Took the Apex for another ride today in slightly drier conditions, great kite lots of fun! I managed to get all kinds of twists in the bridle from the last session since I pretty much wadded it up on the lake (in the water lol) and spread it out at home to dry it out. Took a bit of fiddling but got it straight for the most part. Getting much better at using the anchor screw to hold the kite in place while setting up. Clip in, release the brakes, and fly! The winds started fairly light in the sub 10mph range but I figured the Apex would still move me around since there is no snow left on the lake, only ice. Got me moving just fine and toward the end the wind picked up into the 15mph to 18mph range. Perfect kite in these winds for the ice surface, didn't make me work hard at all. The depower strap doesn't have much throw in it at all, but it seems to make a little difference in flight trim so whatever. Fun session, I can see how this will be a great higher wind kite for when there is snow on the lake. It isn't quite as forgiving as the Access but that could just be it's smaller size and faster turning speed. I hit the zenith a little quickly and felt a little light on my skis during one tack.

With these sustained higher temperatures I'm not sure how much longer the lake is going to last. The surface is full of drain holes from the rain the past few days and it's starting to make me nervous. There is still close to a foot of ice, but the top 4-5 inches are pretty porous from the sun and temperatures. Some areas I was skiing over looked much much thinner, but I think it was because the ice was clear so hard to judge thickness as I flew by. I'm going to be desperate to find a place to fly this summer

Already thinking about summer. My, you are addicted. Welcome to the club. Something you may have already thought about, but I'm hoping you did all that bridle straightening in your living room while the kite was drying, not back out on the lake. Far and away the easiest place to work out bridle tangles is in the warm, dry, wind still comfort of home. :D

Most all of my snowkiting sessions have ended with a kite drying session in my house. Even on dry, cold powder days it seems hard to get the kite rolled up in the field without some snow working its way into the kite, even my single skins! Once in and drying I tend to like to get everything perfectly sorted out and very nicely folded and rolled away. That way on the next session I can just roll the kite out, pack some snow along the leading edge, unwind my lines and go!

Haha nope I did all the bridle fussing on the lake in the wind, it wasn't the greatest I don't really have enough room in my house to spread out the kite enough to get the bridles arranged. I might be able to clear some space in the basement, it would certainly make things easier. For drying I can spread things over my couch and coffee table, but that doesn't help with tangles. My individual control lines have some pretty bad twists in them right now that I want to take care of but I might have to do it outside on a calm day. Spreading out a 14m kite is a lost cause unless I take all the furniture out of my house :D Would that be hitting rock bottom in the adiction?

Quote: Originally posted by Memopad

Haha nope I did all the bridle fussing on the lake in the wind, it wasn't the greatest I don't really have enough room in my house to spread out the kite enough to get the bridles arranged. I might be able to clear some space in the basement, it would certainly make things easier. For drying I can spread things over my couch and coffee table, but that doesn't help with tangles. My individual control lines have some pretty bad twists in them right now that I want to take care of but I might have to do it outside on a calm day. Spreading out a 14m kite is a lost cause unless I take all the furniture out of my house :D Would that be hitting rock bottom in the adiction?

I know what you mean by running out of space when spreading out the bigger kites! My 12m Peak2 and 15m Summit pretty much burst me at the seams too. My bride so loves it when I take up space in the house to do this!

My guess is that you would have space on your driveway to straighten things out. Maybe you could dry things inside and then move the kite out to the driveway, setting up a sort of M.A.S.H. unit out there. Good luck!

And yes, moving furniture to make room for kites is a no-win game in a marriage; avoid at all costs! :evil:

Currently drying a 17m R1 in the house. Too many sharp things in the shop. Like drying a Cessna.

Awesome shot Feyd!

The sun was actually out here today, so I went out for a ride but the wind died on me after I got everything set up with the 5m. I could've (should've) walked back to the house for a bigger kite but had some other things to do so I passed As soon as I got back to the house the wind picked up again lol.

The bridle is kind of intimidating... when I was setting up the kite I thought some lines were crossed but I really can't be sure since the kite wasn't inflated. I'm worried if I start unhooking things up there I'll never get it back together again correctly.

Quote: Originally posted by Feyd

Currently drying a 17m R1 in the house. Too many sharp things in the shop. Like drying a Cessna.

Great pic Chris! I imagine you got a little "soggy" during that session.

Wettest spring ice conditions I've had since taking up this sport. A couple days got so warm so fast there was inches of water on top and nowhere for it to go. Hard to keep an edge when your skis want to hydroplane. Never knew how bad my boot liners stunk until they got wet and I had to remove them.:megan:

My new boots don't stink yet. My knee pads smell like Doritos. :evil:

Whelp the ice is breaking up in front of my house so I think that's the end of snow kite season for me I haven't got a chance to fly the montana 9m yet, and I just picked up a speed 3 19m kite too. I think I need to layoff kite purchases for a while... I picked up some gateskate trailskates to screw around with this summer so we'll see how that goes.

Quote: Originally posted by Memopad

I picked up some gateskate trailskates to screw around with this summer so we'll see how that goes.

Memopad.... my man!

Wheels of Doom...

If you've been tracking things here you'll have seen that I am gearing up my wheel-based arsenal also with a keen eye towards kite skating. I've been working on variations of "three wheels underfoot" as compared to "two wheels front and back" to keep the feel more ice skate like in the turns.

There are certainly trade offs in all this as you know (or will soon find out for yourself). If you have a skating background you will figure out quickly that you will be challenged to"carve" corners with your setup, necessitating step turns when making you corners at the end of your kite runs. On the flip side you will be far lower to the ground than I will which will certainly be a good feel COG-wise.

I love the 200mm wide tires on those Gate Skates! That size (and importantly, width) will certainly come in handy for many surfaces. My wheel set ups are currently 125mm and 150mm and distinctly narrower than yours. That in turn will cause me problems when trying to kite on lush grass fields.

Please post your antics (and video!) in the Kite Skating section of PKF! Too few of us here working skates!!!

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by Memopad   I picked up some gateskate trailskates to screw around with this summer so we'll see how that goes. Memopad.... my man! Wheels of Doom... If you've been tracking things here you'll have seen that I am gearing up my wheel-based arsenal also with a keen eye towards kite skating. I've been working on variations of "three wheels underfoot" as compared to "two wheels front and back" to keep the feel more ice skate like in the turns. There are certainly trade offs in all this as you know (or will soon find out for yourself). If you have a skating background you will figure out quickly that you will be challenged to"carve" corners with your setup, necessitating step turns when making you corners at the end of your kite runs. On the flip side you will be far lower to the ground than I will which will certainly be a good feel COG-wise. I love the 200mm wide tires on those Gate Skates! That size (and importantly, width) will certainly come in handy for many surfaces. My wheel set ups are currently 125mm and 150mm and distinctly narrower than yours. That in turn will cause me problems when trying to kite on lush grass fields. Please post your antics (and video!) in the Kite Skating section of PKF! Too few of us here working skates!!!

I will for sure! We have a severe lack of open areas up here that aren't water. Lots of trees, not much farming, so my options will be fairly limited this summer but I'll make something work.

I need to disconnect the brakes on the skates and find a new bolt for one of the bindings, other than that they look good to go. I've been skate skiing for the past 25 years so step turns are second nature for me. I'll still probably fall on my ass but hopefully I get it on video

Quote: Originally posted by Memopad

I've been skate skiing for the past 25 years so step turns are second nature for me. I'll still probably fall on my ass but hopefully I get it on video

That skate skiing background is perfect for what we are trying to do here. I'm sure you'll feel at home on those Bad Boys on day one. My one suggestion would be padding, padding, and then some more padding. Throw on the brain bucket for sure. Wrist guards too in case you hadn't thought of that already.

So the entire winter passes by with a huge newly plowed field awaiting the slightest coating of snow to make for a great ride! ALL YEAR...NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH SNOW! And this is upstate New York! April 4th, we get a good 5 inches or more so off I go...Great northern provides the pull and some good fun on the blades.

Posted a quick clip of the ride on Instagram just for giggles and get this comment - #barsr4wimps - Is this true? At 57, should I feel wimpy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCXZw9jvLgQ

Quote: Originally posted by jrhook

So the entire winter passes by with a huge newly plowed field awaiting the slightest coating of snow to make for a great ride! ALL YEAR...NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH SNOW! And this is upstate New York! April 4th, we get a good 5 inches or more so off I go...Great northern provides the pull and some good fun on the blades. Posted a quick clip of the ride on Instagram just for giggles and get this comment - #barsr4wimps - Is this true? At 57, should I feel wimpy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCXZw9jvLgQ

@jrhook - Sorry to hear about the extreme snow skunking you got dealt this winter. That sucks! Next year will be epic!

@memopad - Along the lines of those bad boys you picked up, Brian Holgate turned me on to something similar that I just ordered from Germany called Nordic Scouts. You can check them out here:

http://www.nordic-scout.de

These have free spinning wheels and a frame casting that I can bolt through to the Seba skate boots I already own. I got just the frames and wheel sets not the shoe interface or their fancy brake system. The wheels are similar to yours, viz., 200mm x 50mm inflated knobbies, sort of like mini mountain bike wheels.

I'm hopeful these are the ticket for rolling acceptably well on grass athletic fields. My Powerslide set up that is essentially the same thing has 150mm x 30mm tires which are just a bit to small to roll well in the grass. They roll great on the Ivanpah playa.

Psyched! :karate:

Haven't had a chance to try out the skates yet, frost was still coming out of the ground so everything is soft an muddy. And then it started snowing again, it's knee deep right now. Unfortunately the wind has been crazy, in the 30+ range and I'm not comfortable with that yet. It's going to warm up a lot this week and the snow will go fast, doubt I'll be able to ski it.