LakeShadow - 27-3-2003 at 09:51 AM
I went kiteskating this morning, the forcast was for winds starting at 10 to 15mph, and increasing to possible gusts of 40mph!!! I went to the old
K-mart parking lot, 'cause now that K-mart is outta business, there are great empy parking lots, and I don't yet have a pair of doomwheels.
The kite I am using is a 15'x4.5' adjust a quad. It's possible to roll up the ends so that it is only 10' wide, but it don't
fly that well then 
I was zipping 'round the light poles (always a fun/scary
experience, and got the the end of the parking lot, I started flying the kite over the top of the wind window, when one of those 35 - 40 mph gusts
caught it, I am used to getting maybe a 1 to 2 feet of air in a turn with this kite in a strong wind, but this time, I was... lifted, is the only way
to describe it, I swung one way the kite the other, then back, then the ground. I think it was more of a crash than a landing 
But according to my wife (who was there to laugh at me when I busted my *#@%) I was
at least half as high as the light poles, meaning about 15 feet or so at the end of the first swing. I walked.. no skated away with only a few
scrapes and a bit of road rash. (Gotta remember to roll next time, not slide) I kept on skating 'til the wind got to be too much. The
rollerblades were just being dragged sideways and I couldn't make any upwind progress. The winds at that point were a steady 25mph gusting to
god knows what. No pics this time, camera batter was dead But air is possible,
just next time, I do it on grass with doomwheels, grass or sand wouldn't hurt as much as asphault :o If you jump you CAN do it without a harness, but I would recommend at least a saftey line attached to the brake lines
of your kite, so that if, when you drop the handles, it depowers somewhat and doesn't blow away and cause destruction to whatever it hits, (not
to mention destroys itself!)
doomwheels - 7-5-2003 at 12:43 AM
Too bad about the camera, would love to have seen pics of that!
It is possible to use this type of maneuver to initiate a jump turn if you are daring and experienced enough.
As you prepare to turn, bring the kite rapidly to the high point of the opposite wind window. This will create enough lifting power to launch you from
your wheels and swing you like a pendulum hopefully landing on your wheels and skating back toward the direction you came from. The trick is that you
have to rotate your body and skates nearly 180 degrees while in the air.
I prefer to do this only on grass or sand as I'm chickens**t about biffing on the hard deck.
I suggest not trying this until one is very experienced with kiteskating and performing other land tricks.
Now that I have added that little disclaimer... Totally cool story Lakeshadow! Try it again with a larger wheel base (like my offroad skates) and keep
the kite in the air. Keeping the kite pointed up will provide you the lift to land softly. If the kite crashes... you crash! I guess you know that.
Don't kill yourself!
BC