I was out yesterday and had a great day, though winds were very high (30k+ with 40k gusts). I have a small 3.6 meter kite that I fly on handles, alas I didn't have a strap / strop so I could attache to my harness.

I found a bungee cord in my car, and figured I'd give it a try. It was, pretty cool, and took a lot of the *pop* of the huge gusts. It also gave me a slower build-up of speed. Once I was up to speed, it didn't stretch too much.

Clearly, a small 24" bungee cord bought for $2.00 isn't designed to hold your weight, but with a small kite that doesn't have a lot of lift, it was just the ticket.

-- Update --

I added some tubular climbing webbing over the bungee to protect it from the harness. I also added a extra length of cord to keep me going if the bungee breaks.

During my last session, one bungee wasn't enough, it stretched out too much. Seems like 2 bungees could be used to give a firmer ride...

Stay tuned..

Anyone else tried this? Did you have any problems???