Lousy wind here yesterday, but today I looked outside and saw my neighbor's tree swaying. I took my board and kite to the field and set up. Due to the direction, I was getting some wind shadow from nearby houses. I just could not seem to get the board moving in the tall grass so I decided to go for broke.

I paddled around the field to a gravel road to try again. The road runs East to West, and with a South wind it took a bit to get the hang of things and get moving. Once I took off I was flying and it was all I could do not to wipe out. I was going fast, and over steering my board. I stopped for a bit to work on my kite skills.

I remembered reading some comments by Bladerunner about sweeping the kite in an S motion and launching your kite before you get on your board. It all came together. In a gust I tilted the handles up, bringing the kite to the edge of a stall. A few times I noticed the nose folding over and leaned the handles forward to re-power the kite. Then I figured out that by turning both handles at a diagonal and pulling in on the bottom one the kite would dip. When I pulled the top handle in the kite would lift.

I brought the kite up high and stepped back on my board. As soon as I was set, I dipped it down and took off. Even on 4' lines I was able to sweep the kite in an S-curve Several times I really got rolling and tilted the handles back to reduce power.

In the end I was able to tack back and forth parallel to the wind with better control of my speed and without my kite dipping into the ground. Twice, I was able to kick the back of my board around into a slide to slow down.

I never would have progressed so fast were it not for all of the information here on the forums.

Thanks,

Scooter

Smart move getting away from the houses.

Wind is just like water in a stream. It is totally messed up for 7 - 10 times the distance downwind as the obstacle ( house ) is high.

Unlike most foil kites. NPW's require a certain amount of brake input to fly. I'm glad you paid attention to my warning about tip tuck meaning you need more brake. Figuring that out on your own would be frustrating.

You suggested you wanted a kite for those back roads and I think the NPW on short lines is the right choice !

You will find that nasa wings need some brake tension at all times to get full power out of the kite.

Susan (npw goddess)