Popped my cherry today! :wee:

Been doing 'jump' transitions with a loop to switch directions for a while now ... but today, I must have started the loop sooner and was just past the peak of the jump as the kite started coming around - so I sheeted in and pulled the turn harder and enjoyed the pull downwind :D

I see what all the fuss is about - fun! Shame I couldn't reproduce it the rest of the evening

just a little more juice right when you need it. nice KK

what size was that? drop a size and do it more!

slightly underpowered , enough to stay up wind at least hold you line, and throw them to accelerate as well as jumps and transition . all about kite speed. the perfect extra when its light

really adds divine phlow

S3 21 was slightly underpowered most of the time ... couple of jumps a tack then work hard to get ground upwind ... I think the big white beast is too slow for proper loops so I'm buggered if I know how it happened :D

21m wow ,. oh well you got start some where!

kite looped a 21m?

Damn Kev!! how much freaking air did you get!!

very nice!

Not much it was more a pull forwards on the way down ... wind was bloody light - weather station next town up said 6 knots but I don't believe it ...

Hooj wing to swing!

Awesome!


Any video?

Yeah, takes its time getting around - hence the surprise when it was already going back across the window and I was still in the air
No video - I'll keep working on it though!

Tried a proper back-loop with the 16m Xbow tonight ... result was I got fired at the water and had to land ass first my "normal" style of 'front' loops were pretty dull - the 'bow just seems so fussy about bar setting to pull in a turn.

I bet the Chargers are just begging to be looped though ...

You got to make some videos my friend .... Congrats on new achievement ..... I am ready to follow you steps .... lol ...

I don't think repeated and consistent fails qualify as "achievement" though

Good reading about your progression/experience Kami.

Off to elmers...

Ah, apparently you need some power in the kite and some careful modulation of the bar to get the nice pull downwind that is so much fun!

Nice session today, all the way from 10 to 20 knots with gusts to 26 - which seems to be my limit with the 21 untrimmed .... BIG jumps!

This one time, at Lake Biwa :D I thought a directional goof was going the other way and boosted a good jump - only to go sailing downwind right into the path of his kite nose to nose with his Rally - bit of a shock! Drifted just past it ... though he freaked out and fell over.

Served him right earlier I boosted a GOOD jump and was having a good look around only to see that guy change direction (without looking behind himself of course ) and ride right downwind of me I had to just hang under the kite and splash down with it over my head.

Man ... I love my 21!!!

way to throw it KK. when YOU get fired out the water. remember the kite HAS TO keep up! or you'll be thrown UNDER it as the kite decelerates to the edge.

so when you go flying >>>UP >>>>>apex(bar out full redirect) then you kite are both zooming speed for HOT landing>>>>super hard carve up wind to bring the kite back deeper in the window.

this is different on a FS! kinda have to get it turning ON the way UP and MORE hold in with direction. BIGGER AND SLOWER, if you wait or are late, kite will luff as soon as you exit the apex.

this is why smaller, faster kites " slightly powered" really make it flow. the kite SPEED makes the extra for the "powered" result.

remember to trim to depower giving a faster kite!

very nice KK sounds like its a good combo, perfect breeze for full on fun!

I may be leaving the water too late then - it's been a LONG time since I stalled a kite above me by swinging under it :o

Some jumps when I've sent the kite behind me sets up a real pendulum motion - if I get the redirect right, as the kite zooms over the zenith, it keeps me hanging just above the water weightless touchdown.

If I send the kite almost straight up, I have to be very careful timing the redirect - I can hang under the kite with the bar in but gotta redirect gently on the way down or aggressively much closer to the water ...

... or if I get it right, a touch of bar pressure all through the jump makes a nice long arc through the air.

Faster smaller kites are much easier to correct when I've screwed it all up though :o the only problem with them is ... I can't ride upwind so well. Which is why I'm out over-powered on big kites all the time haven't used my S3 12 or 10m kites this year at all, and my 7m has never been used