![]() Lines would catch on sastrugi, thus reducing and unbalancing the effect of brake lines. It was also hard to launch, as the control I got up to 40 kph (25mph) on a reach, but crashed badly as I hit rough ice whilst edging too hard. Then I was out in 5-8m/s (10-18mph), gusting and changing direction rapidly, and the surface alternating between 20cm wet snow and raw, uneven ice. The next trip was rather frustrating with the wind dropping to 2m/s, but at least I could take the rather static pictures you see here. It was also very difficult to get the hard-packed snow out through the mesh, and I eventually gave up and took it home to melt and dry in the shower. But I guess you shouldn't fly an open cell kite in snowfall, and probably not rain either. Snow had collected in the open cells, and packed itself into perfect snow balls about 7cm in diameter, so there was more than a kilogram After several hours of struggling I discovered the reason. Still, things went OK to start with, but then the kite became harder to control,Įspecially after an inverted crash, when it wouldn't back up and spin as it should. Slalom skis to help deal with the heavy snow, but regreted it. The third time out was on 5cm of wet snow, +/- 0 deg C, with 5-7m/s (10-15mph) wind and heavy snowfall. Imagine the distances you could cover compared to trudging with a sled. So it would be quite reasonable to take it on a long tour. ![]() Mine weighs around 1kg with the wooden control bar, and has a volume of maybe 5 litres, Their kites must be great on water,īut seemed to have a lot of overheads on land. I arrived with my normal 35l pack, and could rig and launch alone in 5 mins. They also appeared in pairs, each carrying a huge backpack, and had to make an encampment where they spent half an hour They must have had vastly more power available, but that apparently wasn't the limiting factor in these conditions. Still, I reached 35 kph (22mph) on a reach, and was pretty much keeping up with the other guys who were on up to 16 m2 On the other hand mine had bad edges, and I felt that I couldn't tack as For that reason the free-heel skis worked just as wellĪs slalom skis, and were much easier to manoever with when the kite was down. I was surprised that there was no tendency to tip forward on to one's face. The feeling was much like that of waterskiing, and as with that sport, With a safety line that applies the brakes if I drop it. Now the forces on the lines were much higher, so I used a homemade control bar that hooks on to a windsurfing harness, Light snow covering the ice, -2 deg C, and a wind of 4-5m/s (10mph). The next time out was real snow kiting on touring skis, with about 1cm of Of the control lines, which always gets tangled. ![]() Over to see what I was doing, and skated straight over my lines, cutting one and damaging the others. It was a good initiation, except that despite keeping hundreds of metres away from everyone else, some guy got curious and came I didn't go fast, but then the wind was barely a breeze. The kite behaved very well and was easy to hold using the normal control handles, since the friction was so low thatĪny force on my arms was immediately converted into movement. The next step was to take it out on ice skates, and I was lucky to get a day when the lake was covered in pure, smooth black ice I tried it on land and found that I had to run with it in a 4m/s (10mph) wind, and did involuntary jumps. ![]() Ice skating or skiing, and having multiple lines it can also be used to tack against the wind. (if ever) I'll be good enough to use it in a kayak or with a board, but it is very controllable and has plenty of power for It's not water-relaunchable, so I don't know when ![]() So it turns out that slow, heavy sports benefit more from simple kites than fast sports.įor faster sports I bought a used 3.3m 2 Flexifoil Blade 4-line kite, with 30m lines. This was reasonably successful, so I had high hopes for the ostensibly easier task of propelling myself on ice skates on natural ice,īut I discovered that the low friction and mass involved means that you reach windspeed very quickly, the apparent wind drops to zero, My kiting career started with using a single-line 1 square metre kite to propel a kayak. Skidåkning och skridskoåkning med drake kite skating windskating skate snowkite Kiteskiing and kiteskating (Snow kiting). ![]()
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