Yesterday was blowin hard as hell so my buddy Jake and I took our NPW5 4.8s off the lines and went straight to the handles and grabbed our longboards and headed to the biggest parkinlot we have here. I can't believe what a blast we were having, we kited for hours back and forth working up wind for some fast down winders. People on the freeway next to us would honk as they went by and others would actually stop by the lot to watch for a while. I think we'll head out again today when the wind picks up but this time I'm going to pad up a bit cause I had a high speed get off on one of my down wind runs that had me going ass over tea kettle in the land scaping beside the parking lot.

Sounds like a good time dman!

The NPWs directly off the handles are a blast with a longboard skateboard.

The fields were too wet here today, so I used the 4.8m NPW5 with a Kracked Skulls M1 http://www.krackedskulls.com/?pg=ksprod


However, I need a smaller NPW for those big wind days - I'll most likely order a new NPW9 from Kitemaker4

I have a huge 6'8" Hamboard (www.hamboards.com) coming in next week. It should be a smoooth ride with the 97mm ABEC 11 Flywheels with ABEC 7 bearings.

I'll write up a review once I get to try it out behind a kite.

Gave parking lot surfing a shot today......w/ my fishboard.....in 30mph wind....w/ my 3m.... 2 line......and got this..... :P

Sorry for the people that did not want to see my crazy pale upper thigh....

So for anyone trying this....long pants are not a bad idea....if you ride motorcycles wear those pants that you do. You know those leather a$$'less chaps. :P And find a lot w/ as little grit as possible.

Ok and to make you feel better...yes I had a helmet.

Glad you guys had nasa wings to play with. Let us know how it goes when you go out and play with them again.

Susan (npw goddess)

I got out again this afternoon with the kids. Not as strong and a little more gusty so it took a bit more finese but still a great time. My boy is wanting more and more time on the kite but I would really feel better if he had a smaller NPW so it wouldn't spank him in a gust. I want to try my hand at making them so if anyone has some helpful info, I'd be ever so receptive to help!!!!!!!!!!

Nick, how was your first go with the NPW construction? Any tips on materials and such? Susan, I'm sure you could put me on the right track, wished I'd made it to NABX to pick your brain a bit.

My first real runs behind a kite came in a parking lot with regular rollerblades. Tons of fun and no more dangerous than the Playa.

The NPW9b is CRAZY easy sew, expecially when you compare it to a foil. Bridling it was the hard part.
http://members.shaw.ca/kiteman/Downloads.htm
He can help you out alot. I believe you were talking about making a HUGE NPW9b? So get alot of sewing thread, alot of ripstop nylon. If you can find it get double coated, it will be the crunchy kind. It will be much more expensive, but it's easier to sew, will last longer, is stronger fabric, and will pull more as it is sealed better. On his calculator im sure you noticed his instructions call for a reinforcement cord between panels. I used nylon rope with the core pulled out as it wouldn't go flat, it works but not well. Use paracord, it flattens out super nice when you sew it, and its crazy strong. Don't pull the core out of the paracord though. It will help when you attach the bridles as well, it will help when you have a very sturdy cord to tie your lines around. And when you bridle it, use the cascade bridling, lighter, cheaper, less drag.

Good luck!
NPW
i
c
k

Nick has some good pointers. Just study the plans over and over before you start. I had practice making single line kites before I started to make nasa wings. The web site above is very helpfull.

Susan (npw goddess)

Thanks to both of you! I will let you know how it goes.

dman,

Just curious - what kind of longboard are you riding?

That's a good question DaVinch! I was doing a bit of parkinglots a year or so ago and have a Sector nine pintail and using my 2.1 little devil. The only problems I was having was needing lines to fly right and my board was directional. After looking around I found a mountain board deck and decided to put some long board trucks and huge abec 90 flywheels to over the junk a little better. This, matched with a NPW on the handles is the perfect combo. It's super stable and still carves well, I may try to get a pair of the 11" trucks cause at about 35 Mph it gets abit squirly and I think that may be the ticket.

Sounds cool - have a picture of your board?

Quote:

Originally posted by DaVinch Sounds like a good time dman! The NPWs directly off the handles are a blast with a longboard skateboard. The fields were too wet here today, so I used the 4.8m NPW5 with a Kracked Skulls M1. However, I need a smaller NPW for those big wind days - I'll most likely order a new NPW9 from Kitemaker4 I have a huge 6'8" Hamboard (www.hamboards.com) coming in next week. It should be a smoooth ride with the 97mm ABEC 11 Flywheels with ABEC 7 bearings. I'll write up a review once I get to try it out behind a kite.

Dang dude, ABEC 7. I didn't even know they got that high!

The football stadium parking lots
here in NJ are my original
traction-kiting-stomping-grounds

My first ride was a Envy Longboard
with some prototype Aluminator type wheels,
Exkate trucks,
and a pair of stacked revolution kites

There is some construction going on there,
a lot of it, so many of the lots are corrupted

Luckily I had graduated from there
to grass to snow to water and so on
so i'taint so bad...

AND I AM looking forward to the
new indoor skislope that they are working on.

Hey Davinch, I'll try to get a few pics if I head out tomorrow.

Somebody show me how tho do the quote thingy, I've never learned and it looks handy.

Quote:

Originally posted by kitepool AND I AM looking forward to the new indoor skislope that they are working on.

WAIT! WHERE?!

for year round riding
definetly no room for a kite

just drive by the intersection of RT3
and the NJ Turnpike by its last
northmost toll plaza
its the big new weird
slanted shaped building

the new multi faceted entertainment
center/mall will be called
Xanadu.

parking lot kiteskateboarding. Here is a short video of me from several years ago. Unfortunately this place is now a retention pond.

http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd82/speleopower/?action=...

Scott

Quote:

for year round riding definetly no room for a kite

Just a thought, even if there was room for a kite, where would the wind come from?

That was what I was doing earlier today speleopower. Local school field/parking lot is almost always empty on sundays. Pavement is soooo fast... just eats tires fast as well so I tend to stick to the hard packed grass soccor field.

Never fails though... be out doing your thing... and turn around and have a handful of cars pulled off the road to watch.

It's lots of fun but I have no place to play on the concrete anymore. It's all retention ponds now.

Scott

Quote:

Originally posted by kitepool for year round riding definetly no room for a kite

I know this, but all year snowboarding 2 hours away is AMAZING!

I've got 2600 feet of stright paved run way I can kiteskate on 20 minutes from me. My little slice of heaven. Still going to use my new MBS board when I get it rather then my old skateboard which makes my legs turn to jello after a run and back.

Got the Hamboard in - Check out the size of this thing!

It's a smoooth ride

97mm ABEC 11 Flywheels

I got a chance to ride the Hamboard behind a 2.4m NPW5 (directly off of handles/no lines) yesterday in 20 mph winds!

It can really carve and it has a ton of room to cross-step, jibe, etc.

If you have a empty parking lot around, I would definitely recommend trying out a NPW directly off the handles with a skateboard

Such a quick and easy way to get a session in

o0oh, interesting! I have a lot of large parking lots around and i've beent rying to find them without the lightposts. How must room do you need to run the NPW5 right off the handles? that sounds like a great time!!!

Running them off the bridles only takes about 8' of downwind space - so going around light poles is not a problem at all.

Go for it

Sweeeeeeeeeet!!! I'm gonna look for a cheap NPW so i can try this out ;D. I think i saw some for sale recently. I shall be lookin'!

Get in touch with Dlish89, he has them for a great price! Way to much fun for the money. You can get a sesson in on lunch no problem. just pull out the kite, toss the board on the ground and you're off!