> Are you saying that you didn't seem to have enough input off of the bar to steer the kite and dip it into the power zone ?

Hmm.. I could get it to move around.. the issue was more that it was more or less constantly pulling me straight up which was a two fold issue.

1) it was a little uncomfortable almost hanging like that the whole time (maybe I should use the seat attachment (have the Chameleon harness)).
2) given that it was flying like that i didn't want to really steer hard and have it dip low and yank me like crazy..

> Were your back lines still too slack ? Sounds like it to me ? In those winds pulling in the bar should have made a noticeable difference ?
It did, though I was fighting it wanting to overfly so I didn't really pull in that much.. I wish i had the guts to try jumping it or really yanking the bar in.. but all in good time!

My technique for dealing with the overfly was to try to turn the kite as it went over my head, and cause it to float back towards zenith, then straighten it out..

> In strong winds you won't have to make very big motions at all + the kite will get into " park and ride " status sooner. In light winds you need to dive the kite harder + pump the kite in a sine wave to gain speed = power.

In the lighter winds (10-15ish mph) the last few times I haven't had a problem getting going or keeping it flying in the park and ride zone.. but this time it was mostly the fact that it wanted to fly straight overhead or start to overfly.. I'm glad I had a lot of practice with light gusty winds before today so that I knew to pull the safety when the thing was going to open up in the middle of the powerzone directly down wind.

> I suspect letting the strap out more would have helped ? If I am correct you can shorten the back lines at the leaders on the bar.

Yeah, I guess I needed to let the strap out more, but I was afraid to do so since that would give the thing more power and given how much pull it was already generating I didn't really want to .. Maybe I should have adjusted the VPC as well? how does that affect its desire to overfly? Or the simplest/most likely explanation is it that the kite is fine and the pilot sucks. :D

> The fact you are comfortable enough to give it a go in those winds + smart enough to back off impresses me !
I have a long history of adrenaline seeking behavior (grew up doing dirt jumping, ramp riding, and street in the summers on my bike back in they day.. And then snowboarding 3x+ a week in the winters.. So I'm not usually afraid to try things, but I've taken enough big crashes to know when I'm over my head (and that goes double now that I have kids and responsibilities getting in the way.. err i mean to consider :D)

Wait...20's gusting to 30's throwing a 13m up there to landboard...no I'm sorry I think too much kite for that right now...that's what I had tonight and left my 10m in the bag and went 3fb...i don't fly arcs but that's a bunch of fabric early on no?

way too much for experience and kite. 30 knots ! no way on land at your current experience level . even on the water it would be super lit!

for condition selection that could have been a bad slammer. now you know OVERPOWERED.

this situation should be avoided, it won't hurt you , it will cripple you

>way too much for experience and kite. 30 knots !
20-30 mph = 17-26 knots but I agree it was too much power for me, thats why I packed it up pretty quickly! (Though I guess for badasses like bladerunner it's sweet winds!

>no way on land at your current experience level . even on the water it would be super lit!
It felt more like a repelling rope than a kite! Just sitting there pulling hard straight up most of the time.

>for condition selection that could have been a bad slammer. now you know OVERPOWERED. this situation should be avoided, it won't hurt you , it will cripple you
Yeah I agree it wasn't much fun. I'm only happy with 2 things about it..
1) I was able to successfully launch it and keep it flying
2) I had enough experience to know when to pull the safety.. BEFORE it crippled me!

If I launched an arc in those winds, it would be an 8-10m size (for my location) and I'd be code red till I could get moving. I have never gotten in trouble with an arc once rolling, always while standing on my feet or effectively sitting still in the buggy.

I flew a 6.5m Flexi Blade in 20 mph inland winds once and was in survival mode the whole time. I proved to myself I could, learned I didn't like that, and never did it again. :D

The benefit to you doing this is you know you can, and that you didn't like it. This might serve you well in a few years when you would seek out winds like that for the power it can give you but only after getting the foundation of hours and hours in normal, light, and strong winds in the low 20s.

The others are correct . I didn't stress enough that 20 gusting to - 30 mph is more wind than I would try the 13 in, on land. I guess since you did the right things . Not try and fly it hard + Fully depowered ( until it wasn't working right ) + bring it down as soon as you felt it might go bad. Our winds are generally smooth so I don't think I was giving a 10mph bump during a gusts enough thought / respect.

Sounds now like you were completely overpowered. I still think you want to pay attention to the tension on your back lines.

its quite a feeling w/ that kite overhead and you realize you now weigh half the weight you did before launching..than you think maybe i shouldn't do what i was planning...than you say ok if i can get out of this w/out loosing my kite or brains this will have been epic..great sport
time for more kites