Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
We've come a long way, baby.
Yeah, as with my other "blogs", I haven't been much of a blogger lately. Much of that has to do with kiting.
This past weekend, I was flying for 13 hours total. That's quite alot of time with a kite. Since my last post wherein I greatly exaggerated my progress, the cascade has become a very repeatable, sustainable, and very tight trick. My basics are getting the extra snap that makes basic figures combined with two-point landings, half-axels, and flic-flacs look like a sharp and controlled ballet.
I am still having a heck of time discovering the back spin. Pointers are welcome. The jacob's ladders are starting to take shape thanks to Bram's tip of starting from one edge and gliding back to center. I worked on the 540 for a bit, and have since completely neglected it as a trick. However, slot machines seem to be taking shape, snap lazies are becoming automatic, and I am starting to get the guts to try the taz machine. It's happened more than once.
Lam sent me a mid vent. It's the best kite I own. The standard Sea Devil is still a great kite, but its extreme drive can be rather limiting in higher wind. That's where the mid vent comes it. It's simply amazing what four vents will do to an already fantastic kite. Without raising the low end of the wind range by much (maybe from 3 to 4 mph), the mid vent is a Sea Devil with the ability to shed some of the extra drive the sail generates in higher winds, keeping the feeling of the standard while giving you a giant wind range. I was flying in winds in excess of 20 miles per hour this weekend. These are winds in which the standard starts to build overpressure, and bending of the leading edges is common. The mid vent shed this wind with ease, and definitely asked for more.
This past weekend, I was flying for 13 hours total. That's quite alot of time with a kite. Since my last post wherein I greatly exaggerated my progress, the cascade has become a very repeatable, sustainable, and very tight trick. My basics are getting the extra snap that makes basic figures combined with two-point landings, half-axels, and flic-flacs look like a sharp and controlled ballet.
I am still having a heck of time discovering the back spin. Pointers are welcome. The jacob's ladders are starting to take shape thanks to Bram's tip of starting from one edge and gliding back to center. I worked on the 540 for a bit, and have since completely neglected it as a trick. However, slot machines seem to be taking shape, snap lazies are becoming automatic, and I am starting to get the guts to try the taz machine. It's happened more than once.
Lam sent me a mid vent. It's the best kite I own. The standard Sea Devil is still a great kite, but its extreme drive can be rather limiting in higher wind. That's where the mid vent comes it. It's simply amazing what four vents will do to an already fantastic kite. Without raising the low end of the wind range by much (maybe from 3 to 4 mph), the mid vent is a Sea Devil with the ability to shed some of the extra drive the sail generates in higher winds, keeping the feeling of the standard while giving you a giant wind range. I was flying in winds in excess of 20 miles per hour this weekend. These are winds in which the standard starts to build overpressure, and bending of the leading edges is common. The mid vent shed this wind with ease, and definitely asked for more.
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