Foils - especially large foils like the PL Reactor 8.6m - can collect a LOT of sand inside them! Coming from single skin (CQ) I did not anticipate this and am rather sloppy with my kite set up...tending to heap piles of sand on the trailing edge to keep them down while I set up lines etc.

I only realised my error when I later tried to fly a sack of sand around in the sky haha!

Any tips to avoid this in future?

Quote: Originally posted by 48K

Foils - especially large foils like the PL Reactor 8.6m - can collect a LOT of sand inside them! Coming from single skin (CQ) I did not anticipate this and am rather sloppy with my kite set up...tending to heap piles of sand on the trailing edge to keep them down while I set up lines etc. I only realised my error when I later tried to fly a sack of sand around in the sky haha! Any tips to avoid this in future?

Sure, go back to SS! :evil: Flysurfer Peaks, Born-Kite NASAStars, LongStars, and RaceStars suffer from no such malady. Pile as much sand as you want on their trailing edges and watch it magically shake off upon takeoff. Problem solved. You're welcome.

I KNEW yoiu would suggest that Windstruck!

:-)

Sell me a pacakable SS kite that handles like the Flexi Blurrs I just acquired and I will happily rejoin the SS love fest!

For now I am relishing the fact that I can easily pack and travel with a quiver of kites!

But give it a few years...those peaks do look interesting...

I made the mistake of leaving a open foil on the beach on a windy day (with sand holding it) when I changed kites. A hour later it was covered in sand, and a lot got in the cell. So packing them up right away is the better thing to do. You can turn them upside down and shake out most of the sand.

Yep...I had the foils laid out since I was switching between them with a single set of lines.
I will NOT make that mistake again haha!

Reactor is clean and tidy now after some careful shaking back home!

Incoming. Found on eBay U.K. . Paid too much, but......What price love?

:Ange09:

Quote: Originally posted by Ed Cline

Incoming. Found on eBay U.K. . Paid too much, but......What price love? :Ange09:

Is that one of limited addition Peak2s? I always thought those had the coolest color schemes.

10-4 good buddy. The Peak II has a tart sister.

Next is a 12. No hurry though. Yeah I know you have a pretty blue one.

Why go Peak2 ? Cause it's plenty good enough to out Kite me.


https://youtu.be/cM8oKxXApIw

Omg.
Best SOBB ever.
Wind, weather, fun, food, friends new and old.
On Windy Wednesday, I parked my LS2 3.5
while I took a burger and. Blokart break.
When I came back, It was a sand scuplture.
Not an issue for a sinhgle skin. La dee da.
If you haven't been to a SOBB, don't miss out.

Quote: Originally posted by Wind_dog

Omg. Best SOBB ever. Wind, weather, fun, food, friends new and old. On Windy Wednesday, I parked my LS2 3.5 while I took a burger and. Blokart break. When I came back, It was a sand scuplture. Not an issue for a sinhgle skin. La dee da. If you haven't been to a SOBB, don't miss out. Does this link to a pic work? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KLy0eD-HBZ5-9e1Fqtz4R2qM-wx...

Link doesn't seem to work

Sounds as if you had a wonderful time at SOBB. Wish I could have shared the stoke with you in person! I'm sure the little green SS shook off its sand sculpture without a wimper. :duh:

This last weekend at SOBB I witnessed my first OCE ( out of chair experience). That massive side pull off a symphony 2.2.4 pulled Wind_dog right over.

It was an awesome event. I hope to post some more when I have some time.

OCE?
Of there is no video, it never happened.

speaking of video required as "proof of life" ... first flight of this Peak 3 ... anybody sharing upstate New York riding locations, I'll wash your car

https://youtu.be/YL5rkm_Yl9o

i had a solid 30+ onshore w/ a dead low tide last night...
1.5 hrs w/ a 2.6 Viper...was over 40, way too often
i find that less fun and more exciting now that I'm old and all banged up
but if thats whats being served you take it, make the best of it
and do everything you can to make it back to your beer intact

Finally got my latest project off the ground. It is a 6 foot Speedfoil. (Plans based on the Flexifoil Stacker I believe.) A bit different from my usual NPW's and single skins. Still have some tweaking to do. I made the spars out of cheap Walmart fishing poles, but wasn't sure how much bend was needed. I decided to start with the full length (about 8 foot) then if there wasn't enough flex cut out some from the middle. I assume (w/o any proof) that for higher winds you want less bend and for lower winds you want more. Anyway, I ended up making as short as possible (6 foot) with as much bend as possible and today it flew. I had a hard launching it till figured the way to do it lay it on the ground, let fill with air and then with a little coaxing it will eventually just pop up on its own - if there is enough wind. Also figured how to flip the kite over when it landed upside down. Here are a few pictures. Not enough wind to really get it going fast but I was getting the hang of it.


I was always interested in making one of these, but was never sure where to get something to make spar out of. The plans talk about fishing pole rods, and finally found some that looked like they might work for $5 at Walmart. (Needless to say - I am not a fisherman.)

https://www.kiteplans.org/planos/speedfoil/speedfoil.html

21 mile of beach on a Sunday morning :D
The way the wind was gusting over the dunes I was getting wind readings of 10mph to 32mph, I worked my way through 4 different kite sizes before saying stuff it and throwing the 3 mtr buster up and caning the hell out of it, the reasoning behind it being I can work it through the lulls and hang on for grim death in the gusts :evil:

go slow or go home .

wind forecast 7-9 knot onshore wind and nice weather , look good for today but arrived at the local beach , wind is really low which wind meter show about 3-5 knot , have a mix feeling either to return back or have a go.

so i have a go , end up have a good run .

don't bother about the date and timing , i am 12 hour advance .

https://youtu.be/VVj0NOLwUco

what happened today ?


At very least . today i try to repair my kite .

I had just ripped off the outer layer of my Liquid force elite 15m 2 week ago . feel devastated then keep it for 2 week . Today take a look and try to repair it .

A short video of an early Friday morning session. This is my first buggy session of 2019! I left home at 5am in the dark and arrive at the beach just after sunrise. I'm sleepy and don't feel like getting out of the car to brave the elements but I want to practice some acceleration runs from standstill ( my new thing ) with a view to creating a proper video.

The forecast promised 47mph gusts rising to 54mph, perfect! Unfortunately the wind did not deliver, it was more like 34-38mph, therefore underpowered on the 7m.
The whole winter has been disappointing TBH. The wind has been light and when it does blow its always in the wrong direction.

Still, worth the trip as it was much needed practice after a long absence. Both Garmin GPS recorded 58.9 mph & 59.0 mph, not bad but nothing to get excited about either.
In the video i fail to see a stream of water 4" deep. I knew it was there but I thought I had more space. I normally go through these at 2mph. I brake hard from nearly 60mph but it was too late. Had to straighten out the bug before so or risk losing it altogether.

I must have hit the water at about 45mph. Just for a split second the rear wheels leave the ground, you don't see it but you can hear the axle slam. Pretty scary and I get a shock of cold water down my back.
Fully awake! xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGvCyGw9dco&feature=yout...

Wow! That's impressive! How do you shoot the video from in front of your buggy - a drone?

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Wow! That's impressive! How do you shoot the video from in front of your buggy - a drone?

Thanks Randy!

I'm using the GoPro Fusion 360 camera. It uses some trickery to hide the camera mount/arm to give the impression that its floating mid-air.

I used the camera in my film SuperTracks with interesting results.
http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=35090

Great to hear about your epic session and the Kite Laydown 360 Jibe.

Tom - you're doing some great stuff with that cam! Can't wait to see the next one.

That water hit was pretty scary. Glad you straightened right before, that would have been painful. I hope your GoPro mount doesn't become a spear.

Quote: Originally posted by jeffnyc

Tom - you're doing some great stuff with that cam! Can't wait to see the next one. That water hit was pretty scary. Glad you straightened right before, that would have been painful. I hope your GoPro mount doesn't become a spear.

Thanks jeffnyc and I hope so too, but what a way to go! A full HD impaling video. This is only my second video with the Fusion, so I hope to get more soon.

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

Quote: Originally posted by Randy   Wow! That's impressive! How do you shoot the video from in front of your buggy - a drone? Thanks Randy! I'm using the GoPro Fusion 360 camera. It uses some trickery to hide the camera mount/arm to give the impression that its floating mid-air. I used the camera in my film SuperTracks with interesting results. http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=35090 Great to hear about your epic session and the Kite Laydown 360 Jibe.

Thanks. Sounds like a really cool setup.

You are a tough act to follow, but I had another good one today at my pavement paradise. Rode with my 4m Round Flex kite and a 2.5 M NPW 21. Aside from the usual fun stuff I worked on tacks with my Flex kite. Actually nailed a few of them, and the rest were no worse than my bad jibes.

My tacky video.



My too long NPW video.

Interesting location. Super short lines but low rolling resistance.

Yeah riding on pavement is certainly different from grass. It is even easier than hard pack, but close. Apparent wind is a big deal. I might start out slow, but gain speed quickly. The bigger lot I'm riding has various slopes as well. A lot of times it is very slow going until I go downslope a bit to gain speed and apparent wind. Then I'm off and running in any direction. The smaller lot has a downslope that goes upwind - it is much slowed than the upslope end which is more downwind. It is pretty narrow and has trees and other obsticles that produce turbulance, so it is sort of a backup place when the big lot is not available. It is only available a limited number of days a year because of the wind direction and it gets crowded during warmer weather.

I used to only ride my ATB with somewhat longer lines at this place, but riding buggy is much easier and more fun so I will probably stick with that. Buggy needs more room to turn and short lines seem to work pretty well.

an up and down winter for conditions - often good conditions during the week days and then a storm or rain and melt or no wind on weekends. Finally got a weekend with beautiful ice and a little wind for a few hours in the afternoon. Got to play around on the two different blade set up I have to se what the differences are - put together a short clip to show some friends the surface would be good for skating - not much but happy to finally got some kite time in

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Yeah riding on pavement is certainly different from grass. It is even easier than hard pack, but close. Apparent wind is a big deal. I might start out slow, but gain speed quickly. The bigger lot I'm riding has various slopes as well. A lot of times it is very slow going until I go downslope a bit to gain speed and apparent wind. Then I'm off and running in any direction. The smaller lot has a downslope that goes upwind - it is much slowed than the upslope end which is more downwind. It is pretty narrow and has trees and other obsticles that produce turbulance, so it is sort of a backup place when the big lot is not available. It is only available a limited number of days a year because of the wind direction and it gets crowded during warmer weather. I used to only ride my ATB with somewhat longer lines at this place, but riding buggy is much easier and more fun so I will probably stick with that. Buggy needs more room to turn and short lines seem to work pretty well.

Keep at it. I enjoy watching this type of riding. Its interesting how people innovate to take advantage their local conditions and topography.

Quote: Originally posted by markite

an up and down winter for conditions - often good conditions during the week days and then a storm or rain and melt or no wind on weekends. Finally got a weekend with beautiful ice and a little wind for a few hours in the afternoon. Got to play around on the two different blade set up I have to se what the differences are - put together a short clip to show some friends the surface would be good for skating - not much but happy to finally got some kite time in

I swear I remember your headstock bolt coming loose or was that my imagination? Nice Deadman btw.

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

I swear I remember your headstock bolt coming loose or was that my imagination? Nice Deadman btw.

You're right, it was this same buggy with little rake angle on the front fork. Riding hard one day sheared the headstock bolt. All fixed up and just need some good wind to try and break another one. Bid dump of wet snow today so that will have messed up the ice for blades. fingers crossed for a good weekend to get out on skis or snowboard.

On a side note - Justin Bieber bought the property in the far corner of the lake last fall. He was spotted around town a few times a couple of months back but I've seen the same lights on every day for the last month so i think he's been busy traveling with his wife lately. Was hoping he would be there this winter and would come out for a kite lesson.

:D that looked like so much fun, Mark! Thanks