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What do do in high wind?


spblat
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Interesting. The kite was rarely going less than one spine-length per frame, and occasionally as much as two spine-lengths per frame. If you could tell us what speed (fps) you were filming at and the spine-length of the kite, we could calculate the speed range fairly easily. (It looked to me to be less than the usual 30 fps, but that could be just a persistence-of-vision artifact.)
It was filmed on 1080hd @30fps - it seems to play better on youtube for some reason. That is actual speed - it's quick!

Spine is 28".

28" * 30fps = 840 inches per second.

840 * 3600 / 12 / 5280 = 47 mph :cat_lol:

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I know my 10' Flexi seemed fast. Even on 200' lines it went across the window very quickly. I flew it in some fairly high winds, but never in a hurricane (we don't have many hurricanes in Michigan). On 500# braided Kevlar ™ and a 6' flying bar, which was dangerous enough without the extra wind.

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And if any of y'all feel like flying a Thor's hammer in 20- 30 mph, I wanna watch!

I'd give it a go, but maybe only briefly. Love powerful kites & stacks. Fly 'em till you're sore...

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Ditto for me! I'll give it a shot...I love the pull. My Flexi Bullet has pulled me around quite a bit, but I gotta respect the wind. I'll leave it alone if the winds up and it's gusty. It already bit me once. :dizzy:

You are wise young Jedi. Have not hurt myself much, yet....

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Ditto for me! I'll give it a shot...I love the pull. My Flexi Bullet has pulled me around quite a bit, but I gotta respect the wind. I'll leave it alone if the winds up and it's gusty. It already bit me once. :dizzy:

You are wise young Jedi. Have not hurt myself much, yet....

I thought the hurt was major yet it turned out to be minor, but the possibility was there and it made me think.

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Oh yeah, Thors Hammer is a beast. :)

That's just sick (and not the good sick), just sick ! Looks like you need a BUTT pad to fly that thing........ :ani_wallbash:

I've always liked flying kites that ultimately were frightening. This may be why most of my line sets are rated at 2 to 5 times my body weight.

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I have a few big pulling kites, and I don't really fly them anymore because of an incident with this kite...

gallery_786_29_7010.jpg

The pull of this kite is tremendous, it can drag me 50 feet or more in the sand, and I've also been lifted up in the air by it 5+ feet. It is possible to do an axel with it on the edge of the window, and I was doing that one day. The move requires a lot of slack on one hand, and somehow the line wrapped around my wrist while it was slack. Once the kite exits the trick, it powers up and takes off like a rocket, so I had to move REALLY fast to get my hand out of the loop before the line cut my hand OFF ! It was a pretty scary experience, and I really haven't flown the kite since.

Respect the power of the wind, there's no way you can control it, it will hurt you if you're not careful.

:cat_shifty:

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I am more cautious now than I was initially despite my silly enthusiasm that leaks out sometimes. When I first flew my 3 meter SLK delta recently it seemed so big. It was in Murdo South Dakota with a nice evening breeze & it launched easily but searched back & forth until I got it up in the smooth wind at about sixty feet. I was glad I had some Wala experience to draw on. The big kites are ones to fly with great care & intent. But the wind is fickle & things do go awry. Thanks for the caution about the line loop wrapping your wrist, Wow! And my imagination has not allowed for an axel like that.

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I have a few big pulling kites, and I don't really fly them anymore because of an incident with this kite...

http://kitelife.com/forum/uploads/1173590142/gallery_786_29_7010.jpg'>http://kitelife.com/forum/uploads/1173590142/gallery_786_29_7010.jpg

The pull of this kite is tremendous, it can drag me 50 feet or more in the sand, and I've also been lifted up in the air by it 5+ feet. It is possible to do an axel with it on the edge of the window, and I was doing that one day. The move requires a lot of slack on one hand, and somehow the line wrapped around my wrist while it was slack. Once the kite exits the trick, it powers up and takes off like a rocket, so I had to move REALLY fast to get my hand out of the loop before the line cut my hand OFF ! It was a pretty scary experience, and I really haven't flown the kite since.

Respect the power of the wind, there's no way you can control it, it will hurt you if you're not careful.

:cat_shifty:

. Rob how big is that kite and how fast was the wind, From the water , wind looks fast
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  • 3 weeks later...
When the wind is higher, i pull out my speedkites. Like this one:

https://vimeo.com/66261049'>https://vimeo.com/66261049

Wind is around 3bft in this video. It really starts to go at around 5-6bft.

It was radar clocked 2 years ago in the german speedkite competition with 111mph.

Andre what kind and what size is that kite. :)

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