Pablo - 9-6-2007 at 06:06 PM
Now this is built more as a land based kite, but it is water relaunchable and ok for surf as well, so I figured I'd give it a go. Besides, it's windy
and pouring down rain, what's a boy supposed to do? If I'm gonna get wet, may as well be on the water.
Second time on the water for me, first time flying this kite. Day one was spent on body dragging, water relaunches and getting up on the board a
couple times.
So here we are at day two, I'm a fairly competent kiter on land, buggy and ATB, doing some jumps on ATB's. I'm about 250lbs, wind is bouncing between
12mph and 18mph.
Set up the kite as usual, turns out it's a bit harder inflating an arc in the rain compared to dry days, but it fills ok, just had to dump the puddles
off the kite as it filled. Rear pigtail extentions at about 4", internal strap about 1/2, steering straps about 3/4. That's my usual setup for land
with some good jumps and awesome power. Turns out I should have set it for a bit more power, in the winds we had I found myself wanting a bit more in
the lulls, just perfect when the wind was up.
So launch the kite, text book launch, took a little longer to fill and climb to zenith, water ripping out the drain holes, but once overhead it's the
same old PL Arc, let go of the bar, forget about the kite and get your gear together. First thing I notice, it's super easy getting your board on and
ready to go when you don't have to focus on the kite. Send the kite a little back and drop it, instantly out of the water and cruising. I learned a
couple things on the first couple rides, Shallow sandbars make for wicked wipeouts when you bottom out on them, walking back upwind is not fun. The
Scorpion likes speed so go down wind a little to pick some up before edging cross wind. Big boards are hard to hold an edge on when really powered up.
So by the 3rd downwind circuit it finally clicks. Get some speed up, lean back hard and work the kite then boom, kite settles in place, cutting cross
wind hard. Hey, someone's going the same way as me, lets try and follow him. What'd you know, I'm following his line cross wind and gaining on him
fast, Ummmm, too fast..... Getting kinda close.......Sploosh, he wipes out about 50ft in front of me. Crank back on the bar hard, well it would seem
the kite has good pop and float. Landing not so impressive though. On the plus side, relaunch is good, do what the manual says and it'll be airbourn
in no time.
Get back in and spend some time talking to the other kitesurfers, seems the wind was really gusty, lots of peaks and holes. Who would have thought, I
barely felt anything. Probably explains part of the problem staying upwind though. Seems a lot of other kiters were having trouble staying upwind as
well.
All in all, I had a wicked session, progressed way further than I thought I would, kite behaved perfectly. It was nice to stay out when everyone's
running in to grab a smaller kite, then heading in 1/2 hr later to grab their larger kite again. About the only other guys that stayed out were on the
Bow/hybrid kites. I credit some of this to 2 yrs of landkiting hard, but some credit goes to the kite as well. Over the last 2 months my landboarding
has progressed equally fast with this kite. I went from trying to stay upwind to jumping easily.
If you're looking for water only, you can probably find a great deal on an inflatable kite, but if you want land and water, I highly recommend getting
a test ride on one of these kites.
SecondWind - 9-6-2007 at 08:34 PM
Sounds like you had a great time Pablo!
What wind range is the 16m good for?
Pablo - 9-6-2007 at 11:07 PM
Well, I'm 250lbs, so that affects it just a wee bit, on land anything over 10mph is having fun, I can probably get going in 8mph, more so in the buggy
because I'm quite familiar with it and can drop the kite nice and low for power.
On the water with an old wipica orly 186 twin tip I was up and planing in 14mph with little effort, having to work the kite pretty good to stay up and
cruising. When the wind was 16-18mph I was fully powered, no problem getting up, a few accidental jumps, probably could have gone upwind really well
but I'm new to surf and with the huge board I was having problems keeping the edge nice and deep without getting washed out. The wind was really lumpy
and holey as well, so that may affect the wind range a bit as well.
I'm figuring that for a guy my size you've probably got a range from 14mph up to 30mph. A lighter guy would probably be closer to 10mph - 20mph.
There's also a ton of adjustments, I had the internal power strap at 1/2, steering trim strap at 3/4, 4" pigtail extentions to depower the kite a
little more(was using it on land in high winds last flight). Next flight, hopefully tomorrow, I'll take off the pigtails and crank up the internal
strap and see what happens. Either I'll get lots more power or the kite will end up stalling out on me. depends on how good the wind is.
acampbell - 10-6-2007 at 05:47 AM
Great info, Pablo, thanks. I've got my 10 m Scorpion on the way. I'm 190 ish and keeping it for work in the buggy, but I figure at 18 kts I could
hand it to one of the local water guys to see what they think. It's all bows/ hybrids around here for the kiteboarders so i's like to see what they
think of a modern twinskin.
Bladerunner - 10-6-2007 at 10:21 AM
Way to go Pab'LO :wow: :cool2:
I hope we don't lose you the way we lost Jenn.
Sweet Lovely girl checked out the water one day and the land crew lost her to the sea ! 
Thanks for leaving Betty the Bug for us Jenn. :smug:
Pablo - 10-6-2007 at 10:43 AM
Not a chance Ken, but when going at least a week without kiting, then it's nice and windy, but raining, what's a boy supposed to do?
Angus, you'll find for land the kite will like pigtail ext on the rear of the kite. With the 16m I use anywhere between 4" to 8" depending on how
light the wind is. Longer extentions will give you more speed, less grunt and keep the kite from stalling in really light winds. Internal centre strap
on the 16 is all the way loose for really light winds, steering is about 1/4 to 1/2. Keeps the kite moving faster with less stalling. For stronger
winds on land I go 1/2 tight in the centre, 3/4 on the tips with about a 4" pigtail on the rear lines. Gives the kite way more power and
responsiveness if you've got the wind to push it.
Once I got on the water though I'd have liked more power, next time I'll try the centre strap 3/4, steering full tight and move up to the original
pigtails on the kite. I also had the VPS system set to the middle bar pressure setting, seems good in lower winds on land, but in the surf with the
kite really loaded up the bar pressure felt a little heavy, so I'll probably set it up on the lighter one next time out.
I hear ya on the Arcs thing though, yesterday, 33 kites on the water, about 20 C's, 12 Bow/Hybrid, and one Arc, no FS type foils. I hear one local
used to fly Arcs about 3-4yrs ago but they've come a long way since then.
acampbell - 11-6-2007 at 04:37 AM
Thanks for the tuning tips Pablo.
Yeah a while back our local kiteboarding instructor got one of Kent's close-outs on a Gorilla II. He took one ride on it and then promptly traded it
to me for a new Mystinc Harness. That's a four year old design, though.
Pablo - 12-6-2007 at 08:50 PM
Oh man, the Guerillas are pigs, the Venom I was night and day to it. I've also flown the 16m Scorp back to back with the 18m Phantom that it replaced,
apples and oranges.
Somehow the 16m Scorpion has the power of the 18m Phantom and the turning speed of a 13m Venom. I fly it like I stole it, no problem looping the kite
on land to get massive buggy slides when changing directions.
acampbell - 16-6-2007 at 05:35 AM
Took my new Scorpion 10m out yesterday. I love it! It was 12 kts, the low end for this kite, and coming off the water at a slight angle, so I got to
test it for up-wind as well as a broad reach. It was low tide but enough people out that I had only less than two football fields worth of space to
myself but I got a good taste.
Pablo, with the amount of adjustability this kite has, along with the deep de-power, I can better understand how you can cope with a16m on land in a
bug. I'll still stay conservative with this size, but will look forward to trying it in stronger winds and know I'll still be comfortable
It's easy to set up, easy to launch and easy to fly. And the stability is wonderful. It's nice to be able to let go of the bar and fuss with the
bug, take a drink of water or take a phone call and never look up (much).