In the summer I get a lot of SW wind. It is pretty much cross shore and good for people on the water but not for me in the buggy. Most of my kites are open cell foils but I do have a peter lynn water foil. If I sat in a large black inner tube with a cross shore wind any idea what it would be like? As I kid I was pulled on one of these by a boat and there is no grip on the water, it slides when the boat turns. But with a kite would I be able to zig-zag toward the shore or out to sea as I went downwind? If I kept the kite overhead could I slow up? Seems like it could be a relaxing ride in the summer if I started a few miles upwind of my final destination? Any ideas on a cheap way to add fins or something to allow a tube to go cross/up wind?

Jason

You might check out the Sup Kites thread for a lot of ideas - some pretty crazy.

http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=31089

Randy certainly has a great deal of experience on the water. I'd add only that your idea may be of limited utility as you lack a keel or any fins jutting down into the water. Recall that all sailing sports involve some form of tacking at some angle to the wind, an action only made possible by various forms of keels and fins depending on application. If you could lash some canoe paddles vertically into the water that might serve the purpose.

I've not looked at the link Randy provided and I suspect it features various solutions along those lines. As a college student in the late 70s some friends and I lashed two aluminum canoes together into a crude pontoon style craft and fastened a sail out of tarp material and keels out of paddles. We crossed Lake George in NY state against fierce headwinds that we couldn't paddle against. We felt like the folks on the Kon Tiki!

My favorite. I just wouldn't do it any water deeper than you can walk in with you head above water. Those things don't hold air for at that long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDO4_KBFynY

And as Jason rounded the rocky headland of Cape Horn he continued to drift haplessly onwards, carried ever further on a brisk north-westerly trade wind into the inky blue vastness of the Pacific Ocean.

With the last of the freshwater gone, he resorts to drinking his own urine and soon becomes delirious. His skin flayed by the unrelenting sun, he lays face down on his rubber ring unable to sleep.

His eyes became like hard-boiled eggs in their sockets, each lashed by the merciless onslaught of salt-laden gales and mountainous waves that would often toss him from his rubber ring as he summited their crests. Hand over hand along a knotted rope, he'd always manage to reel himself back, haul himself up and lay there muttering through cracked lips like a demented mad man for hours repeatedly praising some forum user by the name of redsky for suggesting the tether.

Two agonising months pass before he finally makes landfall on Galapagos. We know this because his kite and inner tube were discovered strewn upon its shore and his name was carved into a nearby outcrop of sandstone.

They also found his journal close by. In it he documents his time on the island. Apparently, he survived by drinking from stagnant ponds and eating the only edible things he could find, worms, insects, the occasional stinking carcass and giant eggs that he'd randomly find laying on the ground in nest holes that were lined with banana leaves, coconut palms and sugarcane.

Speculation as to Jason's whereabouts still remains a mystery to this day. Legend has it that he was chased down and eaten by a giant tortoise while trying to edge upwind. His ghost is said to wander aimlessly around the island yelling and cursing the name of someone called Randy, while others have reportedly seen his ghost sitting upon the beach at low tide untangling a big ball of string, only to cast the whole damn mess back into the ocean.

You have the makings of a great novel there Redsky. I think you might have left out a chapter though.

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

And as Jason rounded the rocky headland of Cape Horn he continued to drift haplessly onwards, carried ever further on a brisk north-westerly trade wind into the inky blue vastness of the Pacific Ocean. With the last of the freshwater gone, he resorts to drinking his own urine and soon becomes delirious. His skin flayed by the unrelenting sun, he lays face down on his rubber ring unable to sleep. His eyes became like hard-boiled eggs in their sockets, each lashed by the merciless onslaught of salt-laden gales and mountainous waves that would often toss him from his rubber ring as he summited their crests. Hand over hand along a knotted rope, he'd always manage to reel himself back, haul himself up and lay there muttering through cracked lips like a demented mad man for hours repeatedly praising some forum user by the name of redsky for suggesting the tether. Two agonising months pass before he finally makes landfall on Galapagos. We know this because his kite and inner tube were discovered strewn upon its shore and his name was carved into a nearby outcrop of sandstone. They also found his journal close by. In it he documents his time on the island. Apparently, he survived by drinking from stagnant ponds and eating the only edible things he could find, worms, insects, the occasional stinking carcass and giant eggs that he'd randomly find laying on the ground in nest holes that were lined with banana leaves, coconut palms and sugarcane. Speculation as to Jason's whereabouts still remains a mystery to this day. Legend has it that he was chased down and eaten by a giant tortoise while trying to edge upwind. His ghost is said to wander aimlessly around the island yelling and cursing the name of someone called Randy, while others have reportedly seen his ghost sitting upon the beach at low tide untangling a big ball of string, only to cast the whole damn mess back into the ocean.

I got thirsty just reading this! OUTSTANDING. Jason - you've been foreshadowed and warned! :karate:

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

And as Jason rounded the rocky headland of Cape Horn ...

Post of the month!!

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

I think you might have left out a chapter though.

Quote: Originally posted by khaakon

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky   And as Jason rounded the rocky headland of Cape Horn ... Post of the month!!

Second that!

:D

There is a guy I know that had started to kite buggy and then was going to try kiteboarding but had a ski biscuit (ring) that he had towed with his boat and thought he would try that with a kite - i didn't work well at all. One of several things would happen: Failure Option 1 - dive kite and get pitched forward and front edge of tube dips and the whole thing rolls under as you get flipped out. Failure Option 2 - manage to stay in the ring but because your body has the majority of mass from ass to head the ring wants to spin so that weight is toward the front - you do a 180 and can possibly lay back flying the kite from reverse upside down position....for a few seconds until you get flipped out. Failure Option 3 - start to move but have absolutely no directional control to edge and do a zig zag - just shoot toward the kite for a second then have the kite loose power and then regain power and deliver you option 1 or 2.

so this guy decides he needs directional control and makes a big aluminum keel sticking down about 2 feet welded to a plate and then the plate fit into a pocket that that he had sewn onto the bottom. Now whacky guy takes the ring with machete attachment out into the water with families swimming and kids playing downwind - it was like watching a bad commercial for the Slap Chop.

we managed to stop him after the first roll and the ring of doom was tossed around from a wave close to people
I haven't seen that guy again in years

Once again: WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Whenever I have what I think is an excellent idea, I ask myself why it is that it hasn't already gained traction?
Often (very often) the answer lies with someone having survived the same idea to enlighten us.
Long live PKF!

This covers about anything you can think of. Some of these make me wonder why people pay so much for kiteboards.