Power Kite Forum

Buggying In The Rain

ChrisH - 2-12-2011 at 04:16 PM

Anybody buggy with an lei? I need to find a way to buggy in the rain because thats when the good wind hits. I saw an lei on craigslist for $50 and it got me thinkin about this. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Bladerunner - 2-12-2011 at 06:36 PM

A $50 LIE is probably an early generation 4 line C kite . Not a good pairing with a buggy.

While I haven't done it , pairing newer LIE and a buggy would not be worse than your conditions.

Around here the problem is it rains so much our fields become unridable. Storm riding on the water is very popular. LEI DO work in rain.

ChrisH - 2-12-2011 at 07:57 PM

Yeah, didn't plan to buy the $50 lei.....it just got me thinkin when I saw it. There are lot's of others on Craigslist around here, being that I'm only a little ways from the gorge. The only thing that I'm a little worried about is that lei's are lifty and I haven't had experience with a lifty kite yet. I might just have to give it a try and see how it goes. Thanks

bobalooie57 - 2-12-2011 at 08:03 PM

You could always try a NASA wing. Being single skin, they seem to fly better wet than a foil. Not so much lift to worry about.

lamrith - 2-12-2011 at 08:07 PM

Yeah the water folks here are always fired up and "well powered" when the storms come in.. They are in the water and wet anyway, so why not do it in the rain right?

nocando - 2-12-2011 at 08:37 PM

Hey Chris go scope out threads by JKS on Extreme Kites in Australia.

He lives in the tropics and kites in storms with a blow up, and is a buggy nut.

ChrisH - 2-12-2011 at 09:42 PM

Thanks for the suggestion nocando, I'll start looking through his posts. Unfortunately, he has almost 10k of them so it may take a while.:(

nocando - 2-12-2011 at 09:44 PM

will contact him for you, he also visits here a bit.

ChrisH - 2-12-2011 at 11:41 PM

Sweet, thanks man! I did look through all of his threads in the buggying section of that forum and found nothing about lei's. I did see a video where one of the guys was flying an lei, though.

bob, thanks for the tip on NPW's, I'll look into it.

cheezycheese - 3-12-2011 at 12:16 AM

I think RedSky on here has done some speed runs in the rain with a7m LEI

apextech - 3-12-2011 at 10:57 AM

I would think, as the water accumulates and pools it would act as a brake when you hit it, kinda like skiing and hitting water, I know whenever I hit water at the beach it all but stops me, or at best slows me down to the point of losing momentum and apparent wind and I have to regather the speed I once had. Any comments?

Bladerunner - 3-12-2011 at 11:08 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by apextech
I would think, as the water accumulates and pools it would act as a brake when you hit it, kinda like skiing and hitting water, I know whenever I hit water at the beach it all but stops me, or at best slows me down to the point of losing momentum and apparent wind and I have to regather the speed I once had. Any comments?


Interest thing happens when we are trying to punch through tide pools. My little light buggy with barrows will cut through with much less restistance than folks with BF and bigger buggies meet up with. Of course I come out at the other end soaking wet when the others are much more dry.

RedSky - 3-12-2011 at 12:44 PM

LEI's aren't lifty at all........until you decide to send it hard and pull the bar in. But you won't be doing that by mistake as it takes a concious effort. FB have a far greater potential to lift you when you're not expecting it coz they are always at full power.

If you go LEI I'd suggest NOT pumping the kites up to full kitesurfer pressure, but not so little that it warps when you loop it. If you slam it you will almost certainly tear the canopy from head to tail + bladder.

Go for a bow kite. They have masses of depower which makes for a faster bug, big wind range, easier relaunch and landing, safety is as good as it gets and if the rain get's too much for you then you and your mates can get under it for shelter and if you need to answer the call of nature then it's ideal for that too.

There is a bit of a learning curve with setting up do's and don't's if you've not flown one before but it's easy and if you haven't got a drysuit then get one. Why limit yourself to just the dry part of the beach. Use the beach in a x-shore too.

Tearing through standing water at speed is the best bit. BF's create a huge wall of water and stop you from 40mph to zero so fast that your eyes will pop out of your head, that's why I wear goggles. :wee:



Marty - 3-12-2011 at 09:02 PM

Hey Chris

Some bang on tips here already.

Sorry about the mountain of posts mate ..... most of them are tripe.
Here is a good one to start with http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&...

Redsky pretty much summed it up to a T. Especially the comment about BF's pulling you up in water ... woo hoo !

One little tip I would add is I always make sure my deflate plug (which is usually the larger of the 2 and doesn't have a ball valve) is only partially pushed in. I push it in enough to seal/hold itself but leave it loose enough that if I have a big impact it will blow out. The theroy is I pop the plug before I pop the bladder .... it has saved me on a number of ocassions. But if you choose no to carry a pump woth you ...... lol

Tubes + rain are no issue and empty beaches that keep getting washed clean are fantastic. The only negative it the faster you go the more the rain stings :D

I suggest a kite around the 7m2 mark. Make sure it has good depower and is easy to re-launch. One that is more mid aspect will be far friendlier than low/high. A good idea is to look for a single line flag safety that has a jefk off QR.

In 5 years of buggying with LEI's I have only ever obe'd 4 times.....and my top speed is 51mph, so I reate em as bloody safe and perdy fast.
Hope that helps .....

Marty
p.s. Hey Glen :bouncing:

ChrisH - 4-12-2011 at 12:08 AM

Wow, thanks for the wealth of information guys! As of right now, I'm riding in big grass fields and they soak the water up really well. I never see puddles in the field, even after a big rainstorm. One of these days I'll make it out to the beach, hopefully I'll be running midi's by then. I really can't afford a drysuit but I do have a pair of chest waders and a dry top for kayaking, I think that should work for now. I'll start looking for 7m LEI's on craigslist! Thanks so much, I really appreciate the help and the kite pron! :)

nocando - 4-12-2011 at 01:44 AM

Hey Chris a 3mm or better wetsuit maybe cheaper option heaps about.

Wear it underneath

apextech - 4-12-2011 at 10:55 AM

Quote:

Tearing through standing water at speed is the best bit. BF's create a huge wall of water and stop you from 40mph to zero so fast that your eyes will pop out of your head
:tumble:

That has been my experience with both BF's and Midis.

I myself would just bake in a wetsuit while buggying, but then we never get below @ 50d F, I find that I'm most comfortable in a T shirt in that weather eventually anyways, and I'll air dry soon enough, every time I wear a jacket I most often wind up having to stow it as I get too warm.

ChrisH - 4-12-2011 at 12:51 PM

Will look into wetsuits, thanks guys!

rocfighter - 5-12-2011 at 06:35 AM

One day when the wind was cooking to hard for my 2.8 a friend lent me his Best Grunt lei 3m. The thing was increadible. I'm still looking to buy one for high wind days in the buggy.

awindofchange - 5-12-2011 at 12:38 PM

Revolution Power Blast is single skin, no pumping and will fly in the rain no problem. Great buggy engine, ton of power, lots of speed, little lift.

RedSky - 5-12-2011 at 04:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by awindofchange
Revolution Power Blast is single skin, no pumping and will fly in the rain no problem. Great buggy engine, ton of power, lots of speed, little lift.


I read this review thing on KC > http://forum.kitecrowd.com/sale/revolution-power-blast-4-8-a...

Is there any truth with regards to throttle control. I assume the guy means AoA - depower.

I'm always open to new ideas. Sounds very interesting.

Bladerunner - 5-12-2011 at 06:01 PM

If you like Rev's you really should take a look at Cquads ! Amazing kites with a certian amount of that " throttle control " and a similar feel to Rev'.

I'm not sure if Bbrex still has some for sale ? They are usually a good deal if you can find them !

awindofchange - 6-12-2011 at 12:03 PM

The C-Quad was originally designed as a surf kite, so flying in the rain would be no problem for them. I was going to mention those as well but they are getting harder and harder to find now days. I started on C-Quads and they are awesome kites.