Scribbler88

With sub-100cm boards, the risk from non-release bindings is minimal on a piste, and I would have thought even less risky on flat ground unless you plan to land some very large jumps. They are lighter and cheaper, too. Only problem is that they aren't 'step in', so clipping yourself in whilst flying a kite could be a bit problematic. I've got several pairs of revel8 skiboards that I use with release bindings, but that's because my knees aren't particularly great, so they need all the help they can get. I'm headed up to Whistler in the new year for some snow-kiting - I think the shorter turning circle and more upright stance make skiboards perfect for use with a kite. No idea why the rest of the skiing / snowboarding world has it in for 'snowblades' - modern skiboards can do powder / backcountry / ice / jumps / moguls, and salomon stopped making snowblades 5 years ago...

Long term and 100% legal solution is to grow some plants up/over it - preferably the lethal combination of firethorn and climbing rose (maybe some berberis as well). Don't know if it's a solution that will work in your particular setup, but I haven't had any trouble with vandals climbing down my garden wall for several years now. Firethorn is worse than barbed wire, but doesn't look it - the thorns will get through any normal gardening gloves, leather mittens, and even kevlar :-(

Took my blurr out in the Moroccan Sahara - temps must have been similar (didn't have a thermometer, but 100F is the rolling average). Managed about an hour, but it was the most fun I had all holiday (dune jumping is awesome). Had factor '50+' suncream (mud), and drank about 2 litres of water. Any more time, and I think I'd have probably got heatstroke, but it was actually a freak rainstorm that blew in and stopped me! As long as you don't stay out for hours, it seems criminal to waste good wind.

Oh - I wouldn't do that. It was on a common, and it's usually livestock free (directed to it by a local). Didn't even see the cows until they thundered up.

Found a perfect little kite spot near Hereford (which looked livestock free), and got the Venom flying nicely. Few minutes later, we get charged by a herd of cows. Couldn't work out if they hated the kite, or wanted to get near it, but me and my wife just managed to leg it over the gate to the field before the kite got trampled. Amazingly tricky to run fast whilst wrestling a fully inflated arc and 25m of kite lines. http://www.aj-concepts.net/internet_uploads/cows.jpg Anyone else had any close calls with cows? I would have expected them to keep their distance, not run towards us (at speed). I don't normally mind cows too much, but that was pretty scary. (The photo is over the gate, just as they lost interest in us, and I started trying to untangle a ball of kite lines...) Scribbler

Depth of field in a camera lens?

I can think of a couple of answers, but I think the one you are looking for is 'Your life'? [EDIT: Damn - beaten to it] Scribbler

Oh, yes - I forgot - the internal straps are all let out as far as they will go as well. Does that mean this isn't normal behaviour for an Arc?

I've been flying a 10m Venom II for a few weeks - usually in London, so in about 10-12mph winds. I know this is a the lower end of the wind range for older Arc kites, but I can't get the kite off the ground unless the depower strap is pulled in as far as it will go. If it's let out even a little way, the kite just stalls and sinks back to earth... Once it's in the air, it's fine, and I can let the strap out for a bit more kick. I've made sure that all the lines are the same length (resleeved the longer ones to match the shortest line), and made sure the bar is nicely symmetrical (it needed some tweaks too). I can't find any specific info in the user guide, or online - is this just how Arc kites are meant to work, or does it show that there are additional problems with my setup? The only possible thing left to check is the pigtails - they don't quite match some settings I found online, in the 'unofficial set-up FAQ'. Recommended in this article: Back 110mm, Power: 550mm Mine: Back 70mm, Power 470mm As far as I can tell, this should make the power lines slightly shorter, hence the brake lines slightly looser, hence the kite shouldn't stall as much. Any thoughts (assuming what I've written here makes sense:confused:) Thanks for your help Scribbler

That isn't a depower bar, as far as I can tell from the pic? Cheapest depower bar I can find (new) is at nearly twice the price of the K-trac. Still not sure if I'd take the risk without any reviews ANYWHERE (not a good way to run a business:eek:), but for what you are getting it doesn't seem bad value for money... Scribbler

Fair enough - I don't know that much about kite gear. What looks to be the problem with them? Thanks for your help Scribbler

K-Trac look to make some nice kite control gear, and they are apparently 'world renowned'. Can't find a single review on the 'net though. Has anyone used / bought / heard of any of their products? If the stealth DPR bar performs as well as they say it does, it looks like a bargain. LINK TO THEIR SITE Scribbler

Turns out the kite festival was a rubbish place to get a harness. There were only two serious dealers there, and neither of them had bought any harnesses with them. The festival seems to have been re-purposed as a 'family fun day', so they were doing a brisk trade in £20 kiddy kites and banners, but nothing much more than that. Can't argue with shops that know their market, but still very disappointing. I thought it would be easy to get to Calshot (to Solent Sailboards), but I didn't have a car, and didn't realise quite how far it was. Cab company quoted £30 each way. There were some nice guys out on landboards in the limited space available. I hope I wasn't too much of a helpless newbie, getting in everyones way - someone was out with a blue (14m??) Waroo, putting everyone else to shame. Anyone know where I can buy a Harness in London instead? I know ocean leisure have some, but don't know of anywhere else. Cheers Scribbler

I'd love to know the actual demographics - no idea how it would be possible to find them out, though. When I bought my landboard (from a Skate shop in Cambridge), the owner was bemoaning the fact that skating tends to attract a very 'uniform' type of person, almost all of whom are male. Kiting, on the other hand, attracts people from all walks of life, including a lot of women. Don't know what he was basing the anecdotal on, but I thought that was pretty interesting. Internet forums of all kinds seem to be very male dominated (with some obvious exceptions), so forum activity is going to skew the apparent gender mix. There could well be a lot of female kiters around with no internet presence at all.

Hey - it gives you guys a LEGITIMATE reason to go looking for pics of surfer girls. Don't knock it!