Thanks windstruck.....it's good advice that wont go ignored. I have pads and padded shorts, and a padded moto jacket that can be added in until a more suitable body (torso) armour is bought. I do hope to get into the landboarding side at the least, and understand the importance of dressing appropriately, having been saved from great harm by full gear in a motorcycle accident. I appreciate the reminder!

Tossed 6 single liners to the sky with my son and layed out on the grass watching him run from shadow to shadow for the better part of half an hour... then i had to go join him, he said so, lol. Had a few folks walk by and check it out but no one came over. Kinda a bummer since i had a couple more single liners in the truck, lol.

As I was folding up my Smithi after the last flight Monday, I saw to top bridles hanging loose. One of these spliced loops came loose. I believe it came out (the loop closest to the awl) while sorting out my final tangle for the day. That lower left side rope was 3/4" longer than the one for the right, the red pen markings to note the end of each loop not centered-each off by 3/8". I fed their ends in more, adjusting them all to match, so now the two lines are the same length. The stopper knots at the pulleys were also off 3/4" so I moved one to bring them within an 1/8" of being in the same spot.

I dont know of those small differences would have caused any issues, but I figure it's better to have it evened up.

A week ago today I tested out a new camera mount and got my feet wet for the first time this year. Somehow I managed to bust half of the GoPro clip and wound up with my camera in my hand. Glad I didn't donate anything to the sea.
I tried a new to me software out too:

Today I looked at the power kite forum whilst at work,...

in other news I have received a lineset from Angus and plan to convert my 2.2m Symphony Beach with Riffclown 2.2.4 conversion and turn it into a 4 line kite to teach my oldest daughter (and have a fun toy or even a possible insane-o storm wind kite)... if I can actually find the time to do it,

Today I looked out the window at work watching the trees swaying in a lovely low 20's wind, got home dropped the wee man of at scouts and straight over to the playing fields to stand for an hour wondering where the wind had gone

Why do the wind god's tease me so?

Yesterday and today I had my first half dozen rides on the Monohull kite boat. Nothing super exciting, but I'm learning the basics. Started with 2.0 foil yesterday and as the wind slacked off today went to 3 and the 4.2 NPWs. Here is short vid. Had better runs but didn't film them.

No wind in Raleigh for three weeks, no promise for this weekend either. Revisiting other interests.

Ed, check around see if any place in the rest of the world has our wind. Tell em we want it back.

I heard a weather report on WSB Atlanta 750AM. No soap!
Time to pull out the big guns.

Got my first buggy riding in since IBX2017 yesterday! Woody, his son Jack, and I met for several fantastic hours of beach riding down on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. Great company and great riding Three firsts; first time beach riding (blast), first time using my new GPS (18.79 miles covered with a max speed of 25.7 mph), and first time flying my 7.5m LS3. Beach was pretty bumpy in places and I thought I might rattle a couple of fillings loose but luckily they all stayed in. Place is huge. I turned around after going straight for over a mile and I had only scratched the surface.

Speed was pretty tame. Early in the session winds were extremely light (sub 10) and I had my 12m P3 in the air. It sits deep in the wind window and speeds were limited due to side pull in the somewhat soft sand. Later as the winds built and I had the smaller kite up I was able to get moving better. I pussed out with putting the 7.5m in the air. Should have had the 9.5 up. Woody was sailing along with his 9m Chrono and hit a top speed around 39.

Great time had by all! The kicker was we met another kite buggy rider. Hopefully we'll cross paths again.

Hey Ed, I don't know what you were doing in my mother-in-laws house, but it worked! (That looks like the dresser in her guest bedroom. :o )

Had lumpy/gusty wind today - 5mph gusting to 14mph - but its the best I've had without rain since the end of April. Threw the buggy and a bunch of kites into the car - at my park, I never know what's gonna work.

The grass has only been cut once this year, and only part of the park at that; half of the field was about 4 inches high, the rest almost a foot.
Tried the 9m Lynx - nope. That kite HATES lumpy wind; continual collapsing and snapping open - no fun at all. Took out the 11m - oops, the bar/lines were on my 15m; spent the next hour undoing, untangling, and switching them over. (It was so easy last time... thanks for the help Craig.)

Wound up doing 5 miles with a top end of 23.9mph - not bad considering the longest run (between the long grass and the trees) was 120 yards. In total, 75 turns.

With the gusts picking up I spent another hour of Rev and 2m flying in gusts peaking at 25mph. All in all, a great couple of hours of play time. :wee:
And, my kids? They were at the mall.

Ohh we got the wind over the weekend

Its a pity the rain was going side ways as well :barf: we would have 45min clear blue sky followed by torrential downpours, just not worth the effort.

i had 20mph dead onshore sat....
same on sunday but i passed to attend to some other matters
y'all need to move

Sorry guys, forum not allowing my posts to submit correctly. Cant get a title and text to jive in the same post.

Huh. Well I asked for good kite buggy weather, thanks Holy Mom. Next time I'll be more specific. Hiaguy tell your Mom in law I said Hey! We have the same decorator. :D

Another donation from an angry bumblebee flyer. Don't know when?
http://youtu.be/2psLzJTlpAg Solivers, Winstrucks, and my 5.5

I had a most unusual day yesterday. The wind was almost imperceptible most of the time. Not even the single line kites could fly and so the usually busy park was empty on a Saturday. I decided to take my Speed out of the bag simply to exercise the zippers. It still had sand in it from last fall's SOBB. The wind was so low I didn't think I got much air in it at all after about 10 minutes of trying. I decided to go to the bar and try to force some air in from there. On the second pull it popped right up and seemed to fill faster than ever?

They have modified our park and now we have an open run from East to West for almost 1/2 kilometer! I had room to run on apparent wind and an empty park to allow me use of such a big kite for the 1st time EVER locally! I am sure I was running on nothing but apparent wind at times. At least at ground level the grass and leaves were not moving. Had many runs in that I hit low 20's when a breeze came up. Fast for our bumpy park.

I know my gear is getting old but I almost never get to use some of my kites and they all continue to impress me when they come out. On days like today, I ask myself why I need to worry about looking for another session saver. I am still in awe of the beauty of the Silver Arrow every time I get to fly it. The fact it is so huge and I am so little with a light buggy makes even mowing the lawn with it exciting when you have room to make it run.
:wee:

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

I had a most unusual day yesterday. The wind was almost imperceptible most of the time. Not even the single line kites could fly and so the usually busy park was empty on a Saturday. I decided to take my Speed out of the bag simply to exercise the zippers. It still had sand in it from last fall's SOBB. The wind was so low I didn't think I got much air in it at all after about 10 minutes of trying. I decided to go to the bar and try to force some air in from there. On the second pull it popped right up and seemed to fill faster than ever? They have modified our park and now we have an open run from East to West for almost 1/2 kilometer! I had room to run on apparent wind and an empty park to allow me use of such a big kite for the 1st time EVER locally! I am sure I was running on nothing but apparent wind at times. At least at ground level the grass and leaves were not moving. Had many runs in that I hit low 20's when a breeze came up. Fast for our bumpy park. I know my gear is getting old but I almost never get to use some of my kites and they all continue to impress me when they come out. On days like today, I ask myself why I need to worry about looking for another session saver. I am still in awe of the beauty of the Silver Arrow every time I get to fly it. The fact it is so huge and I am so little with a light buggy makes even mowing the lawn with it exciting when you have room to make it run. :wee:

Great tale Ken(2)! It was a nice start to the morning in the whee light to read of your Silver Arrow thrill ride. Go get 'em! :karate:

Got my venom out for the first time today... reaaly dont.care for the fleifoil setup it cam with, but its gonna have to do for a while. Took an hour to finally get it off the ground, but only made it halfway to the zenith before i got drug across the ground, at least the safety on the bar works great, lol. Yes, i rode the edge of the widow on the way up and wind was 10-14 mph.

I am guessing you didn't get it filled enough? It also sound like your back lines on your bar may be tight? Trim strap mostly depowered? ( pulled in )

The arc should go to zenith and sit there. If it was struggling to get to zenith one of those 2 is likely. The back lines should go slack when you depower and push the bar out.

Don't be too discouraged. Ground handling is a gained skill. It will go better next time.

I had it filled up pretty good and yes, the trim strap was pulled all in. The bulk of my stuggle was just getting it off the ground without creating a folded and twisted mess, lol. First time arc flyer, lol.

Ground handling on an arc
As a new arc user I feel your pain, but everyone has convinced me its just a practice thing so its a good job I am pig headed enough not to let it beat me
It all looks so simple in the manual LOL

Quote: Originally posted by adambweird

I had it filled up pretty good and yes, the trim strap was pulled all in. The bulk of my stuggle was just getting it off the ground without creating a folded and twisted mess, lol. First time arc flyer, lol.

You have to fight the tendency to pull the bar in when launching if that's what you did to get dragged.

Also, I notice your in ohio. not exactly beach wind I'm guessing. When launching, reach out and give the front lines a tug or 2 while walking backwards if in lightish inconsistent winds while steering to keep it from the edge. Once up, it should fly fine in that wind as long as you don't overfly the edge of the window and keep it moving some. Pretty cool kite, always a show stopper flying static at the local park. Especially in the midwest where no-one sees kites.

I generally launch with my hand behind the bar when pulling on the power lines so it stays out. I live about 10 miles from lake erie, but the beaches we have are small and mostly private. But theres lots of open farm land around the spots i fly at so that helps a little bit, lol.

Here are things I do:

I make sure I have a pretty good pre-fill. I think the Venom still opened only in the middle? If so, I fill the bottom and close the zipper. Roll the air upwind and then then keep filling the bottom again.

I fold the bottom up a bit and put my weight as close the flopping off as wind will permit. I fold the top tip over and push a bit of air back downwind so it stays fold. ( newer arcs have handy tabs to help. ) I run my upwind lines down to the bottom of the kite. The amount of wind sort of dictates the angle I launch from. Lower the wind the lower the angle.

I walk back slowly until the lines are influenced. I then grab my front lines just below my ( depowered ) trim strap. I give a bit of an aggressive tug on the front line and take a small step back. THE KEY IS TO GET THE DOWN WIND TIP UP CATCHING AIR. If my tip didn't flip and start right I can hopeful stop and reset it before it has slipped my weight. If the tip has flipped and will catch air I continue with front line pull as it slips into shape.

If wind is strong I have to be aware it may overfly and be hard on the bar ( back lines ). If wind is light I keep holding the front lines and run upwind if need be to force fill.

If I have launched and can tell I am short on fill I often let it sit back down. Far better than trying to deal with an underinflated kite overhead. I the give it a good tug and drop again. Then revert to running like Forest Gump to top it off.

Another method that may work for you is the Clam. Fold the kite on itself. Tips upwind. Lightly weight close to the top if you need one at all. Walk almost 90' to the kite and aggressively tug the front lines. The kite should spin toward you with the nose into the wind. The bit of weight hopefully falls off and the kite should open. This is also how to re-launch.

Thanks for the tips, ill give em a try the next time wind and time allows.

Finished Construction on my latest stunt quad.. Believe it or not, every kite in the picture is made from Gomberg/G-Kites Kite Tails.

Cool! Nice job riff.

I'm always a day late. Yesterday I had my best day yet on my kiteboat and probably best day on the water with a kite! All thanks to Cindy. Unfortunately, one of my worst days with the action cams, so not much to show for it.