Santiago Chile recommendations

[ACrop]

Hello,

I am hoping to spend a little more than a month in Santiago Chile in August/September this year. Anyone got recommendations on where there might be good flying fields? Anyone living or flying locally? Any laws I should know about?

 

I am debating on whether to take kites with me or not, so opinions would be helpful. Thanks

 

 

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[szobelda]

Forget about flying in Santiago....no winds....the city is in a valley....

You should travel to the sea shore, 1.5 hours from the city



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[makatakam]

Yep, it sure is. I just looked at it on Google Maps, on the "earth" view, and it is literally in a hole surrounded by mountains. Even if there was wind, it would be coming from different directions every 10 seconds.  

[John Barresi]

I'll take some of that action. 

[Exult]

I'd say that the mountains doesn't seem to be completely surrounding the city. Even if they were I'd also say that one can't rule out that a local climate can form. After all, the the "smallest diameter" of the town seem to be about 25km. Say that the sun rises in the morning (common) and one side gets warm, the air gets warm and rises there and gets replaced with air from the sides - a wind blows that could be experienced at ground level? 

Here I fly the 4D in Monte Carlo during end of October last year. I didn't want to return here (there are so much to explore in other places nearby), but the rest of the family hadn't seen it. The wind direction (of the low wind) that day was so that it was blocked from the nearby mountains.

Yet the air was not completely at rest and I had a quite OK session in the end and this is what I want to show - even though it didn't look good from the start I had a good time in the end! Or as expressed in my (non-published) flight log:

Quote

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

The warm sweaty low wind session

Mon Oct 31 22:05:04 CET 2016

Monte Carlo (Monaco), forecasted 1-2m/s (but out from land, behind steep mountains)

4D on 6m lines

The sand gave a very artificial feeling. It consisted of half a cm flat lime stones that left a white dust layer on the back pack. The beach was behind the piers on the inner side of a "mini-bay". Buildings, piers, jettys, elevated walks and fences were all around - felt like being in a (very large) cat litter box (minus the poo). Very little wind initially, but it picked up after a while and came in from the sea. It was a small beach and the space available was even smaller - the short lines were the only option here. Managed several 360deg (flying around you one full turn). The trick for me was as usual to have the kite relatively high above the ground - at least 45deg from the ground. Compared to most of yesterdays flying more tricks were available. Otherwise the flying was quite like yesterday although a bit warm/hot the sweat dripped from the forehead into the eyes occasionally. Also the wind speed became quite OK with time (for a 4D). Should have looked more on push turns to see if I could have made tighter turns. The short lines gave me a chance to see the sleeping beauties from a short distance. However sometimes the kite couldn't rotate freely, the sand caught the nose sometimes 

I did also have a peek in Wikipedia about Climate in Santiago ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago#Climate ). The last line reads: "Prevailing winds are from the southwest, with an average of 15 km/h (9 mph), especially during the summer; the winter is less windy". At least for summers the mean wind speed according to this is ... a gentle breeze! Perhaps making sure you got one kite for lighter winds with you and focusing on finding fields is the way to go.

[ACrop]

Thanks for the thoughts. I am hoping to hit the coast, just I don't have much control on this trip. I was going to take a kite and hope for a chance to fly. I had to ask as sometimes you get surprising answers.

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[Paul LaMasters]

Alice,

Acquire or make your own "travel frame" and then everything fits into a backpack easily.  A travel frame is automatically stronger and less flexible.  So Diamonds become like Race, race becomes like 3 wraps and 3 wraps become like 4's.

While you are down at the Shook Palace ask Eliot for the Skyshark alternatives, he can make 'em while you watch and drink their coffee! 

Take the frame(s) and roll a couple of sails around it, seal with velcro and the pkg can go along even when kites aren't going (wink, wink)  You never know when you might have a spare hour or two to go fly.  

Take some short lines too, so you'll always have enough room regardless of location.

Cramped & swirly wind locations are another opportunity to challenge yourself.  Heck everyone looks good in a steady breeze on the beach!  Practice in poor locations and really shine when conditions stink and others are waiting or complaining.

ENJOY!