Slartibartfast

I have a 4m Beamer III I'd be happy to part with. Your Crossfire II is a far superior kite (though be it not for beginners). I also have a smaller kite more suited for beginners (1.5m or something) and some other stuff. Perhaps I could trade you a couple of beginner kites for your Crossfire? If you were to trade the Crossfire for my Beamer directly I'd feel I was selling you short somewhat so I'll see what else I can find that would be appropriate for you. How are you off for accessories (like harness, Q/R latch, snatch block etc)?

Oow, very tempted Chris but unfortunately that end of my quiver is already over represented. Are they Cross Fire II's. If so it will be a good buy for some lucky so and so.

Guess it was the: "Try googling "Self releasing load fuse" I got 4.4 million hits .... Kind of read like RTFM. I guess I then read you next post in a more cynical/disparaging tone than intended. Cheers for your input though.

Gee JKS, I'm surprised at how disparaging you are about this. If anything I would have expected you'd be in favor of the project. Are you similarly cynical about Andy666's plastic buckle? Essentially what I'm working on is a more sophisticated version of that. Edit: Or possibly you miss-understood... The idea is not for the tension-release to replace the manual release but rather to act as a last resort. The normal way of ejecting would still be, well, the normal way

Arrrrrr, think I just realised what you were thinking. The idea of the spring is not to act as a release mechanism itself but rather as a means to pull the string on the Q/R latch. The latch it's self will function as the release mechanism as always

Sure, but it's the "load fuse" that is the hard bit to work out. - as in, I know what I'd do with one if I had it, I just don't know how to get one Also, I'm wanting to use this on a hot-wire setup so there won't be any getting lofted until after the belt pops anyhow, and if were building a "load-fuse" into the belt system we might as well jettison the kite with the same "fuse". I very much like the look of the single release point Sand-Yeti posted above, I'm just trying to find a way to have it activate automatically. Here is another even clearer photo of the single-release configuration off Popeye's site:

Thanks for your thoughts Norman, your posts are always worth there weight in -err, electrons??? I had actually thought of most issues you raise. In regard to the "Nut Cracker Dilemma": The spring is only intended to deflect 10mm or so. While it would be holding a lot of force at separation given it would only have 10mm in which to accelerate my naive thought would be that it would not be able to build up as much speed as one might first think. It's not that you couldn't build up a reasonable amount of speed in 10mm but you know, it's not like an elastic band or steel cable giving way. Further to this though the plan is to have the opening end of the latch attach to the belt so if it were to fire then the latch, spring, snatch-block etc would all be carried away with the kite. So while there would be a reasonable amount of energy in that spring when it finally gives it will all be springing away from rather than toward those hapless gonads After activation the occupant would just be lest sitting in the buggy with the belt already open - probably before they even knew what had happened I don't quite follow what your saying in regard to the hooked end of the spring with respect to "when a certain angle is reached what ever you attach to it can actually escape". Possibly unrelated: I do plan to have two release cords on the Q/R latch. One attached to the other end of the spring (which pulls automatically) and another with a ball or something on the end that you can activate manually - I really like the "Ball and Cone" idea discussed elsewhere. (I would provide a link but the thread got lost in the tsunami a few weeks ago). I had also considered the option of using a "week-link" fuse but was looking for a more consistent system. Andy666 uses a "week-link" kind of buckle on his seat belt but I'm keen to have something that is more consistent, calibratable and re-usable. Thanks for your thoughts guys. (: (:

Sure, but where any of them useful? While one of the hits was a slightly amusing story about Justin Bieber making a 911 call it wasn't really what I was after

Could you point me in the direction of some of these "Load Fuses"? I've been searching about for this kind of stuff for a while but haven't been able to find what I'm after. Thanks.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and have been trying to dream up a system that will automatically release the kite if it pulls with more than 100kg of force or so. Ideally the "activation threshold" would be adjustable and the system should be capable of being reset with out too much trouble. I've come up with a few ideas but I'm thinking the best would be to place a short strong spring between the Q/R latch and snatch block then secure the Q/R latch's string to the snatch block itself such that if the spring stretches any more than about 10mm or so the release will automatically get pulled. Securing the release to the snatch block would prevent you from "spinning the handles" to un-wind twists in the lines but I would happily forgo this ability if it means I have a system that will release if the load gets too great. Does anyone know of where I could get a spring that will deflect about 10mm under 100kg of load? This is the kind of thing I am imagining: Or does anyone have any better ideas?

That makes sense. See you the week before. (: (:

Must say I am most impressed with your adventure and have been longing to have a crack at such an expedition myself. If ever your looking for another adventure and would be interested in coming to Australia I would absolutely love to get involved. Please do let us know if it's something you'd like to think about. :D

Well, given Australia day is on the Saturday and the public holiday will be on Monday the Kingston weekend proper will no doubt be the 26th, 27th and 28th of January. If people are wanting to extend the weekend further (which I'd be up for :)) I would suggest extending after the weekend rather then before as the new moon is due on the 23rd so will be waxing (ie. getting bigger) after the weekend, reaching 70% the following weekend. By contrast the moon will be waining (ie. getting smaller) from 28% to 0 the week before - and bugging on that lake in the silver moonlight is just magical! So, all things being equal I'd be opting to extend after (: (: (: Anyway, I sure Terry will be able to way in with the final word if we ask him. :shout: SINBAD... :shout:

Short notice I know but is anyone interested in gong for a sunset run down at Goolwa this afternoon? Winds are looking promising but I'm having trouble finding any buddies to head down with. Looking at arriving at about 4:00pm for a 5:30 sunset. Send us a message if you're interested 0466 643 966

More specifically the H.264 codec "mp4" is a container format (like avi). Specifically the GoPro uses the H.264 codec to encode that mp4.

Need a price man...

Yo Alix. Did you read the For Sale / Wanted Posting Guidelines "sticky" at the top of the page? It says:

And whatever setup you opt for if you're going down the hot-wire path I would strongly recommend you work out a system where by you can jettison the kite and open the belt in a single action. I'm not 100% clear on what you are thinking above but what ever you do don't design a system where you need one hand to release the kite while the other releases the belt - that's bound to lead to tears and disappointment

I don't want to waylay this thread to much but the main concern with hot-wires is that not only are you strapped into your buggy (like you are with a belt) but, unlike with a belt, because the force of the kite is directed to the frame of the buggy rather than your person you can't feel how much power you have in the kite. To a novice this might seem a minor distinction but believe me it makes a very big difference and is in fact the whole point of hot-wires in the first place, just be sure to proceed with caution. If you search the Internets a bit you'll find a lot of discussion about it but here are a few XK threads to get you started: Harnessing in ? Lap belts and Hot wires

Here are a couple pics of Popeye's 'Hot-wire' setup: Is that what you're after? By the look it shouldn't be too hard to make; in fact it's probably easier than the belt buckle Andy is already making. Also, have you been warned about hot-wire setups yet? They seen to be popular in NZ but most of us Aussies are fairly warey of them.

You mean a 'Hot-Wire'?

That's a good looking rack. Here is another site selling them with a bit of a review and some better photos: http://www.bigmikeskites.com/VTT/BuggyR ... yRack.html

Have you guys seen this one: Nina Conti is her name and she would have to be the best ventriloquist I've seen. Note: If you find "Gran" a bit dull (I can't imagine) be shore to skip up to 10:00 for her second act She really is very good.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=port+Ger ... ralia&z=14