Finest Light Wind Combo

Hi Peeps,

This is my first you tube effort. Forgive the poor quality, still working through the software. Go easy on me

This video was taken up north whilst on holidays. A very light wind afternoon and I invited a friend who had no experience in light wind kiting, Ozone kites, nor directional boards. I asked him a couple quick q's when he landed the kite, he was buzzing!

Some older Townsville crew will recognize the rider from Pallarenda. Yep, Super Grom!

Wind was dead onshore at between 7 and 9 knots.

Kite was Ozone Zephyr 17m and Board was Airush Sector 60.

Result was fun in winds just light enough to fly a trainer kite.

Sorry about the video, they'll get better I promise!

DM

... nah, no valve probs at all!

Wickedly beautiful footage.

Loved the passes through the eye of the sun (e.g. @ 2:30)......nice touch.

Relaxed, cruisey, a stunningly peaceful way to end a day on the water.

A nice balance to the other end of the spectrum of the slash, crash, blinding action of surf and wake style at its best.

Fossil
"the eternal learner"

Yeah thats was a great vid & light wind combo. Nice1.

hey Clint . . . good to see you . . . even if it is on vid . . . had heard you were retired and off playing in the west :-) . . . hope the family and you are all well . . . the old pallarenda crew has thinned out but lots of new ones . . . too many actually . . .

hard to believe the 7 to 9 knots but coming from you, i do believe it . . . maybe some of the old windsurfing board skills coming into play . . . but then again, you were always a fast learner . . . would have liked to see you do one of your dead mans but maybe a few more knots needed :-)

we have a big guy over here that has a 17m Ozone . . . nice flying kite . . . turns well for its size . . .


Darren . . . looking forward to more vids . . . certainly a good job for your first . . .

Hi Sleek,

You could never ever know if you've never had a go.

There is a very unique feeling in light wind kiting that you cannot explain to someone, you need to ride it and experience it. Most of my favourite kiting was on the same gear you watched in the video and most of the time I only wanted to ride it if the wind was between 7 and 10 knots.

In super light wind, the water is almost calm so quite smooth and the water surface is not textured by the ripples of wind which leaves it kinda glassy and easy to see through. Riding up north and seeing through the water lets you get a good view of turtles, coral, stingrays, sharks, fish and all manner of critters that live in the water like whales and dugongs etc as you go rocketing past.

With light wind, the noise is quieter, the wind is steadier, and no one else is out! In the video you will note the speed of the rider in well under 10 knots. This almost defies logic as you blast along upwind pushing yourself to find that perfect sweet spot of board trim which unlocks the really fast light wind riding.

What is amazing is that as you go to gybe in just 7-8 knots of wind and you slow down for the turn,your apparent wind drops away as you sheet out to slow. If you stop to turn the board, it's then you realize there is barely enough wind to keep the kite up. Dive the kite again, build some speed, carvbe the board upwind and flatten out the hull to ride off the fins and reduce drag and away you go again, the apparent wind is back and you are again powered in next to nothing sheeting out to maintain control.

Admittedly to ride in the uber light stuff you need some serious practice and board and kite skills. It is possible to ride this combo in winds from 6-8 knots but you need to know what you're doing.

Like I said, I can't explain it to you, so you'll either have to take my word for it, or grab a demo of such gear and experience it for yourself.

Cheers for the comment

DM

PS. Thanks everone else for the kind words. I'll pass on your regards to Supergrom when I speak to him next.

Plenty of practice happening up here in Central QLD of late. 17 and race boards are great fun, beats sitting on the beach whatching

For the last few years there has been the question on what works better as a light wind kite, the bigger heavier slow turning kite or the smaller faster kite, a lot of companies dropped there bigger kites as they were becoming less popular. But now with the introduction of more race boards and competitions a lot of manufactures are designing light wind kites and they are back.

Big Kites are Back, they are light wind machines, they can turn, they don't stall and there light, they go upwind and can get some fast speeds in light conditions, the development of racing has answered the question and it wont be long until most kiters are packing a big kite 17m+

At least there is one less debate to have on seabreez this season

Written like that makes it sound better. Although i chop massive trees down for a job and love it so our interests might differ.

LEI's are catching up fast, kites like the FOne source fly in 2-3kts, they are getting lighter and better than the foils, relaunch easier without the stress, have simple lines and no bulky bridle, can be launched and landed like a normal kite no big helicopters landing in car parks and trees, and only cost half the price $4000 is a lot for a kite. Most flysurfer kites need around 6-8kts to get up and stay in the air.

As far as out performing all other kites, it is probably true to a degree but there is now only a small window that a flysurfer is going to be better, when the wind hits 8kts now there are a lot of capable SLE kites that are competing with them.

Wicked video, thanks for posting that. Thats the best footage I've seen of actual racing.

It looks more like figure 8 slalom racing, but it does let them get more speed. The boards dont seem to gybe well, but maybe if they gybe too fast in that wind, the kite drops.

I would actually say for anything under 12/13 knots a flysurfer will out jump and outrace any other kite.

Have you actually ridden one?

Gabar, a wonderful Christian mystic, introduced this meditation technique which later came to be known as Gibberish. It is said that people would come to Gabar with all kinds of questions about enlightenment and he would simply answer with nonsensical sounds. At first people thought he was crazy and that no one would come to listen. But hundreds of people came and he ended up having more disciples than any other mystic of his time.

He just talked nonsense, a constant stream of sounds and words with no commas or periods, no sentence structure. He enjoyed himself. He would laugh as if he was telling jokes and then he would start all over again. By and by, the disciples, who continually increased in number, realized that just by sitting near him, listening to his gibberish, their minds became more and more silent. And that was his whole purpose: to bring them into a state of meditation, to bring them in touch with their own inner silence. This great mystic answered their questions by taking them deep inside themselves, beyond the mind where their own answers lay.

Human mind is a chatter box. We really don’t need anyone to do the talking. We can talk to our own self for hours; we talk when we are awake, we talk in dreams also. A constant monologue is happening. Mind is neurotic and this is really very harmful. No one has harmed us more than this sick mind. We don’t know how to become quiet, how to still our mind, how to put an end to this blabbering.

Gibberish Meditation is a wonderful tool to move towards inner silence. It may be done at any time of the day while alone or in a group. All that you have to do is gaze into the sky for ten to fifteen minutes. Then start singing la…la…la…Forget everything, just sing la…la…la…Soon it will begin to change its color, sounds may change into words, even foreign words. Keep it up for twenty minutes. Bring out everything from inside, all the repressed thoughts.

Gibberish helps you to clear
your mind of all the craziness
that has piled in your mind
for centuries. Allow yourself
to express whatever needs to be
expressed within you.

The mind thinks always in terms of words. Gibberish helps to break up this pattern of continual verbalization. Without suppressing your thoughts, you can throw them out - in Gibberish.
As you throw it out, your mind will become lighter and more alive within minutes. Let the sky be the witness. . And if your body begins to move, let it sway. At the end, lie down on the ground and be silent. You will experience a deep silence. Lesser and lesser thoughts will come to your mind.
This is an excellent method to release all physical, mental and emotional pressures. So gibber your worries away and be blissful!
Good luck with your kite mining business and please thank your mother for the rabbits...

First off, your pricing is seriously screwed, but clearly, you did as much research into it as you did with the way foils launch and land. I managed to locate a 19m for $2809 which is only marginally more than most large LEI's (www.briskites.com.au/index.php?l=product_detail&p=558). A 2011 14m Vegas on the same site is priced at $2429. If you go for the deluxe material which is the same ultralight material as the silver arrow, then it goes to $3500.

Now, given the price of some of the larger LEI's ($2000-$2500), you're paying $300-$1000 more for a kite thats more durable, doesn't get punctures, will last longer, and will fly in 3-4 knots less. You're also paying for the fact that you can jump, ride more powered etc while other riders are barely on the water.

Its not just about getting out two knots earlier, although I'd say its closer to 4 knots. Its about being able to do more. Now, personally, I don't kite in light wind often and I have a 5 week old daughter so I'm only prepared to take leave when the wind is decent, and I couldn't justify spending anything extra on a lightwind kite (I do have a brand new 23.5m Contra which I bought for $50 including the bar and lines which I'm keen to test out), but I know of plenty of people in locations which get light wind often and having this type of kite means the difference between 1 session a month and 10 sessions a month.