Power Kite Simeon: 07/01/2008

Wednesday 30 July 2008

Flexifoil Atom review

Well, I've had my 9m Flexifoil Atom now for quite a while and it's certainly been the best kite I've ever had - bar none.

I use the kite for landboard, buggy and also the more typical kitesurfing.

Quality
In terms of build quality, the Atom is obviously well put together and incredibly robust. I've accidentally dumped it a few times on land and it's never failed me once. I think this goes without saying for a Flexifoil kite.

Wind range
My main reason for liking it so much is that I've virtually flown nothing else all year on land. It's seem me through some howling winter/spring storms right down to some fairly light summer winds and always handled them brilliantly. Basically, if it launches them I know I'm good for the day.

This broad wind range on land gives me more confidence to fly in anything as I know I have complete control and this has been proven many times through 2008 when I've regularly only flown the Atom when others are chopping & changing their kites all day long to cope with the changing conditions.

It's also easier to venture out in gusty conditions as it's easy to swallow them up with movements in the bar, and if it changes massively then a play with the trim strap sorts that out.

Relaunching is a doddle in the right winds and it takes some coaxing in low winds but it's infinitely better than the Peter Lynn kites I was flying. Simply get the kite on it's back and pulse the upper front line and it generally pulls itself through and sits waiting at the edge of the window.

Control
Well, here's something that's incredibly important. Essentially you have *total* control over the kite. The 9m also turns on a button making for faster turns and you can keep that power on all the time.

As an example, in the right wind conditions you can simply stand there with the kite over your head, pull the bar in and up you go! Let the bar out and down you come. Nice! :)

When moving along at speed you can quickly send the kite up to the top with no power and not be lifted out of your seat. Nice!

Pull the bar in on a fast run and it's like an accelerator - so much control.

Inspired
I've had such a great time with the 9m Atom this year that it's inspired me to do 2 things.
1) Get on the water & learn to kitesurf
2) Buy a 12m Atom

Well, I had all of the tools so why not get on the water? Wet stuff needs a lot more power than dry and I was told that where you'd use a 9m on land you'd want a 12m on the water so I bought a 12m Atom.

I'm finding that the 12m Atom has all of the traits of the 9m Atom *but* it's a much bigger so it needs more wind to launch and it's a lot slower on the turn, this is to be expected. In reality my friends 12m Waroo is much better as it has a lower bottom end and it turns faster. I'm thinking I should probably have gone for an Ion or similar.
Still, I shouldn't complain as the 12m Atom has got me up & surfing. :)

Summary
Is the Atom a great kite in real-world conditions? Hell yes!
Can you use a bow kite on land? Hell yes!
Should you buy one? Hell yes!

You can see me flying the kite somewhere in this video

Don't forget to leave comments. :)

Tuesday 22 July 2008

Kite Links

Here are a collection of links I have with the label 'kite' - enjoy

Associations
BPKA - British Power Kitesports Association - the place to get advise & insurance
BKSA - British Kite Surfing Association
IKO - International Kiteboarding Organization

Forums

RaceKites.com
Flexifoil Forums
kiteboarder.co.uk
Sheffield Kite Fliers
Kiting Location Map UK - contributors wanted, contact me!

How To

Repairs

Shops

Manufacturers

Schools

Other online kiters

Weather

Other

redcar [notes]

went to redcar - add pics

Sunday 20 July 2008

Ponte again

[notes]
Went to ponte for 4hrs, flew Atom 9 & 12, met barry, good boarding session

Saturday 19 July 2008

Kite Shuffle (again)

I've sold a few of my kites now leaving me with a mixed dry/wet quiver. I've essentially replaced the 14m Waroo with a 12m Atom, which is better suited to my weight and ability.

Dry range
       0 2 5 7 9 12 15 18 22 25 29 32 36 39 43 46 50  mph

AT-9    -------------XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX------------

AT-12   ---------XXXXXXXXXXX------------------------

Wet Range (guess)
       0 2 5 7 9 12 15 18 22 25 29 32 36 39 43 46 50  mph

AT-9    --------------------XXXXXXXXXXX-------------

AT-12   -----------XXXXXXXXXXX----------------------

AT-9 = 9m Atom

AT-12 = 12m Atom

==SOLD==
14m Waroo - way too big for me
10m Venom 13m Venom

Thursday 17 July 2008

Quick session at Pontefract

Paul and I hooked up for an afternoon kite flying session at Pontefract. The winds weren't great but it's a long time since we've seen each other and it was good to hook up.

I flew the 9m Atom and the landboard but there wasn't really enough to get back upwind. Paul similarly struggled in his buggy.

Still, there's something to be said for lying around in a field just chatting and watching the clouds scud by.

Tuesday 15 July 2008

Injury (again) - cracked rib

Well, it's been a few days since Bolton-Le-Sands and my OBE.

I seriously think I've cracked a rib on my right as it hurts when I cough and there's an acute pain when I breath deeply. There's also a constant pain there but my breathing is fine normally. Any kind of movement that rotates/stretches my torso is equally painful and I haven't slept since BLS.

Ironically, my impact vest arrived on Saturday so I'll be wearing that all the time from now on.

Sunday 13 July 2008

Bolton-Le-Sands - 12th July 2008

We made a day of a trip to Bolton-Le-Sands as the weather promised a good dry day with 15 mph onshore winds.

As a quick summary I broke some personal bests and I had a *awesome* day.

Max Speed: 43.2mph

Trip Odo: 71.1miles

Moving Time: 4hrs

Winds: 18mph, gusting 25mph+

Weather: Dry & Overcast all day

I was out on the buggy flying with the 9m Atom all day, the kite proved itself as a versatile, fast and stable once again and this doesn't even considers that it has loads more scope yet!

Playing Area

The beach was initially very wet due to the last few days of rain so I popped on my drysuit to keep the water & wet sand out, which proved to be a good move as it meant I could go anywhere without the worry of being uncomfortable. This also meant I could venture further afield by crossing some sea channels that most people wouldn't go past meaning I had massive expanses of beach to play with.

I mixed up the day with various bits of speed runs, skill improvements and general exploration.

Speed Runs

I was regularly topping 35mph with quite a handful of runs over 40mph as my personal best was improved throughout the day. My best times were made out of the way of everyone else on downwind runs to make the most of the wind and beach space.

The kite & buggy never let me down and the both remained stable as I pushed them further and further.

Skill Improvements

Experience

I'm getting used to the Atom now and I can pretty much fly it single-handed without looking at it as it's got excellent feedback through the bar.

Upwind

I got going in almost all directions relative to the wind with some very upwind runs, albeit a little slow.

Powered Turns

I always struggled with keeping the kite powered up in the turns, often getting underneath the kite or ending up with it at the edge of the wind window both of which do cause the kite to lose power and may cause it to fall out of the sky. This is managable on land but I wanted to use the principal to improve for kitesurfing transitions on water as losing power will cause you to sink!

So, I went out of the way for a while to practice powered turns by using 2 distance tufts of grass to use as turning points trying to get tighter and faster around each one. I've definetly improved and get about 66% of my turns right now.

Exploring

The weather & site conditions meant for a great opportunity to explore the area and I did on many occasions covering a large area.

This was only achievable by having confidence in my abilities and also by wearing a dry suit, as you'll read later.

The beach area near the campsite was largely dry and hard (great for *massive* power slides) but this turned into wet bumpy sand the further you got away from bases and it was also surrounded by filled sea channels, riverlets, streams, etc. which were only passable by getting completely soaked. My usual strategy was just to plough at them full speed and hope to get a good way across before I ran out of steam. There was a broad range of terrain conditions to experience.

Buggy Surfing

Covering the more extreme areas of the beach meant passing through lots of water, often waist deep. The deepest one I crossed result in my buggy being *completely* submerged and at one point I began to float and lost directional control from the front wheel so I had to use the kite to pull my in the direction I wanted to go on. I was being pulled downstream (yes, downstream!). I jumped out and decided to pull the buggy to shore but sadly it flipped over in the deep water and drifted off without me. I chased after it with the Atom bobbling along above me and I managed to flip the buggy and drag it back to dry land. I was knackered!!

Despite it being a bit dodgy this was brilliant fun but not something I repeated.

Despite that, I later found myself in one of those riverlets and decided to just drive down it's length as far as I dare, I've never had a 'bow wave' on my buggy before. :)

Mud, glorious mud

I also crossed some very muddy and squishy areas that were only passable in my buggy and I'm very glad I didn't have to go on foot or I'd have probably been knee deep in sludge. It was actually quite worrying so I quickly turned around and headed to firmer land.

OBE

I had one pretty big OBE late on when I didn't see a water channel that was the start of a short of a series of things that ended up with a lot of pain.

I was basically running downwind at about 35mph towards a sea channel and I spotted what I thought was a narrow crossing to make it easy. So I scrubbed off some speed and prepared to cross at about 15mph.

Sadly, the whole thing was obscured from my direction by a small sand cliff but it was too late! I realised the water channel was a lot broader and therefore deeper than I'd realised. *Plus* I hadn't noticed multiple smaller dried out water inlets the other side that was going to make for a bumpy ride.

So, I ploughed into the water that made the buggy pretty much stop but I kept it together but needed more power to get through the waist deep water. I got through with more power but went straight into a dried out water inlet that sent me bouncing about and I slide sideways into the second one where the buggy stopped and I kept going. By this time the kite was fully powered so I was launched downwind and bounced around on the hard sand. I eventually came to a rest and laid there in pain just wanting to get back.

Closing Thoughts

When I got home I assessed the personal damage and it feels like (exaggerting) a broken rib (obe), broken hip (obe), broken neck, cut & bruised shins, bruised thighs (from gripping the buggy) and I ache *everywhere*. My buggy seat is ripped from all of the bouncing and I managed to lose a nut & bolt holding on the mudguard! No pain, no gain! :)

Still, I think it's safe to say that this was the best day of buggying I've ever had and contained pretty much everything you'd ever want. I got to experience loads of things and improve my skills.

10/10. :)

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Cleethorpes

Forecast
The weather forecast for today was looking pretty bad from the outset with easterly winds for the whole of the UK coupled with rain.

It was looking good for Ainsdale but I couldn't go as I don't have a permit and the person I need to get one from wasn't available.

This meant the only choice was the East coast with offshore winds, not ideal, definetly too dangerous for the water but definetly worth getting out for a good blast on the landboard to get some practice in.

Cleethorpes
I got to beach at about 11am to find it completely empty with the tide on the way out. The winds were pretty blustery so I cracked open the 9m Atom to cope with those top end gusts.

I got setup and I had a quick static fly to get things moving. Just before I jumped on the board the winds started to pick up even more ahead of a HUGE black cloud on the horizon that was moving pretty swiftely in my direction. The winds kept on rising so I decided to get the kite down before the weather came in. I brought the kite down to the edge of the window and it just wouldn't come down and it resulted in me pulling the 1st safety and letting the kite out fully on the leash but it was still bouncing around even though there was no power. It took quite a lot of wrestling but I got it down in the end.

Rain
The rain didn't half come down and I ended up sitting under the kite for 20mins while the wind howled around. One benefit of a bow kite is that you can hide under it if it rains. :)
It did feel quite 'British' to be sat on the beach in the pouring rain.

After the storm passed the wind disappeared completely for a while and then came back to a nice 15mph, although it was offshore. It was the usual gusty offshore wind.

Practise, practice, practice - land to water
I spent the rest of the day belting up & down Cleethorpes beach on the landboard practising powered transitions. I need to get the powered turns sorted so I can make better transitions if I ever get good enough on the water as I assume that a loss of power will make me sink!

I did have a few tumbles and ruined my knees on the hard sand and sharp shells. I've ripped my trousers through and got cuts on my legs. I definetly will be wearing my knee pads in future.

What I've learned - transitions
I think I've also sussed out a possible problem with my water starts as I have a tendancy to take the kite from the top of the window (12 o'clock) around the edge of the window, this enevitably ends up with the kite at the edge of the wind and therefore no power after an initial boost.

When moving right, I started moving the kite back to about 11 o'clock and then down through the center but much lower so when it moved through the 12 o'clock line it was much lower in the window and therefore more powerful.

This in itself took a bit of getting used to as there's much more power to hold down but it gets moving faster and the power stays on. :)

What I've learned - POWER!!!
I'm getting used to more power and I surprised myself by pretty much getting long runs, effectively unhooked, max permanent power, and just using the angle & direction of the board to control the power.

I also got some MASSIVE slides in on the runs and some HUGE power slides to stops. :) I left loads of sand trails along the beach and even had an audience at one point.

All in all, it was a good 4hr session. Bring it on! :)

Friday 4 July 2008

Landboard, Buggy, Kitesurf - land/water

So, I've given them all a bash now and admittedly the kitesurf was only a brief introduction.

After considering dropping 1 of them so I can focus I've got the following thoughts.

Land based events usually take place in large areas so you can get a good run on, inland areas need to be quite large and devoid of obstacles that block the wind from all directions. Most good inland sites have some directions in which is the wind is unblocked and about as clean as it's going to get inland. The blocked directions make the site unusable when the wind is coming from that direction.
Ignoring the inland wind conditions, inland locations by their nature have size & shape constraints so sooner or later you're going to crave for a bigger playing area.
The next choice is a coastal beach site, which naturally gives a bigger area to play on - if nothing else they're typically long in one direction ( the coast line). Onshore winds tend to be super clean and make for some amazing kiting, they're as bad as inland sites when the wind is offshore.
A reasonably obvious statement to make for inland sites is that having any kind of accident *is* going to hurt.

So, the only other surface is water for kitesurfing. Coastal water is obviously massive but can be marred by hidden sand bars and tidal conditions. Either of these can effect the suitability of a location.

Pretty much everywhere you think of is restricted by local by-laws so always check the local conditions and *don't* spoil it for everyone else by going where the hell you please without checking.

For me the 2 land disciplines of landboard & buggying are complementary and both add enjoyable aspects to the sport.
Landboard is good for vertical kiting, what I mean by that is there's a tendancy to keep the kite vertically above you so you travel slower but you have the intention of jumping. You're typically looking for consistent winds for this to avoid being dumped.

Buggying is good for horizontal kiting, as you're typically looking to stay *in* the buggy and hold down some power. Speed is the order of the day so to do this you need to keep the kite down in the powerzone, just above the horizon and hold on tight! It's easier to deal with gusty conditions as it just affects your speed.

So, should I drop anything? At the moment I'm enjoying all aspects and if anything I'd probably drop buggying as the scope is fairly limited to just going fast. I really don't like the idea of buggy freestyle - it just looks like a world of pain and I'm pretty convinced all of those hard landings are going to wreak having on your spine.

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Fraisthorpe

The promise

It promised to be the hottest day of 2008 so I checked www.xcweather.co.uk to see where the best coastal location was for some boarding.

The predicition was about perfect for Fraisthorpe - 20mph cross-on winds, mid-day high tide (15:45) and glorious sunshine to boot! What could be better?

So, I packed up all my kitesurf and landboard gear and headed out to see what I could find. I intended to get on the water as the conditions promised to be about as good as they were ever going to get.

Site surveyOn arrival, the tide was out and there wasn't anyone else on the beach so I had it all to myself. This was good in one way in that I had no-one to bother with on the board. However, it was very bad from a safety perspective as I would have no-one to help out if anything went wrong. For this reason I reluctantely decided to avoid kitesurfing and went for a landboard session.

12pm - land session

I had fun with the 9m Atom and the trampa whizzing up & down the beach and getting some power slide turns in throwing wet sand up everywhere. I had a few tumbles where my board hit soft sand and stayed where it was ejecting me across the sand. I stayed out for just over 2hrs before the tide started to edge it's way in and I wasn't sure how rapidly it would rise so I packed up and headed back to the car.

By this time a handful of kitesurf guys had turned up and were having a great time out on the water, typically with 12m Waroo and 1 guy had a 16m North Rebel. I vowed to get out on the water when the tide was heading back out so I hung around.

The wind meter was showing a healthy clean 23mph!

5pm - water sessionThe high water mark was incredibly high and left no beach to launch from so everyone came off and waited until it was usable, which turned out to be 5pm.I went north up the beach (downwind) away from the guys and got all of my kit setup and I guess it was 17:30 when I was ready to go; at which point one of the other kiters came inland where I was and shouted "someone's switched it off!" and I looked around to see everyones kites were down. The wind had dropped to 5mph if we were lucky. :(I had a mess around in the water with the board & kite and managed a few small runs but was largely under-powered and struggled. In the end I just had a mess around with some body dragging and static jumps for entertainment.I gave it another try at 19:30 when the wind picked up again but it was inconsistent and invariably disappeared as soon as I was ready in the water.All in all, it was a good day with excellent conditions in the morning and some failing weather in the afternoon. Very happy and raring to go again. :)

Power Kite Simeon