Wind help

[Chikokishi]

Ok, so i have flown my new kite for about 4 hours today. I can fly it and control it for the most part. Land and take off. My question is, the wind here is very moody. Itll be very strong for about 10 seconds then itll be almost dead for 10 seconds. There are times when the kite is pulling me off my balance, and other times when the kite has no control at all and just falls. When is the best time to try to do tricks? In all the videos i see, peoples shirts barely move, grass does not move.. They all look they they are flying in very very light wind with very little input form the strings. So im not really sure what i need.. Light wind? Strong wind? Iv been trying to find videos and stuff to read online but iv no luck so far.

Thanks again!

Chikokishi

[windofchange]

The wind conditions you are describing are the worst, especially if you trying to learn tricks. You can watch all the tutorials in the world about how to do a trick, and they will teach you everything you need to know EXCEPT how hard or soft you need to pop your inputs. That can only be learned from the feel of the kite while you are doing the tricks. These inputs also need to be adjusted for the wind conditions. For ultra light winds you usually need to give softer more controlled inputs. For strong wind you may find that you need to be much more aggressive on your inputs. The reason I bring this up is that when learning, you don't know just how soft or hard you need to be to do a certain trick so you need to use trial and error to figure it out. The problem when trying to do these tricks in mega-varying wind is that one time you may pull to soft so you set the trick up for a second time and the wind dies and you yank the kite out of the air! Very frustrating!!!!!!

What you want is consistent winds, not necessarily strong or light winds but consistent. That way you can try the same trick multiple times with different strengths of input to figure out just what is needed to get the trick done. Normally the lighter the wind the easier it is to trick, not necessarily because you don't need to pull as hard but more because you don't have to RUN as fast to hold a stall or keep slack in the lines so the kite can complete the rotation(s).

Personally, I find it nearly impossible to trick in anything over 15mph, unless you have a very good vented kite and even then it can be very challenging to do many of the tricks. I "prefer" winds from about 3-4 mph to 8-10 mph for tricking.

One thing that you may want to look into another area to fly at. Sometimes even moving your flying location a couple hundred yards one way or another can make a huge difference in the way the wind is blowing across your field. There are some parks here in Vegas that I refuse to fly at just because the winds are so bad where others are so much nicer even though they may be a mile or four further down the road. Try some other areas and see if you can get some better conditions. My flying time is somewhat limited with work, family and other things that come up so I don't mind driving another 5-10 minutes to get to a field that I know will have better winds....basically I don't want to waste what little flying time I have on a field that has crappy conditions. As mentioned, you may not have to change fields at all, with our local field there is one area (about 150 foot section) that for some strange reason the wind just sucks. The rest of the field is awesome. Try some new areas and see if it gets better, you may be surprised.

Hope this helps.

[John Barresi]

Flying, and especially tricking, is all about having the right sail pressure

Gusty and turbulent wind means you're having to adjust the sail pressure all the time by giving or pulling on the lines together.

Example, to do a really good snap stall, the kite must be powered up first... Do a dive at 5mph with good pressure, then just as you give the inputs for the stall, the wind dies, there isn't enough pressure to "bang" the stall, so it either goes limp or overreacts and flips on it's back... Same thing if you're in a fade, or other slack line trick, your input can either be overpowered or underpowered just by the sudden change in wind... As you gain more skill, these wind variables can generally be compensated for, but it takes some time and a lot of practice to develop that feel until you make those adjustments automatically.

For now, I'd suggest practicing your sail loading and basic controls... Fly circles, squares and other shapes throughout the whole wind window, moving forward or back (body or hands) to sustain an equal amount of pressure, keeping drive in the sail, controlling the speed, etc.

[Chikokishi]

Hi, i went to about 4 different parks yesterday trying to find decent wind. Im not sure why, but i found a park where the wind was strong enough to keep the flag out straight.. But when i tried to fly, i would pop the kite up and it would just float back down to the ground. There was wind all around me, and it had to have been 5-10mph somewhere.. But my kite refused to stay in the air at all. Today after work i will search for an open field out by the airport maybe. My town where i live is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so its kind of hard to find nice open area to fly in.

[JoneZ]

It sounds like your nose may be adjusted too far back, and your dumping too much wind off the front of the kite (?). Try adjusting the bridle forward by small even (use some measuring tape if you have to) increments until the kite takes off with relative ease. Once you've found the sweet spot, mark it on your bridle for reference as you'll be wanting to move the bridle back and forth a touch depending on wind conditions.

Good Luck!

[Chikokishi]

Iv been trying to figure out how to do that, all the instructions i find are for a system that i dont have. Should i upload a picture of what mine is like?

[RobB]

Iv been trying to figure out how to do that, all the instructions i find are for a system that i dont have. Should i upload a picture of what mine is like?

Pictures would certainly help. I've been flying inland winds to try to get better at flying... the beach is too crowded this time of year by me. It can be really frustrating at times, you need a light wind kite one minute, a vented the next. I have a 'vented light' kite that makes lemonade out of lemon wind, but even that has it's good moments, and bad.

Good luck...

~Rob.

[John Barresi]

From Kent's (A Wind Of Change) web site, on bridle adjustments:

http://www.awindofchange.com/lessons/lesson2-4.html

[Chikokishi]

That link helped, i shifted my knot toward the nose about a quarter of an inch, when it stops raining ill try her out. Its just my luck, the weather has been beautiful for 2 months.. then when i get a kite it drops to 45 degrees and rains.....

[Chikokishi]

I got to fly today, the wind was kind of stout.. Maybe 10-15mph? But my kite did fly easier even when the wind had died a little! Im glad to see the clouds finally breaking.