For your enjoyment, a low wind (too low) session from late June. Sort of experimenting with my new GoPro. Chuckles encouraged. :smug:

https://youtu.be/zVpUUBFo1rs

Nice scenic area. Cool video.

Thanks Sean! Happy to call this beautiful place home. Now, some wind please!

That's a premium spot. Perfect flat, smooth, and nice grass.

Very nice!!!

Looks like you could have done with longer front lines/shorter back lines in those conditions, you had that bar eeked all the way in!!

I've done Feyd's front line leader pigtail extension (http://www.hardwaterkiter.com/peak-1-resource-page.html) on my 6m Peak 1. Maybe this would work on the Peak 2 aswell? Might be nicer than knots under the floats on the back line leaders.

Yes the bar is all the way in, so he needs shorter front lines, or in this case trim in the center strap.

beautiful spot ! good stuff man

Robinsonpr & acampbell - thank you for your comments regarding my bar position. The Peak2 is the first depowered kite I've flown with any regularity. I bought two Lynx kites months ago but the wind conditions haven't been right for them so they've stayed in the bag.

I feel as if I need a "Depowered for Dummies" manual or something.

Regarding the front line lengths, possible adjustment to the back lines via knot adjustment under the floaters, and ultimately how far I pull the bar in while driving, I've gotten myself all twisted up in my head. What is throwing me off is the pulley system and what that does to the kite as the relative lengths of the respective lines are changed. It seems to me that adjusting the length of the front lines can be done primarily by adjusting their length at the cleat. The front lines are the ones clearly under the most tension so I would expect them to stretch out over time. If they get longer then in relative terms the steering lines must have gotten shorter, thus throwing the system out of balance. I would think that this could be corrected by pulling line in through the cleat.

I am under the understanding that pulling line in through the cleat can reduce power overall for the kite, useful I would think for extending the usable wind range of any particular kite (here, I am thinking I would pull line in through the cleat if the wind got strong so as not to be overpowered by the 12M size).

My winds have been extremely light this past month which is why I've let as much line as possible out of the cleat adjustment. I was thinking this would eek as much power as possible out of the kite in the light winds. As things stand now it seems as if the kite flies higher (but with less pull) when I let the bar out, and it flies lower (and with more power) when I pull the bar in. So... really light winds have me letting the line out of the cleat pretty much all the way AND pulling the bar all the way towards me in a (desperate) attempt to generate enough power to actually move.

Do I have this backward or somehow screwed up in my mind? Any small pointers would be warmly appreciated! Also, if there is a nice write up about all this (on PKF or elsewhere) any links would also be very welcomed. Thanks in advance!!!

When I read the thread title I instantly thought Herbert Han#@%$#!. After watching the video I was in a Future Shock !! Man I haven't heard that song in 30 yrs. I instantly like you for your musical tatses. Very obscure tune. Thanks for taking me back...
Oh yeah, the kiting is cool too. Nice video.

Haha ^^^ it won't let me put his name cuz it has a bad word. That's funny.

Cheezycheese - glad you liked my musical choice! Funny how different songs elicit memories. For me, that tune reminds me of driving home from work late at night on a small country road in the early 1980's driving way too fast with that song blaring though my car stereo with one blown speaker. Many moons ago and seemingly a world away.

Bottom line, there was so little wind for the actual buggying I humored myself by adding a rocking soundtrack. :P

Steve
You fell common to the same counter-intuitive bear trap many of us stepped in when first flying a de-power. When flying static and/ or in light wind, a de-power will seem to behave bass-ackwards.

I'm guessing you had the center strap out for "more power", just like it said in the manual. In fact in light wind, the kite was being "choked" and near stall. If you pull the center strap in to the "de-power" setting, it will reduce the angle of attack, take it out of a stall, speed up the kite and then actually generate MORE power. You can then better control power and keep the kite from over-flying by maintaining some pressure on the bar.

Now once you get moving and get some more apparent wind over the kite, then it will work as advertised and you can loosen the center strap as needed for more grunt. Experiment with trim to get the right combination of grunt, bar pressure and power according to the ambient wind, forward speed (hence apparent wind) and the space you have.

Put another way, your center strap is like a manual transmission; if you start in fourth gear, you will stall the engine. Launch and start in first gear (strap in), then let it out (shift up) as your forward speed increases.

BTW, really nice countryside there!

Angus - Thank you!!! :eureka:

Bass-ackwards I was. Your description was superb and I see clearly now what you are referring to (and by extension, the issues I was having).

What you are saying makes loads of sense for making longs runs down a beach where the ratio of turning to flat out running (with lots of apparent wind) is way more in favor of running than turning. I, however, buggy on fields and thus turn around constantly. What do you suggest doing with the center strap in such settings? I'm thinking starting in first gear as you put it (center strap pulled in) and then putting it back out a bit once I get moving, but not hardly as far as I'd been putting it. Does that make sense?

Good work Steve, nice vid!

maybe this will help with trim management (a little different than the little black book)

when trimmed in (trimmer pulled in all the way) and bar all the way in will allow the kite to be flown in the lightest wind possible, max window size and the highest wind possible for the kites range.... consider this the UNHOOKED setting which may vary a bit as wind speed increase but for understanding purposes consider it zero...pull on the back lines(beyond the bar all the way in) and kite should stall back. ANYTHING trimmed out from that point is

---->bar position preference
you gotta be comfortable , long arms, short arms or you just want the sweet powerstroke position for windrange at "X" position

---->wind speed
some different types of kites, or unique designs just have more foil project area firing as wind speed across the top increase , and have unique sweet spots both in conditions and trim, pilot just have to find them through feedback and kite behavior

---->kite position in window
deeper in window or closer to edge...a "zero" setting has largest window and best upwind ability...in static position may only be a few feet but on a POS can be significant

a somewhat of a handicapping step in modern depower kites, is that in the learning process most are NOT STARTING off flying units unhooked, which used to be the FIRST thing learned on c-kites ...with this step absent a HUGE part of tuning and kite range is missing. and the industry produced all this front biased depower kites that are "user friendly" blahh, blah, blah sorry for the rant .

hope this gives you a better understanding of something!

Thanks Phreerider! I will experiment as you noted. Greatly appreciated.

Great video Steve! Gotta love our Peaks for low wind fun:D Your winds sound similar to ours right now. Did you have your camera mounted on the axil starting at 2:50? Love that point of view! I wanna do the same on my bug but looking for some ideas on setup. I think years ago there was a thread on the forum discussing this same mounting option. I'll have to dig it up. Keep up the good work You have a nice spot to ride!

Rob

Yes Steve, in a limited space, you will not be shifting or changing your strap all the time. Find the position that gives your bar the range of motion and therefore range of power that is useful for the given wind range that day. You would then only change it if you significantly changed your tack. For example if you switched from a beam reach (back and forth across the wind) to a diagonal course on your field when you are heading downwind a bit on one tack and up wind on another, the you may want to tighten in when upwind and loosen out when down wind, but experimentation will tell you if it is even worth it.

I have a feeling Steve will sort the trim out quickly with as often as he's flying :D

Keep up the good work

Nice video Steve, that looks like a pretty decent spot!

Great analogy Angus! Manual transmission :D.

Nice ride Steve. Thanks for sharing.

Cheddarhead - I'm experimenting with a few different camera positions. I'm using a GoPro mounted on a couple of flex necks strung together clamped to the rear axle. In the latest video I just published I also put the camera facing forward off of a flex neck mounted on the downtube right behind the front wheel.