Today was the day of the RaceKites meet at Mablethorpe where lots of members had vowed to turn up for a weekend of fun. The weather & tide were set for some great sessions over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The winds were stupidly high yesterday so there was a chance that the wind would persist and we wouldn't be able to get out at all.
I packed everything kite related into the car and set off east for the coast, watching all the tree tops on the way.
There is a wind farm close to the site and as I approached the blades were whizzing around at stupid speeds so I was still worried. It started to rain too. :(
Paul and I got setup between AlliDelta and Rushmore + Friday Girls. The beach slowly filled up with plenty of other people making for a fantastic day.
The wind was gusting 16-35mph offshore, so only the brave went out. The only high wind kite I'd brought was the 9m Guerilla II, which looked way too big compared to the 2.5m kites everyone else was getting out including Paul's Rage 2.5m. There was no way he was getting his new 10m Access out!
mrmawalker went out with his 13m Venom but he soon came back, this wasn't looking good. Turned out later things just didn't work out for him on that day.
Anyway, I launched the GII and stood for a while pondering what was ahead. I got static lifted a few times, which felt good but aluded to what may happen in the buggy. Time to dive in a get going as it's what we'd come for.
I set off in the buggy to join the others on the sandbank and soon got whizzing up & down, the wind out on the bank was even stronger as we'd been sat in the leeward side of the dunes.
The bank was great for buggying with some patches of wet-hard, wet-soft, dry-hard, dry-soft and water channels to keep things interesting.
On on of my upwind legs I was aiming for a water channel that looked pretty deep and the wind had picked up so I aimed upwind with the buggy to go around it, things were going well till I dropped into the wind shadow of the dunes and decided to transition. I lifted the kite for the turn and of course it went above the wind shadow, powered up, lofted me and dumped me face down in the water channel I'd skillfully avoided earlier! The buggy trundled off without me towards the sea. I eventually managed to get back into the buggy completely soaked from head-to-toe but with a smile.
I had 1 more controlled OBE but that was it for the day.
Going upwind meant trying to keep the kite powered up and I had to control the kite with my left hand while hanging onto the buggy with my right hand to keep everything together. Even with the 1.5m back axle I got briefly put onto 2 wheels, maybe I was aiming a bit too much upwind with the kite too far back.
The downwind legs felt amazingly fast and the kite & buggy handled them well. I even managed to overtake a few others. ;)
As the day progressed it hit upon something that was obvious in hindsight. With the kite low down the bar effectively controls speed, push out (depower) to fly faster and therefore further towards the edge of the wind window, pull in (power up) and the kite drops back into the centre of the wind window. The trick is moving the bar to keep the kite just far enough forward to maintain speed but back far enough to generate power. Obvious when you think about it. :)
The 9m Guerilla II did me proud today and it kept me going in a wide variety of conditions. It may not be the fastest kite on the block but anything is better than sitting down watching from the sidelines doing 0mph.
Paul and I had a fantastic day and met lots of new friends. We were the last ones to leave the beach as we hung back to try out Paul's 10m Access after the winds dropped to more managable speeds. It looked good as the kite went through the sunlight cast over dunes and was almost illuminous.
Paul (Antler) & I spent quite a bit of the day capturing footage that you can see below on YouTube. me @ intro, 2:33, 3:55 & 6:42
The winds were stupidly high yesterday so there was a chance that the wind would persist and we wouldn't be able to get out at all.
I packed everything kite related into the car and set off east for the coast, watching all the tree tops on the way.
There is a wind farm close to the site and as I approached the blades were whizzing around at stupid speeds so I was still worried. It started to rain too. :(
Paul and I got setup between AlliDelta and Rushmore + Friday Girls. The beach slowly filled up with plenty of other people making for a fantastic day.
The wind was gusting 16-35mph offshore, so only the brave went out. The only high wind kite I'd brought was the 9m Guerilla II, which looked way too big compared to the 2.5m kites everyone else was getting out including Paul's Rage 2.5m. There was no way he was getting his new 10m Access out!
mrmawalker went out with his 13m Venom but he soon came back, this wasn't looking good. Turned out later things just didn't work out for him on that day.
Anyway, I launched the GII and stood for a while pondering what was ahead. I got static lifted a few times, which felt good but aluded to what may happen in the buggy. Time to dive in a get going as it's what we'd come for.
I set off in the buggy to join the others on the sandbank and soon got whizzing up & down, the wind out on the bank was even stronger as we'd been sat in the leeward side of the dunes.
The bank was great for buggying with some patches of wet-hard, wet-soft, dry-hard, dry-soft and water channels to keep things interesting.
On on of my upwind legs I was aiming for a water channel that looked pretty deep and the wind had picked up so I aimed upwind with the buggy to go around it, things were going well till I dropped into the wind shadow of the dunes and decided to transition. I lifted the kite for the turn and of course it went above the wind shadow, powered up, lofted me and dumped me face down in the water channel I'd skillfully avoided earlier! The buggy trundled off without me towards the sea. I eventually managed to get back into the buggy completely soaked from head-to-toe but with a smile.
I had 1 more controlled OBE but that was it for the day.
Going upwind meant trying to keep the kite powered up and I had to control the kite with my left hand while hanging onto the buggy with my right hand to keep everything together. Even with the 1.5m back axle I got briefly put onto 2 wheels, maybe I was aiming a bit too much upwind with the kite too far back.
The downwind legs felt amazingly fast and the kite & buggy handled them well. I even managed to overtake a few others. ;)
As the day progressed it hit upon something that was obvious in hindsight. With the kite low down the bar effectively controls speed, push out (depower) to fly faster and therefore further towards the edge of the wind window, pull in (power up) and the kite drops back into the centre of the wind window. The trick is moving the bar to keep the kite just far enough forward to maintain speed but back far enough to generate power. Obvious when you think about it. :)
The 9m Guerilla II did me proud today and it kept me going in a wide variety of conditions. It may not be the fastest kite on the block but anything is better than sitting down watching from the sidelines doing 0mph.
Paul and I had a fantastic day and met lots of new friends. We were the last ones to leave the beach as we hung back to try out Paul's 10m Access after the winds dropped to more managable speeds. It looked good as the kite went through the sunlight cast over dunes and was almost illuminous.
Paul (Antler) & I spent quite a bit of the day capturing footage that you can see below on YouTube. me @ intro, 2:33, 3:55 & 6:42
