SoutherlyBuster

Hi @Pari, the FS Pulse is a very old kite, not that the design is necessarily up to scratch but aging of the kite may prove to end up as a disappointment for you. My FS Speed III 12m^2 was my first FS kite and my second foil kite, must be about 10 years ago (would have to dig up the records for sure) and is not the kite it used to be. The internal lining will fade and cause porosity which as we all know degrades performance. No response from seller, hm, oops just spotted that date on that. Either way for others reading this be warned against purchasing old kites.

Onshore winds, clean surf and summer time, what more could you ask for? Kitesurfing session from a couple of weeks ago at New Brighton Beach, South Island, New Zealand. My kite was a FlySurfer Psycho IV 10 m^2, riding strapless on a Byrne surfboard. Filmed with a GoPro Hero2. Music, “Wind Swirl”, composed, performed and produced by Norman Freund, also on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/norman-freund/wind-swirl Video: https://youtu.be/KydZurZumeM

Love how Dan Dubuque sits out in the wilds of Montana an jams away:

I only fly foil kites and mostly ride in the surf. I prefer fast and quick turning kites. The type of board you ride is important too, it is all about quick turning and once on the wave to be able to ride it like a surfboard. Nothing beats racing down the wave for a quick bottom hand turn back up to the lip and back down again. For this you need both a board and kite the turns quick. So what works the least for me, wait for it, the wooden spoon goes to the Peter Lynn FARC18m^2. It is a fun kite on the land for a change, for straightline speed, but if you like getting smashed by waves whilst waiting for the kite to turn, well this is the kite for you. My FlySurfer 18m^2 Speed IV Lotus is great for those lazy light wind days in the surf and turns quick enough. Nice to boost over the waves. My FlySurfer Speed III 12m^2 turns quick enough to have some fun and yes those bottom hand turns are possible, but if the wind is too much it is too much of a handful. My FlySurfer 8m^2 Speed IV, oh ya. When the wind is right, this is awesome. Fast kite, fast turning. So far all the sessions I mentioned are with a purpose built kite surfboard, an Underground Kipuna. The company is now called Axis boards, started from a local here in Christchurch, Adrian Roper. Sorry tray riders you will have to learn how to ride uni-directional for one of these but is well worth the effect. Personally I like the high performance kites to give good upwind performance to get past the breakers, I mean who wants to be continuously bashed by waves with a low aspect drag bucket whilst trying to get out the back where the action is. From time to time, your kite will go for a swim, my FS twin skins have not let me down, all but in the most extreme light wind conditions. Yes they do float and are water relaunchable. Hydrofoil boards are another mater, so far my experience has been the one I ride tends to get over powered and breach very easily once the apparent wind kicks in.

So for those with an open mind and a sense of humour, I found this piece of acoustic music of a Jaw Harp, it’s translated into English so a bit weird in places but that makes it all the funnier.

Some home grown material, acoustic Shakuhachi improvising along with electric violin and keyboards: By the way, the Shakuhachi, I built my self from some PVC pipe I bought for $8 at Mitre 10 here in New Zealand . Blame @Chook, he egged me on to make the video . If you are interested in making one your self, I have a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet where you can dial in the pipe ID, pipe wall thickness and desired tuning -- there are some calibrations necessary, like drilling the holes undersize (latter gradually bore out to bring into tune), making the pipe a tad longer (gradually cut off pipe all tone holes closed to bring into tune), and an embouchure length correction (before tone holes drilled, then again with undersized tone holes drilled).

Ha ha. I tried a motorised landboard years ago when at one of the Speed Weeks, it just felt all wrong to me, the pull coming from the board rather than from a kite up top. I guess that is just me. Still nice to see people are still mucking around with the cross bow. Have not had mine out for a long time, the Dirt Surfer gets most use these days, hmm who sold me that ... thanks @bakersdozen .

Someone mention my name .... sniff sniff .... . Hi Pari, Sorry you lost your job, quite a lot of us got shafted recently. Unstable times. Joel is right, stress analysis is my professional speciality. There are methods and software tools to predict and design for stress, there are however some perhaps uncomfortable truths. So you have the geometry and material — good start. To predict the stress response (will it break), you need to know: 1) material stiffness, if it is composite, stiffness in various directions and the interaction of them. 2) material strength 3) load inputs. So you head off to your material supplier and ask them about items 1 and 2. Odds are they do not have a clue or critical parts are missing. Google may help, but do you trust it, is it the same material, is the manufacturing recipe the same? So you need to build your own coupon specimens, subject them to a known load, measure how much the deflection is (the elasticity), measure when it starts to degrade strength wise (limit loads), measure when it finally breaks (ultimate loads). Now you can feed this material model into your analysis. Next you need to figure out the load inputs. Hm which came first the chicken or the egg? You can have a guess of what the loads might be based on a use case — inputs for your first prototype. Prototype built, put on some load cells and or strain gauges on it to measure the real inservice loads. Feed that back into your model, now you can evaluate where all the weak points are, redesign, re analyse without needing build and physical test during this iteration stage. Then a final physical test, to check all your assumptions and the things you did not think about. There are methods to figure out the input loads from theory alone, much more complex. Ever wondered why carbon fibre parts are so darned expensive? No standardisation of manufacturing methods and material strength, all has to be tested in house, not to mention the complexity of the material it’s self. Metals a different story, take for example the MMPDS or MIL Standard book, manufactures are told what the strength must be, they need to prove that it is actually that strong. Still physical testing at some stage is necessary. A hybrid approach may be taken, you have a prototype, have an idea where the main load comes from, know the material strength. Take the part out in the field and abuse the hell out of it and see where it breaks, feed that back into the detailed model to reverse engineer the input loads, now you can change the design and see what effect it has.

Hi Renato, Southerly Buster here. Joel is right I have built nasa kites from 0.75m^2 up to 9 m^2. Must say they are one of the most challenging kites to fly. It is usually the trailing edge that begins to flutter if nit enough backline tension applied, too much and she flies backwards. They are just for giggles kite or for pure down winders. They have very poor upwind er um no up wind performance. If the nose is collapsing I would say too much tension on the bridle, not the front lines but the bridle. Did you sew in those little straps on the nose underside to the top of the nose? That plan you show looks like the one I started from. Ok some more thoughts, from your pics looks like you only have front lines? I use 4 for best control. You need a very fine control with you hands, especially the balance between front and rear tension.

Good move Joel. So this .org will run in parallel with the FaceBook Group I assume. I like the revamped look, putting pictures of members on the various forum section headers.

I was lucky enough to be working for an essential service when the COVID19 lockdown commenced here in New Zealand, so are still working and earning money. Have not been kiting or flying my RC gliders for a few months now, have been putting my efforts elsewhere, now concentrating on my music productions. Funny 7 years ago when I started making videos of kitesurfing etc., looking for music to go with it, vids got silenced for using copyrighted material (oops, then switched to a paid service) and thought, why don’t I write my own music — not so easy. But I have been steadily working on music compositions, so now instead of thinking about writing music for videos I have made, I film videos to promote my music. Fortunately I do not need a recording studio, just use my home gear. I use a combination of virtual instruments driven by a midi keyboard, electric instruments like my violin, mic up my acoustic harmonica and the odd sampled sounds I find around the house using a contact piezo or mic. This all gets assembled on a digital audio workstation (DAW) software on my computer. My son Zac is continuing his university degree locally but all online from home. Here is a link to my latest work:

@andy666, things over in my neck of the woods are fine, road traffic greatly reduced as no one is supposed to be out driving unless directly to/from work for essential workers or to get essential supplies. A lot more people out walking the suburbs to try and break up the monotony of staying at home. The intension of the lock down is, when it commenced who ever was in your house that is your cell, no wandering off to other people's places, all people outside of your cell keep at least 2 metres away. Working at a Pet Food factory, I am an essential worker, so business pretty much as usual for me. At work, it's keep back at 2 paces, daily check lists of are you coughing, contact with COVID people questions, etc.; and sanitise the blazes out of every thing. We are allowed to duck off for food but only locally and only one person at a time from your cell, numbers limited in the shops. Sunlight, yes, we are allowed to go for our day release into the yard for exercise. Some fwits on the beach decided the rules were not for them and went kite surfing according to FaceBook group reports I see, they are getting a roasting for doing it. For me not too much has changed, instead of Flying my RC Gliders and kitesurfing, I get to compose and play more music at home, checkout my name out on SoundCloud if your're interested.

As I gaze over my crystal bass, I see the 730 report, a quaint timber shack on a quiet beach side on the East Coast of Australia, a flickering of a small kite out side, the camera pans into the door. It's like the Tardis, a museum of Peter Lynn kites. A sewing machine in one corner and the odd collection of boards and buggies in the other. Andy then appears and explains how the collection came to be. Nice Video Andy. From FlySurfers to PL Arcs, a strange fanscination with the odd ball kites. I still have my FARC16m and fly it on occasion, though sadly at the moment they are all tucked away on their kite hangers waiting for the COVID19 lockdown to cease.

Simple, the leading edge is facing down hill and that is where the apparent wind is coming from. Wings do not fly well backwards. Gravity pulls you down hill, that is what generates the apparent wind.

Board and rider in action on an inland lake, lake Coleridge, South Island, New Zealand. Was a good day out, very light winds about 5 to 6 knots, powered with my FlySurfer Lotus 18m^2. Was amazed how smooth the ride was compared to hydrofoiling in the ocean.