So i found out, with a little tweaking, i can fly my phantom in apparently no wind... No leaves moving, no breeze, nada! There is a handy little strap in the middle of this kite i didnt know i could adjust... The only catch, this pig has to be inflated, fully... and that is a problem with no winds...

Any ideas how to inflate the twinskins in the middle of nowhere, with no power source (and no wind)? I had a grounds keeper at the soccer complex hit it with his leaf blower, that was cool! About 30 seconds and it was golden, lol!

Just trolling for some ideas!

Um ... buy an electric leaf blower? :D or more seriously, something that plugs into the cig lighter in your car? I bought a tyre pump that does that for like $12 the other day, for the landboards ...

Black and Decker rechargeable battery leaf blower from Lowes $69.99

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Originally posted by Todd Black and Decker rechargeable battery leaf blower from Lowes $69.99

........aj

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Originally posted by Drewculous Any ideas how to inflate the twinskins in the middle of nowhere, with no power source (and no wind)?

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Originally posted by Drewculous I had a grounds keeper at the soccer complex hit it with his leaf blower, that was cool! About 30 seconds and it was golden, lol!

Hmmmm.......a leaf blower might work.

I would go Craftsman http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B002CSI51O?searsBrand=core

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Originally posted by soccerflyer I would go Craftsman http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B002CSI51O?searsBrand=core

Why are you beating up my Black & Decker

I didn't say one thing negative about Black & Decker. I simply offered an alternative.

Are you sure that one is battery? It doesn't look like it on the listing.

I found the cordless one at Ho' Depo'...

http://tinyurl.com/l5egel

i guess you could try kite cpr if all else fails--i hope you have powerful lungs...........

Pick up one from craigslist. I've been checking a few out and they run about $20-30

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Originally posted by Drewculous So i found out, with a little tweaking, i can fly my phantom in apparently no wind... No leaves moving, no breeze, nada! There is a handy little strap in the middle of this kite i didnt know i could adjust... The only catch, this pig has to be inflated, fully... and that is a problem with no winds... Any ideas how to inflate the twinskins in the middle of nowhere, with no power source (and no wind)? I had a grounds keeper at the soccer complex hit it with his leaf blower, that was cool! About 30 seconds and it was golden, lol! Just trolling for some ideas!

I'm curious what you did with the strap and what the effect was. Come clean for your fellow Phantom owners.

would this work on the synergy?

Heh, I think he meant would the strap tweak work on the synergy.

I knew someone that Jerry rigged a hose from the cooling/heating vents of their car to use to fill their kite on a no winder day.

yeah, that's what I meant... I've got a 12m on the way, yes... Saved you from kitelust, did I?

I've going to have to go with a battery-powered rig that takes ten minutes or so to do the job. I'm thinking of dropping by the gadget market streets in Sham Shui Po in HK, I can get pretty much everything there... I remember an old post on foilzone, a guy used a 4" 12v ventilation fan hooked up to 8 AA batteries. Very small, but he showed pictures of the fan snugged right into the end of the zipper with no room for air to escape around the fan housing. He said he got three or four inflates out of each set of batteries, and that yes it took a heck of a lot longer than a leaf blower!

so I'm thinking a pre-wired battery case, maybe 24V, maybe 12V, hooked up to the ventilation fan, just undo one zip a bit, put the case in the zip, zip it up tight around the case, and leave it on for a few minutes. The 12v fan might be the hard part, but there's several hundred shops in the area....

24m in 1 minute! woo hoo... I'd like to see a video of that actually....

I'm going to have a lot of questions once I start flying this thing, but i do have a lot of light winds this time of year. They can be quite nice in their own way, super steady landbreezes about 6-8 knots and enough to let me jump on an ace 8 sometimes, so I'm hoping the synergy will do a bit of this too... But yes the profile is way fatter I hear than on the phamtom and it's a fair bit lower AR as well...

Anyways, a couple questions kinda relevant to this thread, sorry if they're stupid, but do the arcs inflate as you fly them as well as on the ground? I know the flysurfers do, but how do the arcs do with that? Also, will that happen much in this gentle summer wind? like if I get it off the ground and fly it around for a bit as fast as I can? will it sort of top up or is what I have on launch all I get as far as internal kite pressure?

Guess I'll find out for myself in a few days, but yes last question... Is it the same strap in the synergy?

:frog:

You'll need your synergy topped off pretty well before launch or it won't have enough internal pressure to take its shape and catch the wind. One trick in lower winds is to lay it on its trailing edge and let the wind fill through the intake vents. When it looks pretty tight, then just back up while tugging on your center lines and it will take off if you have enough wind to fly. Your internal strap is tightened all the way right now which is for the highest amount of power. The kite will top itself off to full pressure in flight provided you have enough wind. Keep the questions coming. Others learn and the ones answering, reinforce their knowledge by doing so. :bigok:

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Originally posted by BeamerBob Keep the questions coming. Others learn and the ones answering, reinforce their knowledge by doing so. :bigok:

prepare to be quoted, that's a good one...

lay it on its trailing edge... I guess you mean pretty much like a foil ready for a hot launch or up around the edge of the wind window a bit? bridle side up? (idiot question, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself as I was planning on reading the manual)

but the more relevant question is the internal strap again -- does high power setting on that strap also improve its low wind performance? drewc didn't actually mention WHAT setting he used...

LOL

time to go do my arc research again...

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Originally posted by BeamerBob I'm curious what you did with the strap and what the effect was. Come clean for your fellow Phantom owners.

theres a strap that runs the length of the kite on the inside of the inflate zipper... adjust it all the way 'open' or 'loose' and it allows the kite to make a wider arc, and thus grab more air... i think? this is probably pretty common knowledge among darc siders, but i recently got my kite up, with that strap adjusted all the way out (it was really low wind to begin with), and the wind flat died, and i kept boarding... it was kinda surreal

Todd shot me this link, Arc Bible , and it said in low wind to open the kite up... so i did, and it flew pretty well, all things considered!

Im still a little confused on how that strap works, but in no wind... loosen it up!

Arc Bible, that's a good name for that monster! I've seen it before a few times but I wasn't sure where to find it...

thanks for the link!

[edit: BB my questions above answered now, guess you have the d'arc side bible too!]

The trailing edge strap controls the curvature of the kite during flight. More curvature, more power and faster turning - heavier bar feel.

The way this works is that tightening the internal strap will boost performance. Loosening the strap will dump the power out of the kite.

So why does loosening the strap work for you in light winds? Well, the above information is for when the kite is flown in its recommended wind range. As you probably have already figured out by now, speed is power with the twinskins. The more speed you get out of the kite, the more power those beauties produce. This is also the reason you want to fly them hard, not just poke them in the air and let them sit there. If you spank them around, they will reward you a ton!!!

In light winds, the tight strap will actually cause the twinskin to fly much slower as it is cupping more air in the foil. If the strap is very tight, it will actually cause the kite to stall. Remember, speed is power. A stalled twinskin will produce nearly zero power, so stalling the kite in light wind will just end up with a ball of nylon on the ground. Loosening the strap all the way out will allow the foil to dump all the wind out of it which will reduce the tendency of the foil to stall - or in other words - letting the foil build as much speed as possible. Once the kite starts to produce some speed, it creates its own apparent wind and will fly in nearly zero wind conditions. You won't have much power out of the kite and pulling the bar in will give you a small surge of power and usually end up pulling the kite out of the air....but it will fly.

This is the same as normal depowerable foils as well. Shortening the center lines of your foil so the power adjuster strap is pulled all the way in (fully depowered) will let the foil fly in very light wind conditions - you wont have much power but at least it will fly.

As the winds pick up, you will want to start tightening the internal straps or letting your center power adjuster back out to get a bit more power out of the kite.

As the winds start to hit the top end of the wind range for the kite, again you want to go back to the "Light wind" setting. By letting the straps all the way out you will dump the power back out of the kite - you will have some speed but not as much power. Also pull in your depower strap to kill the excessive power.

Hope that helps clear a little up.

That sure does, thanks....

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Originally posted by awindofchange The trailing edge strap controls the curvature of the kite during flight. More curvature, more power and faster turning - heavier bar feel. The way this works is that tightening the internal strap will boost performance. Loosening the strap will dump the power out of the kite. So why does loosening the strap work for you in light winds? Well, the above information is for when the kite is flown in its recommended wind range. As you probably have already figured out by now, speed is power with the twinskins. The more speed you get out of the kite, the more power those beauties produce. This is also the reason you want to fly them hard, not just poke them in the air and let them sit there. If you spank them around, they will reward you a ton!!! In light winds, the tight strap will actually cause the twinskin to fly much slower as it is cupping more air in the foil. If the strap is very tight, it will actually cause the kite to stall. Remember, speed is power. A stalled twinskin will produce nearly zero power, so stalling the kite in light wind will just end up with a ball of nylon on the ground. Loosening the strap all the way out will allow the foil to dump all the wind out of it which will reduce the tendency of the foil to stall - or in other words - letting the foil build as much speed as possible. Once the kite starts to produce some speed, it creates its own apparent wind and will fly in nearly zero wind conditions. You won't have much power out of the kite and pulling the bar in will give you a small surge of power and usually end up pulling the kite out of the air....but it will fly. This is the same as normal depowerable foils as well. Shortening the center lines of your foil so the power adjuster strap is pulled all the way in (fully depowered) will let the foil fly in very light wind conditions - you wont have much power but at least it will fly. As the winds pick up, you will want to start tightening the internal straps or letting your center power adjuster back out to get a bit more power out of the kite. As the winds start to hit the top end of the wind range for the kite, again you want to go back to the "Light wind" setting. By letting the straps all the way out you will dump the power back out of the kite - you will have some speed but not as much power. Also pull in your depower strap to kill the excessive power. Hope that helps clear a little up.

This is beautiful man. We need to add this in to the Arc bible!

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Originally posted by live2hover This is beautiful man. We need to add this in to the Arc bible!

Thanks AWOC, good info, now i know!