PL Phantom 15 and Ski Skates - Enjoy the read, I enjoyed the day!

WEEEEE!

I mean......:wee:

WHAT A FUN DAY! DeezPanshes grabbed a pair of those ski skates and brought them out today. Intrigued, he set them for my boots and let me give 'em a whirl and I nearly didn't give 'em back. (Actually felt bad like I had been "hogging" them - musta been playing on them for a couple hours?)

Anyway - the Phantom, light to mid-light winds, about 15-18km/h maybe? A bit of a noodle to launch? Yes. Needs constant relaunching? Um, no. Auto-zenith as ever (but I did have to relaunch once - whoops ; )

Here's the deal though. That kite has two settings - gentle and anything but gentle - even in today's winds - and it has a fantastic deal of bar travel for smooth transition between the two. Silky smooth. Now, get the kite moving (and in turn, your skis) and it sits happy as can be tugging away. This is about the time I thought to pull on the upper side of the bar - just to see what happens. Well, the kite turns back the other way - no surprise. So, one might then ask what happens when you carve against the kite. Power seemed to develop. Now, what if one were to pull the bar in?........I think we all know where that went.

The first time airborne (only about a foot or so I think) my feet got left behind me, leaving me in a somewhat "superman-esqe" position. My feet caught up with me but the rest of my body had already touched down so sadly they were on the wrong side of the equation.

This is about the time that the smile formed stretching from earpad to earpad and took up permanent residence

I thought to myself, hmm.....I can probably use the kite to get me back onto my feet (oh, forgot to mention that those ski skates stay put on your feet and are so small that there is little fear of negative consequence - though I'm sure the potential does exist). So, I laid the skis in a cross wind / downwind sort of orientation and swung the kite around like I was taught in Hawaii. Funny thing.....I did it like I did it in Hawaii except that in Hawaii I had myself submerged neck deep in the ocean so the force generated had to also pull me through / out of said water. Well, seeing as the lake was frozen over there was none of the prerequisite force to be expended so I got it all. Every last bit of it.

That's the first time my "bell was rung". Did a little mental self-diagnostic and all systems seemed to be functioning within normal range so I again swung my skis to the other side of my body, orienting them again in a cross/down wind manner and tried again....just a little gentler this time. Up I went with nary a loss of ground, setting the little skis and going at it again.

So, I've learned that no matter what you do, you lose ground as soon as you leave the ground so you best point those toes 90 degrees from where they were. Landing without redirecting your feet is a surefire way to further develop your synchronized swimming poses.

I learned that if the winds are light, even if you redirect your toes, you need to make sure you're ready on the carve to get yourself pulling away from the kite once again lest it luff, drift back straight downwind, power up right in the powerzone and give you a second taste of what it felt like to have sunlight between the snow and the bottom of your skis. Of course, if you still haven't carved away from the kite again it ends up looking like it might if you were trying to stand on the back of one of those mechanical bulls.

I learned that front rolls are really cool! And I can bet they'll be even cooler if next time I do it I leave the ground first

I learned that the kite and the skis are two entirely separate elements - each with their own wishes and desires. Like if the little skis feel like submarining under the snow pack but the kite wishes to stay about it's business what ensues is much akin to "hang ten" on a longboard...only there's no shuffle stepping back on the board.....nope, it's just a prime opportunity to eat snow. Tastes pretty good when you're working the daylight out of a kite. The white stuff anyway.:singing:

I learned that those ski skates are super fun if you just wanna go mess around. If you wanna cross Greenland I'll bet there are better choices out there. But be forewarned - you should really try to stay slightly leaned back to prevent the aforementioned "submarining". Now, this requires finesse as the little buggers seem to have this banana peel effect if you're leaned back and hit some glass patches. They actually hold an edge quite well and turn on a dime. Actually they turn better than that but we don't have any currency smaller than a dime.

I learned that the Phantom has AMAZING depower. I bet that lit up all you'd need to do is pull that bar down to your bellybutton and you'd be off like a rocket....just keep your feet pointed in the right direction and a little closer to the kite than the rest of your body.

I learned that I hog Arcs. Darn it - I just realized that not once did I put that bar in Wolfees hands. Sorry man - next time out. I was having so much fun on those skates that I actually made my way back to the pit, grabbed my water bottle, had a sip or two and went out again all without taking the little skis off or dropping the kite (love the autozenith - did I mention that?)

What a great day with a great bunch of guys (and a girl) and some uber fun toys. We'll try riding the gear sled next time.:roll:

Good read MacB

Um......I think this post, if it REALLY needed to be moved should have been moved to the kite skiing forum, not the kite skating forum......or is it just me?

Update on the day yesterday......I can hardly move today! Me thinks me got a little beat up by the Phantom and the little skis

But it's a GOOD hurt

Way to go Macboy! The way I see it you have 3 things going on at once. The kite , your skis and where you are headed.

Just like downhill if you pay attention the where you are headed your feet usually follow. Very soon you will only be paying as much attention the the kite as your feet and mostly be thinking about where you are going. Those extra long runs when the kite is nicely set and you are cutting fresh tracks are a good time to practice thinking only about where you are going. aoxomoxoa ! :Ange09:

See how lessons and learning the water start paid off !!!!! :smug: