Power Kite Forum

A tough call.

Baluk - 30-1-2008 at 03:13 PM

Winds up to 50mph today. I have two kites at home right now. M-80 16m C kite or 12m phantom...

My sister stole the rest of them and left off to her house for the week!!! she says she asked me in the morning.. pff I was sleeping in the morning!

What do I do? I take my 12m phantom out.. just to test it's top end...

Okay, fastest inflation I ever did, took a few seconds! w00t.. So far so good.. but then , how do I self launch this sucker in these winds... hell.. how do I even hold onto it when just the canopy alone is flapping all around and I could board by just holding onto the spars?

Needless to say I packed back up before I launched. I figured it was too windy when my board, harness, bag and helmet all rolled across the field and I had to chase them around with people looking at me, as I run full speed towards them!

Just felt like sharing:spin:

acampbell - 30-1-2008 at 03:25 PM

Good Call!
Yeah I've had those days where I set up in a building wind and when I'm ready to launch, I look around and think, "Aw jeez, this is probably not going to end well..."

Bladerunner - 30-1-2008 at 03:40 PM

Can you not self launch a Phantom similar to some Bows. Stake down your chicken loop, set the kite at the edge let it fly on it's own to Zenith as you walk back ???

domdino - 30-1-2008 at 03:46 PM

You can but you'd need a giant giant stake to hold it down in 50mph!!! :D

Glad you didn't take it up.... countless times i've had the same predicament, a couple of times i went for it and oopsssss bad idea :D

Baluk - 30-1-2008 at 03:58 PM

I was sure I would be able to do a mega-loop with the phantom if I took it up today.. would have been very bad, heh... frozen ground, just grass and my skull partying it up.

And yes... not too sure about the stake thing in 50mph winds!

awindofchange - 30-1-2008 at 04:02 PM

50 mph winds with either of those kites would have been very serious and it is probably a good thing you didn't launch. I have had my 12 Phantom out in 25-35 mph winds and that was more than plenty for me. Launching in those winds would be very scary for sure. I was lucky enough to have launched in the upper teens and the wind built to 35 which is when I put it down.

I wouldn't even dare launching a 10m Phantom in 50. Even the 8m would be dangerous.

bloah - 30-1-2008 at 04:06 PM

dude, 1 meter kite for those winds is more then enough. You have my Rush 1 meter, you could use that one heh? I know it is kinda broken, but hey, it still flies.

BeamerBob - 30-1-2008 at 05:22 PM

When I started reading your post, I'm thinking, "surely he didn't do that".:o Smart move. I'm still a little jittery since that superman I did back in April. I might've taken out the profoil 1.5 but I don't think so.

I don't know what's worse. Your situation or me setting up the crossfire for the breeze blowing when I got home and it NEVER LEFT THE GROUND. The breeze just went to nothing. I could see some trees shuffling but not near enough to fill the cells up. And if I tried to back up to get it up in some actual wind higher up, it wouldn't fly for anything. It likes to have the cells full of air for some reason. Who wrote this law of aerodynamics anyway?

lunchbox - 30-1-2008 at 08:34 PM

Yeah, good thing you didn't launch...would have ended really, really badly...I won't even launch my 1.8 Beamer in those type of winds. Hell, I was at the beach one day and it was blowing 38mph and I didn't put it up then...Live to kite another day!

What about an umbrella or a pillowcase?

Bladerunner - 30-1-2008 at 08:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Baluk
And yes... not too sure about the stake thing in 50mph winds!


Sorry, I wasn't meaning to suggest doing this in that kind of wind :no: Just that it is one method that's available in normal conditions.

Baluk - 31-1-2008 at 03:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by snowbird
. . . it is one method that's available in normal conditions.


I've always thought of doing it before, I think I might attached it to a goal post next time I'm out; perhaps I'll find one use for them other than to bother you.