Kiteboarding Anarchy

[mikewof]

I miss the old Kiteboarding Anarchy forum, maybe a thread will suffice?

Quivers, rides, events, tactics?

 

[mikewof]

Current quiver ...

Kites: Waroo Best inflatable edge 7 meter, Tung Fao 5 meter traction, Hydra HQ4 3 meter traction for high winds, Tung Fao 2 meter traction kit for very high winds.

Boards and Hulls: MBS Atom Landboard, Dimension AS-1 Snakeboard for asphalt, Limited 88 snowboard with step-in bindings for snow, Alibi no-binding snow skateboard, 1977 SnoSkates on a fiberglass Excalibur deck, homebrew snow surfer, mastless windsurfer, folding U-250 hull and Dagger Ultrafuge

My typical land rides these days in Long Lake Regional Park for land and snow, Rocky Flats and North Table Mountain for summer. Soda Lake and Cherry Creek for water rides. I've grown to really love the traction kites for ease of re-launch and durability in the brush. Just because of the abundance of cactus, barbed wire and such, I tend to ride unharnessed on land.

 

[mikewof]

Who was the SAer who used a 15-meter kite with the foiling board? Was it the Slingshot kite and foiler?

 

[SoggySeattleSailor]

I’m rocking a slingshot space skate foil, 12m airush ultra, 9m slingshot Daly, 7m ozone edge. I have a couple twin tips and a surfboard as well. Still a beginner in the foiling world. Want to get into the snow kiting as well

 

[mikewof]

I’m rocking a slingshot space skate foil, 12m airush ultra, 9m slingshot Daly, 7m ozone edge. I have a couple twin tips and a surfboard as well. Still a beginner in the foiling world. Want to get into the snow kiting as well

There is so much you can do when you have the open water and stable wind. In my mountain lakes and hills, the wind tends to gust and I have to top out at about my 7 meter kite. And while I like being able to just hit the hills behind my house to sail, with a commute time of 4 minutes, the landboard that I use requires my kite to pull a lot of weight off my board for me to get any kind of speed.

My 7 meter is enormous to me in my mountain conditions, I can't even imagine what it much be like to fly a 12 meter kite. I've seen that Airush on Lake Dillon, it's a gorgeous kite, the power transfer seems incredibly smooth, and once the rider had it aloft, he seemed to have a lot of flexibility with keeping it in the window and depowering it. I would love to try one someday when my skills improve enough.

 

[mikewof]

Anyone put the dough on the counter for a kitewing?

I wouldn't mind the $1k entry, but I have no idea what kind of performance I can get with one, or if it will be mostly a novelty. I've started to draft a design with PVC post-tension spars rather than inflatable, I hope to hit $50 all-in DIY cost.

The inflatables are probably too delicate for landboarding anyway, when I wipe out, it tends to be in yucca, cactus, scree and gravel. Even managing my inflatable-edge 7 meter kite is a bit too much. They are designed for water, not high-country scrub.

 

[SoggySeattleSailor]

I haven’t done the wing/wing foiling thing yet. I think that would be a prime candidate for colorado. I used to live out in Denver and always wanted to snow kite on that lake(even before I stayed kiting)

I think the wings might be a good ticket because in shifty and gusty conditions your kite falls out of the sky, but a wing wouldn’t. Not as big of a deal in snow but in water it is. Plus if it dies you still have board flotation and can paddle back.

My goal is to snow kite winter 2022-2023 out here in Seattle but it will depend if it stays cold.

No idea about land kiting but I do have the hq hydra 420 which is a high power trainer/traction that would work really well for it. No depower but does have a hook for a harness.


Also that Airush is indeed super smooth. If I can get it in the air it’s enough to foil. Usually de powered to half. The new team version looks even more epic.

Out here in Seattle our winds tend to be thermals in the summer and storms In the winter. I have used a 17m kite on a twin tip on occasion. It gets out of hand fast. The foil and ultra now mean I don’t need it.

I’m 15-25kts I’m usually on a 9m kite. I haven’t really needed the 7m yet, but there were a couple of fall/winter storms I missed out on before I got it.

 

[SoggySeattleSailor]

I think pre inflatable edge there was a wing on a stick similar to a windsurf sail without the mast mount. If you can find some old photos/videos that might help.

Who invented the wing? - Korvenn wing and foil

Wing foil is a booming discipline, but is the wing a recent or an old concept? It is quite easy to officially date the appearance of the first wing, since in 1982 a patent was filed under the name of “bird sail”. Its inventor, Roland Le Bail, a French man from the town of Carnac …

korvenn-wing-and-foil.com

 

[Foredeck Shuffle]

This should be in Dinghy Anarchy, not the lead butt keel boat forum.

I'm considering going to a wing foiling school while on vacation later this summer. If it goes well I will be picking up some kit.

 

[mikewof]

I haven’t done the wing/wing foiling thing yet. I think that would be a prime candidate for colorado. I used to live out in Denver and always wanted to snow kite on that lake(even before I stayed kiting)

I think the wings might be a good ticket because in shifty and gusty conditions your kite falls out of the sky, but a wing wouldn’t. Not as big of a deal in snow but in water it is. Plus if it dies you still have board flotation and can paddle back.

My goal is to snow kite winter 2022-2023 out here in Seattle but it will depend if it stays cold.

No idea about land kiting but I do have the hq hydra 420 which is a high power trainer/traction that would work really well for it. No depower but does have a hook for a harness.


Also that Airush is indeed super smooth. If I can get it in the air it’s enough to foil. Usually de powered to half. The new team version looks even more epic.

Out here in Seattle our winds tend to be thermals in the summer and storms In the winter. I have used a 17m kite on a twin tip on occasion. It gets out of hand fast. The foil and ultra now mean I don’t need it.

I’m 15-25kts I’m usually on a 9m kite. I haven’t really needed the 7m yet, but there were a couple of fall/winter storms I missed out on before I got it.

That's the problem I have here, I get the kite launched, and then it calms for just long enough to lose the window completely, and I have relaunch. No big deal on sand, but with a hundred feet of scrub between my board and the kite, it is like pulling open a Velcro wallet.

It seems the biggest wings are only about 5 meters, and low to the ground, they the equivalent pull of maybe a 3 meter traction kite, so it doesn't seem likely to have enough traction to pull me to the top of the hill on a powder-surfer, let alone a land-board, but the pleasure of not having to deal with the relaunch might change the sport for me.

I hope to kinda copy the shape of the 5 meter Ocean Rodeo A-series, hopefully it will translate with tensioned spars rather than inflatables ...

Aside from that, which lake did you want to ride in Denver? The ice we get on the Front Range really sucks these days, gotta get up into Gilpin County for decent ice.

 

[SoggySeattleSailor]

Oh it was always lake Dillon when I was commuting up to the mountains for snowboarding or fly fishing. The local reservoirs didn’t seem that great for it ice condition wise, though I did go ice fishing on chatfield reservoir a couple of times and that would have probably worked if there was wind. I imagine if the snow stuck east of the city there would be snow kiting if you could find the right land for it out there.

Always so many hobbies and ideas and never enough time. That pesky work thing always getting in the way.

 

[redboat]

During dog walks around Chatfield this winter I encountered a kiter (?) several times. Spoke with him often and he regularly kites on Chatfield and Dillon. Suggested trail along the Continental Divide above Loveland Pass is a popular kiting area.
This fellow also had a kiting dedicated vehicle. RRoom for himself and nothing else. Full of different kites and skis, boards, etc. Even had a recumbent trike strapped to the roof for whatever. Drives west out I70 to the desert in the off season for kiting with the trike.
Why am I not surprised that Mike is into this? So little time, so many toys. Carry on.......obsessively.

 

[mikewof]

During dog walks around Chatfield this winter I encountered a kiter (?) several times. Spoke with him often and he regularly kites on Chatfield and Dillon. Suggested trail along the Continental Divide above Loveland Pass is a popular kiting area.
This fellow also had a kiting dedicated vehicle. RRoom for himself and nothing else. Full of different kites and skis, boards, etc. Even had a recumbent trike strapped to the roof for whatever. Drives west out I70 to the desert in the off season for kiting with the trike.
Why am I not surprised that Mike is into this? So little time, so many toys. Carry on.......obsessively.

I bought a 4.5 meter inflatable kitewing today, I don't expect it to last long in the scrub, but I'm building the non-inflatable wing for that. The inflatable, hopefully good for Soda Lake. I will report back.

 

[Lakrass]

Interesting to see some fellow snow kiter. Despite snow 6+ months a year here in Northern Sweden, it's not very popular and I often kite alone. Have two sails for now: Peter Lynn venom 10m & flexifoil sabre 7m
Unfortunately wind is terrible as it's often pretty gusty and shifty. Often under 10 knots or over 25 which means kite not flying or overpowered, especially when gust are 2 times stronger than base wind. Few good spots around and going for a ride whenever possible. Always fun to play around and trying to keep it safe. Going on randonnee skis with the skins and foldable poles in the bag.

 

[mikewof]

Anyone here ride a twin-tip with a wing? I have heard things ...

 

[mikewof]

Interesting to see some fellow snow kiter. Despite snow 6+ months a year here in Northern Sweden, it's not very popular and I often kite alone. Have two sails for now: Peter Lynn venom 10m & flexifoil sabre 7m
Unfortunately wind is terrible as it's often pretty gusty and shifty. Often under 10 knots or over 25 which means kite not flying or overpowered, especially when gust are 2 times stronger than base wind. Few good spots around and going for a ride whenever possible. Always fun to play around and trying to keep it safe. Going on randonnee skis with the skins and foldable poles in the bag.

Have you tried a wing? The lack of lines, harness, trapeze and even chicken loop seem to hold a lot of promise for shit conditions. The kites will still get tossed around a bit, but at least the rider doesn't end up fighting brush and gusts to get the lines sorted out.

6-some meters is about as big as they come now, and that is for a good bit less traction than an airborne kites, but the ability to vector lift however you like seems to make up for the lack of traction. Also, when the conditions are good for say a downhill or downwind run, the wing can just self-balance and trail behind you until you need it, literally that, 100% depower ... ride downhill, downwind, surf and not have to worry about tensioning the lines. And of course, you can transition to a foil with the same wing.

My big hope is that the wing will hopefully open up riding a landboard in the aqueducts, kites are just unusable in those due to the power lines and bridges, but if they work, it could be incredible; miles of carvable terrain with downhill speeds on the flats in cross-winds and up-winds.

 

[Rasputin22]

Do your aqueducts have sloped wall on either side? I can see that being like an endless half-pipe for a wing and offroad skateboard or landboard!

 

[mikewof]

Do your aqueducts have sloped wall on either side? I can see that being like an endless half-pipe for a wing and offroad skateboard or landboard!

Our urban rivers are unpaved unfortunately, and landboards are kind of slow on the soft bits. The paved path is narrow but rideable. But L.A.'s concrete river, that could work. Too much trash and gravel for regular skateboards, and the problem with landboards is that they are so wide that they are nearly impossible to push without giving oneself a hernia via some weird push crabwalk. But a wing and a landboard with pneumatic tires could work, I have an MBS Atom board that could do it ... if there is wind down there. Any idea about wind down in the L.A. River?

 

[Rasputin22]

Our urban rivers are unpaved unfortunately, and landboards are kind of slow on the soft bits. The paved path is narrow but rideable. But L.A.'s concrete river, that could work. Too much trash and gravel for regular skateboards, and the problem with landboards is that they are so wide that they are nearly impossible to push without giving oneself a hernia via some weird push crabwalk. But a wing and a landboard with pneumatic tires could work, I have an MBS Atom board that could do it ... if there is wind down there. Any idea about wind down in the L.A. River?

Plenty of wind in the LA aquaducts during a SantaAna wind event! We used to ride an almost identical wall as in your YouTube vid except we only had about 30 feet of flat before the water hazard... Lots of lost boards there.

 

[mikewof]

Plenty of wind in the LA aquaducts during a SantaAna wind event! We used to ride an almost identical wall as in your YouTube vid except we only had about 30 feet of flat before the water hazard... Lots of lost boards there.

I'll bet there was more water in the LA River back then! Now it seems to be more of a piss-creek.