unfortunately, I don't have
any Blades yet but was thinking about using my PL Reactors. Probably use them on handles though and use the strop for the initial water start. Gotta
say, I love the simplicity and safety of the launch. If I end up dunking it, I might have to reevaluate my decision ;-)