Was finally able to strap on the board get after it. Was grossly under powered on my Apex. I seem to overestimate wind speed....according to the wind report it was only was 12-15mph gusting up to 20mph. Had to make the walk of shame back to ground stake to pack up before it got too dark.

Still have lots to learn. I feel like there should have been enough wind for me to be able to ride faster but I just couldn't get it together. Next time....

What smart phones apps are you guys using to track distance, avg speed, and max speed? Google fit isn't cutting it because I'd like to know my max speed.

Cheddarhead is using an app called Endomondo and it shows track info, speed, max speed, etc. I downloaded it an tried it out but I don't see a max speed option. Not sure if I'm missing something, or if it's only part of the "premium" version and not in the free version.

I'm kind of surprised you weren't moving better on the 7.5, how deep was the snow?

Glad to see you were finally able to get out! Even a bad day of kiting is still better than no kiting at all.

If you haven't heard about it before, kitetracker.com is a pretty cool website that also has free kite tracking tools for both android and iphone.

Snow was like 4 in powder. So i think my board was edging into the dirt at times which was not frozen because we had 60 degree temps 24hrs before.

There were occasional gusts where I could start to park and ride, but then it would die off and I would really have to work the kite to go anywhere. I noticed that things tended to work better when I stopped watching the kite and focused on holding a line. Also things slid better when I had the board flatter, but then I would get yanked over on my face by a gust. Edge too hard and I'd fall over on my butt. Maybe I was trying to edge upwind too hard for the conditions. IDK, I'm still learning.

I had the front lines on the 3rd knot hoping that would help. I also could have been in the wind shadow of the Barn. I'm going out again after work on the other side of the farm with the 16m venom. I gotta get a weather station on top of the silo for real time wind reports.


Update: Sure looks like KiteTracker has all the data I'm looking for. I'll try it out tonight.

@offaxis- that venom will work awesome in those winds don't be afraid of that gentle giant but also as you are learning remember to keep your hands towards the middle of the bar near the depower line- will keep you from overcorrecting if you get airborn:D have fun casue I think it will all be gone by tomorrow
oh yeah I use motion-x gps app on my phone has it all

I was expecting much higher winds, so I made the rookie mistake of leaving the venom at home. I like flying it, hate the ground handling (I need sand/bean bags), and still working up the nerve to fly it more often.

Quote: Originally posted by OffAxis

I was expecting much higher winds, so I made the rookie mistake of leaving the venom at home. I like flying it, hate the ground handling (I need sand/bean bags), and still working up the nerve to fly it more often.

This describes about 99% of my sessions so far this year. I thought there would be more wind and/or was a bit scared to throw up my 18m kite. I actually think the 18m chrono would've been the kite of choice for all but maybe one ride so far this season, and I'm out on the lake fighting it with a 10 or 12m. Go figure.

Welp, Friday after work was a bust. Not even enough wing to keep the venom in the air. And now the snow is all gone.

Remember to zip the pocket that you have your phone in, otherwise you'll have to run around in the field looking for it. Thanks to android device manager, I was able to ring it, follow my tracks and just listen for it. Found it in ~5 mins. I should have been able to get its gps coordinates but for some reason gps location was turned off on my phone.

Huge storm hitting the northeast tomorrow!!! Here in PA, they are forecasting 12"+ and some crazy winds! With it being full moon and now daylight savings time, i will have more daylight after work to get some sessions in. I sure hope I can get some late season snowkiting in before it all melts away.

hooray! bring it! I'm still getting some pond riding on glare ice sure could go for some softness. with any luck the fields will get a base again.

My lake survived the recent warmer temperatures, and the past week of sub zero overnight lows and highs in the teens have really built some ice back up. Smooth ice and not much snow on top has made for some fast riding.

I took the Summit 12m out yesterday afternoon and did a little cruising. I think the wind was in the mid teens when I started out, and I got 43mph on a downwind run. Coming back up wind was getting hard, and even fully depowered I was feeling like I had too much kite in the air. I stopped and checked the wind and it was up to the 20mph range. I went back to my launch site, packed up the kite, walked in to my house and grabbed the Apex 7.5m.

The winds had kept building and now were in the mid 20's and probably getting close to 30mph in the gusts. I actually felt a little overpowered on the 7.5m in those conditions, but I do like a more relaxed session usually. This is the most wind I've flown this kite in and it's definitely not quite as refined as my ozones or newer kites. Still fun to fly but it liked to move all over the window when gusts hit, and took active steering to keep it where I wanted. Bar pressure was also pretty high and it was easy to get my glove pinched between the bar and the stopper ball. Anyway, took it for a downwind rip and it felt SUPER fast, was expecting to hit 50mph but my gps was only reading 44mph Oh well, still a new high speed for me. Did some small jumps on the way back up wind, and the lift is okay when you ask it, but the kite will drop you pretty fast. Definitely no float

I'm headed out today in similar conditions with my Apex 7.5m. We finally got the snow I was hoping for in December and January.

Yesterdays snowkite adventure was just that, an adventure. Estimated 20+MPH winds with 30+ MPH gusts with changing wind directions. The one time I was waiting out a gust, the kite slid across the snow almost 20 degrees with the changing wind direction.

With the gusty winds and deep-ish snow it took me forever to get set up my Apex III 7.5m. I had a tangle in the lines, a bow tie, and the top hat safety release on it own. What a mess. Man it sucks trying to reset that top hat safety. Once I finally was able to get my act together and was up an riding, things got better but not were not great. Even though the kite was overpowered at times, I still couldn't go up wind all that well. The kite gets out to the edge and won't pull. It seamed to like to sit back farther to build power. I was able to maintain a line but not go up wind. I don't know if my snowboard (154cm) is to small for 12in of powder or if i'm over controlling the kite.

Tonight is looking like calmer conditions so I give it another go. If I don't have enough I might even try to get out the Venom II 16m.

Quote: Originally posted by OffAxis

Yesterdays snowkite adventure was just that, an adventure. Estimated 20+MPH winds with 30+ MPH gusts with changing wind directions. The one time I was waiting out a gust, the kite slid across the snow almost 20 degrees with the changing wind direction. With the gusty winds and deep-ish snow it took me forever to get set up my Apex III 7.5m. I had a tangle in the lines, a bow tie, and the top hat safety release on it own. What a mess. Man it sucks trying to reset that top hat safety. Once I finally was able to get my act together and was up an riding, things got better but not were not great. Even though the kite was overpowered at times, I still couldn't go up wind all that well. The kite gets out to the edge and won't pull. It seamed to like to sit back farther to build power. I was able to maintain a line but not go up wind. I don't know if my snowboard (154cm) is to small for 12in of powder or if i'm over controlling the kite. Tonight is looking like calmer conditions so I give it another go. If I don't have enough I might even try to get out the Venom II 16m.

Even in the higher winds you'll need to build some forward speed before you try and head up wind too high, especially in deep powder with all the resistance that offers. Try heading laterally across the wind until you're moving and powered up before edging hard up wind and see if that helps you find the sweet spot. In deeper snow my upwind angles are really low. It's only on ice in fast conditions that I'm able to really point high upwind and keep moving.

Today went better. Not as gusty and lighter winds. It was still blowing 15-20. I still didn't feel comfortable putting up the Venom 16 so I stuck it out with the Apex. I was able to put down 5.6miles with a top speed of 15.8mph. Thanks for the tips MemoPad. I did notice that i did get more speed when flat riding vs. edging hard. It was difficult to stay on top of the snow crust to keep my speed up. Most times I was just plowing through ~6in of drifted snow. It also helped that I moved my hands to the middle of the bar and quit over steering the kite.

During these last two sessions I used a waist harness for the first time. I feel like it allows my legs to be more maneuverable to stay in control of the snowboard better. It was really cool to be able to lay back and edge hard. It did make the top hat safety and landing strap really hard to reach but thankfully I have long arms. They were definitely at the edge of my reach.

What do you guys prefer for snow kiting: Waist or seat harness and why?

I'm using the ozone access sb base harness right now. I really liked it up until I started doing more jumping and riding with more power. Now i'm finding it uncomfortable and will be looking for something different next season. I'm curious what Feyd likes to use...