How many of you have been riding for hours and the wind was great, decent, good or maybe even light. You ride it till the end. And the wind starts shutting down. And you spend the next 30 minutes or hour+ on an absolute upwind struggle underpowered just to make it all the way back so one doesn't have to walk that last bit? Happens to me often. Just now happened to me in the rain. The kite that left me stranded for the second time was my 3m Flux. If it's not powered; it not going to go upwind much.


Once each with both the 3m and the 4m Flux they have lulled me into a downwinder and I got stranded down there. The first time it was the three was the reason I bought the 4. Any time I'm under powered by the 4 has me thinking about the 5.

If you ever thought about getting a Pansh or some lines during the half price sale; you better jump on it because they are fixing to start charging for shipping.

All the time. Race to the field in the afternoon to catch what's left of the wind that's been blowing all day, then it starts to die and I'll spend 1/2 hour to an hour trying to catch a few gusts to get me back. It's always hard to decide when to quit and walk or keep working at it.

The Ace II should get you moving.... :evil:

I have such limited time to ride that i just gave up trying to get myself back upwind and have learned to enjoy the downwind end of my field... if i DO get back upwind, I count it as a gain that i don't have to walk so far....I try to keep my leash close at hand.

Im selling a Ace 2 8 meter...

My last winter session of the year was like that. End of season for safe ice and didn't want to stop riding knowing it was my last ride on the lake. A late March day, winds were light. Using a 14m LEI. A small weather front came through and left me in the middle of the lake with absolutely no wind. Kite lying on the ice and me standing there trying to decide if I should pack up and start walking or wait to see if the wind would pick up. This was a mile from my truck so a lengthy walk in ski boots. I held out for a half hour and could start to feel a little breeze start. Wasn't enough to relaunch my heavy LEI so I waited some more. All in all, an hour passed before I had enough wind to get going again. I made a straight bee line to my truck and got outta there. This was one of those days I should have been more prepared. Venturing too far from base camp without a extra kite on me. Using a foil instead of a pumper would have helped tons. Once you pull the plug on a LEI there's no going back, even if the wind does decide to pick up. Overall it ended up a successful day. More lessons learned.

I have never had to do the walk of shame. Ok, that was just my politician side talking....lol

The walk of shame always sucks, especially when there is barely enough wind that you think you can make it back if you just try a little harder....and then after you are totally warn out the walk of shame is even worse. To minimize the walk, I have started going out less and less distances until I feel very confident that the wind is not going to drop off. Works most of the time .... I did say MOST.

Truth is that anytime you have to do the walk, you always wish you had the bigger kite, but setting up you always say "This one will be enough".

I have been 10 miles up the beach with only a 12.5m fb when the wind picked up to 18mph for a high speed scream return trip back to the truck. :o
I have also been at the opposite corner of Alvord (15 miles from base camp) when the wind died completely. I walked for over 2 hours before a good looking young lady towed me back with her ATV the remaining 9 miles to base camp.
If I keep going out in the bug with the kite as my engine, I will end up in the same predicament, AGAIN. It's what makes it fun. Right :evil:

My daddy always said the first thing to learn about sailing

SAIL UPWIND FIRST !

I think the second was Learn To Paddle
Think of it not as a walk of shame, instead, a journey of contemplation