Went down to the lake beach this A.M and took my new (used) Flysurfer Speed 1.5 17m with me ... was supposed to be 8 knots but as usual with weather predictions here, there was actually bupkis. I set up, stood around, watched the lake, tried to find north to make a sun shadow compass, gave up & went back to the car for my cell phone cos ... I had to be home to shower and leave for work at 1pm.

A breath of wind started to tickle my fancy around 11:15am so I thought what the hell, let's try to launch.
First attempt was a fail so I reset (dragged the kite downwind and laid it out again) and had another shot. It went up a bit, inflated a bit, I yanked on the center lines a bit and finally, up it went!
Holy #@%$#! what a long, thin kite! And holy #@%$#! I can't believe it's flying in this sweet FA wind! I'm moving it around constantly but it's turning ok and is actually pulling as it flies across the window! Amazing! I'd guess it'd be about 5 or 6 knots - the long grass is just stirring and the flag is hardly moving ... I keep flying and by about 11:50am the wind has picked up enough (8 knots :D ) that I finally get an idea of the potential of this kite ... astounding! Should be entertaining when it's in it's range!
Back-stall landed it and popped the safety, untangled the bridle and picked all the dead vine out from the twists it had created in the bridle lines grr. Packed up, went home, went to work.

Wind has picked up so I rushed home after work finished at 5pm and grabbed my Synergy 15 and the North Sumo board. I'm looking at the wind and thinking eek, the 15 might be too big when I hit the water at 6:30pm but it ain't I'm getting up fine, good blast of speed but I can't keep moving after the first power dive. I get a few runs that are ok and one good one, but just can't get my groove on. Better than going home and sitting in front of telly though!

It's actually my first ride on the water with any Synergy ... quick review.
It turns just fine, much faster than the big LEIs I've used even the 2010 North Rebel that is supposed to be hot poop. Swoops around real nice, very fast kite - I even nose dived it once when I took my eyes off it and left my hands on the bar. I'm betting the 19 will fill more like the 14 - 16 LEIs ...
I didn't like the feel on the bar - couldn't really feel the depower/power point like I like, hard to tell when I was over-trimming the bar, but I can sort that out with the bridle settings. Or maybe the straps.
The bloody safety is a menace - popped off on me when I was flailing around in the water, could only guess it got nudged by my shorts or a roll of fat - so I turned the red hat upside down. Highly recommended and thankfully I could do it at the beach.

Could have done with more power so should have used the 19 or fiddled with the center strap, but there wasn't time to land and meddle - sun went down at 7:30pm. The Sumo is only 155x41 or something so I should have taken a bigger board. Was going to take my new Spleenes but sissied out - they're so pretty!
Hoo boy does it jump?! Sending it up to park it at the zenith after a failed start or two (or six) often had me rising out of the water. Before I packed it up, I did some jumping on the beach - bloody epic, without any real effort. Of course, there was no camera :/ Doing that actually gave good feedback through the bar - send kite, sheet in, feel power and POP you're in the sky! Maybe my hands just aren't educated yet?
As with all my arcs, easy to land and launch on my own. Lovely.

So ... what did you do with your day?

Not as good as yours. I spent the morning watching leaves, hoping the wind would pick up enough to fly my 17. By the afternoon the wind picked up but I was fixing my parents fence that blew over. Maybe tomorrow.

Kami, glad you ended the day on a high note. :D:D

Just heading down to the beach myself at the moment. Looks like I will have to pull out my 10.8 RII, wind looking a little wimpy at the moment.

If you're not gonna use your spleene's, better let me take one off your hands...... Shame to have them go to waste in your closet

I'll make sure they dont stay pretty for long.................

I flew my v19 in 9kt but then it dropped to 7 and when I started to go down wind the kite dropped into the wet, wet sand and that doubled my kites weight. No recover from that. Now I'm dryng it in pieces in my garage so that I can get the sand off... I've kept the pile of san that fell off the kite. so far look like about a gallon worth of sand and that's only from 1/4 ofthe kite :frog:

Yikes!
The bloody safety popped and the kite went down on the shore break but didn't seem to collect much sand ... which was nice. I was worried about bloody sticks jammed in the ground though ...

Borntofli ... no shipping would be retarded anyway

Forgot to add - couldn't relaunch the Syn from a nose down position by pulling on the rear lines ... pulled in about 5 meters of line but it just wouldn't budge

We hit the lake today. There was sheep in the paster as they say. But also storms in the sky. So we dodged a couple rain showers and kept the boat dry.

We ended up a the Clemson golf course free diving for golf balls. After about three hours of that, you are whipped. Vis about three feet so going down 12 to 15 and looking for the little white eggs covered with dirt doesn't give you much bottom time.

I'm guessing we found about 300. tho.

But I am beat. Tomorrow winds should be 10 to 12mph. 90 degrees or not, I'm in the field.

Wish the water would drop about 5'. Can't find any launch areas this year.

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza Yikes! The bloody safety popped and the kite went down on the shore break but didn't seem to collect much sand ... which was nice. I was worried about bloody sticks jammed in the ground though ... Borntofli ... no shipping would be retarded anyway

Yea Kami, that top hat works a lots better like that. Noticed you are clipped into your swivel with the safety. Thats nice to spin the bar.

Be careful if the Donkey slides down, your chicken loop can come off and there goes your kite with the safety.

Day started out great winds shifting around direction wise a bit but pretty steady 15 mph. Just getting ready to pack it in seeing a storm front approaching, was making a upwind turn heading back to the truck when got hit with a micro burst. Wow, major air time under full nitrous boost. Holding on for dear life as they say but thankful I was in a field with lots of room or could of hurt. Must have done about six real wide 360's gaining altitude all the way. Sabre was as tight as a drum but brought me down safely. Another one the wife doesn't need to know about..lol.

Quote:

Originally posted by WolfWolfee Day started out great winds shifting around direction wise a bit but pretty steady 15 mph. Just getting ready to pack it in seeing a storm front approaching, was making a upwind turn heading back to the truck when got hit with a micro burst. Wow, major air time under full nitrous boost. Holding on for dear life as they say but thankful I was in a field with lots of room or could of hurt. Must have done about six real wide 360's gaining altitude all the way. Sabre was as tight as a drum but brought me down safely. Another one the wife doesn't need to know about..lol.

With the air time you get who needs a hanglider. Glad you landed ok

Awesome day at the sodfarm. It was a big kite day. R2 8.6 and 10.8 for me and sometimes even the big one wasn't enough, but boy when the breeze comes in its like you're in the POWER. Tried out Dakitez new Apex II 10m. These Apexes are just awesome kites. Very relaxed flying, not gonna get yanked out by it, but it hooks up and has the pull. Wexler was ripping up and down the grass playa in Dakitez MG flying the 10.

That MG is one fantastic, confidence inspiring buggy. I really hope my Ivanpah is going to give me the same safe feeling that speed and side slides are just no concern at all. Awesome day even if the wind did have to come in a bit. Great time with great guys.

Winds not the greatest today, but still had a great day. Winds started out NE @ 10 shifted to N @ 17. Beach was somewhat crowded, so stuck to the 3.5 RII. Hit the sand at 11, off at 3:30. Legs are like rubber after 64 miles of basically East/West runs.
Winds are to shift to to a more westerly by 2 tomorrow. Here's to hoping.

Played inline hockey today ... there was no wind anyway

Hardrock - that's not me, that's a pic from the FAQ page. I hook the bar leash into the spinning thing but then my harness leashes onto the D-ring in the chicken ... learned that the hard way - but only once

Rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wth!

Yesterday was a n awesome day.
I picked up Rip at 7:30am and by the time we got to GP it was about 9.
I started out with his 5.4 vapor and them went onto his 7.8 which was just perfect.
Rip was most of the day on his board with his FS Speed.
I was in the buggy for about 6 hours straight with only a couple of 5 minute breaks and no OBE's this time.
Extremely tired and sore today (6 hours does that to a person)
Rip got a few pics but I was too busy flying.

Cheers all
Ken (K3)