Hi all!

Although I have been a member of this great forum for a while now, this is my first post.
After reading and enjoying the forum for a while, I believe it is now time to introduce myself and get more active.

I am a 43 year young beach bum, living in the Netherlands (Europe) and have been powerkiting static for 2 years now on my local beach, this is my 3rd season.
After my first introduction to a small 2 line foil, it became clear to me that this was a lot of fun and a great way to have a workout I enjoy!

I progressed to a 4 line Ozone Flow 3m power kite later in that first season and was hooked!
Last season I purchased a PL Twister IIr 4.1 for lower wind conditions (at first) and a smaller Ozone Flow 2m for the higher wind days. Got a 3 line 2.5 trainer kite to experience flying with a bar and for friends visiting.

This year I have been lost completely and now I have 15 kites laying around.
Having a complete size range of Born kite Nasa Star 2's which I fly with both handles, street bar and depower bar attached to a harness.

Really enjoying flying with a harness because I can have more hours of play time now!
This was also with preparation for my first real depower kite in mind.
Eventually I will be getting on the water, kite surfing, but am in no hurry.

Reading a lot about the older PL Twinskin ARC depower kites which are ideal for learning depower because of their behaviour.
Also, these can be real bargains now when bought second hand.
That being said, I currently own three PL ARCs, ranging from a 10m Venom II, 13m Venom II to a 15m Guerilla II.

When I bought them, they came with bars (2x PL Zero 7 and 1 custom bar with Zero 4 chickenloop).
For safety reasons I have bought a new PL Navigator SL bar with a more modern safety system.
This bar I can use for all old and current Twinskins and even later on, when I would like LEI's more on water
I just started flying and learning the ropes with the Venom II 10m and am having a lot of fun! As ground handling (like self starting and self landing these kites) is already a handful, I prefer being underpowered enough to get the ropes before I unleash the bigger ones...


Wacky

Well, arcs are only a pain the first few times if you didn't have anyone show you the easiest way to set them up. Once you get some practice setting them up and packing them back up, it hardly takes any more time than any foil.

I am sure I will get to that point!


I have had a lot of help and tips watching the older PL Twinskin setup videos, videos from other Twinskin flyers like Carl and of course reading this forum.
First attempt was not perfect, but it went up anyway.
Flying in the lower wind range at first helps me also to experience all stuff that can go wrong like flipping, stalling and having not enough wind to park the kite at zenith.

Better to experience this stuff in an underpowered situation and learning what to do, before trying in more wind with the bigger sizes.

And last but not least, I made my self a battery powered inflater, like some of you guys have done. Totally necessary in the sub 10mph winds I tried.

I haven't used an inflator yet, I just got good at milking a half inflated floppy air mattress up into the air in light wind. Takes a ton of bar control but works in a pinch if you don't have an inflator and not enough wind to inflate but enough to lift off the ground.

Getting the kite well filled makes all the difference for launching.

Arcs have a definite minimum wind need. Personally, if I can't fill my arc naturally I don't fly one. Even if I can get it flying it won't produce the power I need to ride. + you have to keep it on top of it. No auto zenith or any of the things that make arcs a joy.

That is a nice set of arcs you have. Particularly the Venom II's. Don't be afraid to fly them with a bit of power. It will be a real rewarding experience . If you can't take advantage of auto zenith I highly recommend that you go up a size.

greetings! nice set! the VII are choice vintage for sure ...just keep practicing !

Quote: Originally posted by Demoknight

I haven't used an inflator yet, I just got good at milking a half inflated floppy air mattress up into the air in light wind. Takes a ton of bar control but works in a pinch if you don't have an inflator and not enough wind to inflate but enough to lift off the ground.

I already had all the stuff needed laying around to build one and found it practical to have and use.
It saved me much setup time, as I am not excelling yet on the milking part.

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

Getting the kite well filled makes all the difference for launching.

I have read this many times here and thus made sure I did fill the kite as much as possible. No bow-tie as of yet!

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

Arcs have a definite minimum wind need. Personally, if I can't fill my arc naturally I don't fly one. Even if I can get it flying it won't produce the power I need to ride. + you have to keep it on top of it. No auto zenith or any of the things that make arcs a joy.

I understand now, there is not much fun when you need to work to even keep it in the air.

Quote: Originally posted by Bladerunner

That is a nice set of arcs you have. Particularly the Venom II's. Don't be afraid to fly them with a bit of power. It will be a real rewarding experience . If you can't take advantage of auto zenith I highly recommend that you go up a size.

Thanks Bladerunner, I have been waiting to snatch them for a while. I will get them out in better conditions, now that I am a little less scared of them.

Quote: Originally posted by PHREERIDER

greetings! nice set! the VII are choice vintage for sure ...just keep practicing !

Thanks for the welcome and heads up!

Arcs are funny. They look so big on the ground that they intimidate. Many times I have hesitated to put up so much rip stop and yet once I have it in the sky wonder what I was afraid of.

I'm concerned you are using a Navigator bar intended for LEI use. The safety for the LEI won't work properly (at all) for a twinskin without modification. You don't have a TS bar?

No need for concern Bob, the SL version can be converted to TS with a supplied extra safety line. It is basically a 2 in 1 system, the TS version of the bar is only usable for Twinskins though.

This way you can use it on both LEI and Twinskins. The manual includes the instructions and is real easy to do. Check page 9 of 16:

http://www.peterlynn.com/downloads/Navigator_2012_manual.pdf

After the conversion it uses the single top line safety needed for the Twinskins.
I converted the bar and tested it already, works perfectly!