Well, I went out this evening for my first twilight fly at Herringthorpe. The wind looked pretty good from my window so I plumped for the 9m Atom and intended to do a bit of boarding too. If nothing else I'd get some time to learn the kite including relaunch some more before heading out on the water. I also wanted to double check it held it's pressure for a long period under normal flying conditions.
Herringthore Playing Fields
The inland wind conditions were suffering from the usual huge swings in direction and gusts. It's the norm really so it wasn't a blocker. The site looked clear and it was a nice warm evening.
Launch
After setting up the kite I tried really hard to self-launch but it was frustrating to see it spin around and do everything *except* launch. It made more infuriating after I tried the techniques I'd learned for the Ozone Light during my kitesurf lessons. It simply wouldn't launch and I thought something was wrong.
After much rushing about it eventually launched but it wasn't right. Sluggish turns, unresponsive, falling out of the sky, etc. Not happy really, especially when it came down in a lull and wouldn't go back up. It would only fly on max power trimming and fell out of the sky on slight bar pressure.
Tweak
I eventually downed the kite and decided to tighten the back lines a bit to instill some more responsiveness. I tied an extra knot on the pigtail, reattached the back lines and tried it all again.
The Atom was now more like the Instinct - it launched much easier, handled better, etc. etc. I'm now much happier with it. Relaunching was now a doddle too so it was mission accomplished!
It's a shame the wind was so shite!
Summer Games
Just as things were going well a load of people turned up and proceeded to setup 3 cricket matches that basically consumed the whole of the playing field. I guess it was some kind of local match/league but my safe flying zone was not unusable so I was forced to pack up. It didn't help that people were driving their cars around the playing fields. :(
Herringthore Playing Fields
The inland wind conditions were suffering from the usual huge swings in direction and gusts. It's the norm really so it wasn't a blocker. The site looked clear and it was a nice warm evening.
Launch
After setting up the kite I tried really hard to self-launch but it was frustrating to see it spin around and do everything *except* launch. It made more infuriating after I tried the techniques I'd learned for the Ozone Light during my kitesurf lessons. It simply wouldn't launch and I thought something was wrong.
After much rushing about it eventually launched but it wasn't right. Sluggish turns, unresponsive, falling out of the sky, etc. Not happy really, especially when it came down in a lull and wouldn't go back up. It would only fly on max power trimming and fell out of the sky on slight bar pressure.
Tweak
I eventually downed the kite and decided to tighten the back lines a bit to instill some more responsiveness. I tied an extra knot on the pigtail, reattached the back lines and tried it all again.
The Atom was now more like the Instinct - it launched much easier, handled better, etc. etc. I'm now much happier with it. Relaunching was now a doddle too so it was mission accomplished!
It's a shame the wind was so shite!
Summer Games
Just as things were going well a load of people turned up and proceeded to setup 3 cricket matches that basically consumed the whole of the playing field. I guess it was some kind of local match/league but my safe flying zone was not unusable so I was forced to pack up. It didn't help that people were driving their cars around the playing fields. :(
