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First really good day of wind


Greg Brouelette
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After all the troubles I've been having with light winds, no winds, and then really heavy winds (which I underestimated and ended up breaking my new Kymera kite) I finally had a good day with decent, and consistent, wind.

We've been having a lot of small storms up here and of course, before and after a storm you get wind.  A few days ago the wind was moderate, not sure what the speed was but it was not too fast and very consistent.  I decided to try the newly repaired Kymera in the same park where I broke the Kymera over a month ago.  This time things where much happier.

As I was practicing figure 8s, loops, squares, and flying horizontal close to the ground I realized that this was probably the first time I've really flown a dual line kite in decent wind in over 15 years.  It was fun to get to know the wind window again, to actually fly the kite instead of constantly trying to save the kite.  It was odd to have that sensation of experience from my flying days decades ago and the sensation of being a newbie at the same time.  

I learned several things:

  • The Kymera is a very quick kite.  It's really easy to over steer when trying to do 90 degree corners.  That's a reflection of my skill limitations, not the kite.
  • Just doing a simple stall at the wind's edge is harder than it looks.  Sometimes it would just happen and I had to try to "rewind" what I just did to figure out why it worked this time.  It seems that a lighter touch and a lot of anticipation of what the kite will do is required.
  • I was only able to get a side slide a couple of times for a few feet.  And it almost happened by accident.  The kite can definitely do it if I give it the right input. It's just going to take more practice.
  • I only got it to do one backflip and I was amazed at how much slack I need to give it and how quickly it needed that slack.
  • I'm glad I watched and rewatched the section on recoveries on the Freestyle Pilot DVD because I had to recovery from unplanned landings a lot.

 

Overall it was a great day.  It was really nice to actually fly the thing instead of constantly fighting to keep it in the air.  This reminded me of why I use to fly so often.

 

Greg

 

 

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