Sean

Drop me a line if ur up here! Sean

Hi guys, Thanks for the tips and inputs, its an amazing resource being able to pick your collective brains on obscure topics! Am trying to work out a good kite that can be both a low wind kite for my girlfriend at 52kg on water, and a higher wind kite for me on occasions on the landboard (I'm 80kg). Land crossover is essential really, cuz I will be living near large flat tidal beaches, but good kitesurfing in the right season. I would consider a land-only foil if finding a compromise was going to be impossible, and am still interested in how the Speed 7m compares to similar newer depower land only foils cuz maybe that is the way to go after all - horses for courses (double the cost though!!). Seems after all your thoughtful comments that the 7m Speed isn't the kite after all - I have a 10m Speed 1.5, and was tossing around the idea that the sister kite might be a good idea after seeing one on the interwebs for a reasonable price, and then saw this post that Zach was getting out and about on one!! I thought "Maybe they are ok in the smaller sizes?"... So after a bit of thought, will probably be better with something like a 6m Virion, or a 6-8m pulse II / unity after all. Again, thanks heaps for the input I really appreciate it! Warm regards, Sean

PS JDHot - how did you find it when you owned it? still umming and ahhing... my current excuse is "its for the girlfriend..." Warm regards, Sean

Hi Southerly and Buster Jr, I was wondering if you could do an update on what you think of the 7m speed 1.5 a few months in? Thinking of getting a 7m to use on the landboard, (moving to Darwin in 3 weeks and there is plenty of flat sand) and also for my partner who wants to get into flying as well (she is 52kg), but like the idea of water x-over ability too. For example, how is the handling? How do you reckon the size is for you Zach? would you say it is novice friendly? good depower? How do you think it would compare alongside something like a similar sized frenzy? Hope you are both still having a ball, Many thanks, Sean

Hiya M, Just did the Coff's to Byron run in reverse last week. We spent 5 days, and it was ALL southerlies so a lot of the places we went will probably need a bit of rejigging for the E/SE/NE you might expect. Soooo... Coff's Harbour - There are a few good beaches. Sawtell south of town has a headland, the beach on the southside (follow the signposts to "Lookout") is good in a southerly, has a little river mouth coming out so some flatter water at high tides. We had no wind that day though, so surfed on the other side. In a Easterly there are beaches right near town called Park beach down by the Jetty, it was quite good we had a sneaky afternoon of 15kn ESE seabreeze on a day that was meant to be flat 10kn southerly, that was a good spot. Rolling knee high waves, nothing to dramatic. Launch is the Northerly end, away from the crowds again near the mouth of a small creek. Another good spot is apparently Flat Rock or Flat Top, not sure which, about 15km north of Coffs (not to be confused with another one of similar name near Ballina). There is a really tight and friendly bunch of kiters in Coff's : go to the beach, you will meet them, they will welcome you in. We even got offered to go zorbing at one young guys place in the hills!! Yamba: surfing town, Pippi Beach (again on the south side of town) is where we went, good in a southerly, heavy dumping swell in 25-40kn winds. I pumped up but didn't go out, my friend had a ball in the heavy waves though. Nice spot to stay for a bit also. The northern beaches have the sewerage works over there - wind was wrong way too so we didn't check that out but you need to go right back out to the highway to get over the river. Ballina: went to the river, wind was fluky and patchy, but there was an older guy on a big light wind board and a 10m cab switchy going up and down. Go 3/4 way out to river mouth, you'll see sand dunes going onto the road near a little pond. We pumped up there and played in the river a bit then decided it was too flukey despite getting gusts up to 25kn, must have been swirling off the vegetation on the other side of the river. Probably alright in SE, but in a northerly head out the front as suggested above - there was 6-8ft horrible looking swell pounding the beach, rips a plenty, hence why we stayed in the river. Don't go upriver from the rock wall on the northern side of the launch zone unless you are confident you can get back - there is nowhere to go with houses putting walls right onto the river. Lennox Heads - much friendlier looking surf, flatter beaches. There is a long long beach curling into Lennox from the north which would be wicked in a NE/E wind. Sun had died by the time we got there so we cooked some dinner and pushed on to Byron to checked out the backpacking scene. All were very unhappy with the windy rainy weather ("I mean, is this really summer, we come all the way to Australia... in Barcelona... blah blah") but we had smiles from ear to ear. We had lots of fun in Coff's, otherwise I would say from our experience Lennox and Yamba are the spots to go. Might be totally different with prevailing northerlies! Bon voyage and good winds! Sean

Man, thanks so much for the post. Inspirational! Loving that park also - looks wicked. Heaps of downwind room, no trees, flat. Been watching that Progression vid you sent and hoping for good winds + time off to coincide (sigh), saved like crazy to expand my quiver (for the shitty winds and time off that seem to always coincide) and getting ready to launch into it!!! Keep on posting, I really love to watch your videos. Sean

Sorry meant this one: http://www.youtube.com/user/1991daniels ... Cbk9_m2RE0

One of my faves:

Looks like he got a bit of wind buffeting - I'm guessing that would be a big issue with kiting as well...

My mate made this vid in Malaysia with his gf. Mounted a cheapish digital videocamera to the canopy (see about 2mins in). But again, its not HD, and not stabilised - not sure it would work well in kiting, mainly cuz gravity would point it at the ground and you would see a lot of water... also those little camera's aren't water proof. But may have applications for land kiting as cut outs... He showed me the camera - about $50, and about the size of a matchbox. You can get better ones, but he just wanted to try it out before he spent a bunch of money.

Hi Matt, Do you still have the Synergy or the Blade for sale? Sorry bout not getting back to you - was having a big think about it - glad I did because my rego and car insurance came through which ate all my savings. Paid them off, saved a bit more, back in the black again and looking to upgrade. Let me know if they are still for sale. Warm regards, Sean

Hiya! Impressive skills on the handles - interesting to see you go hand-free with the strop through ur harness. Will take me a while to build up to that level - I've just started trundling around with my 3m Flow on handles and a Dirt Theory Blackhawk, getting the hang of it and trying to nail some skills. What size Blade are you using in that vid? It sure is interesting to see that there is a fair bit of freestyle you can do with a fixed bridle. I'm thinking of getting another kite, not sure whether to go with a depower foil or a twinskin - but have to pull the cash together first!! Peace, Sean

That place would be sweet to use as a demo zone. I went to the Redcliffe Kite festival expecting big things, and the Peter Lynn crew was there so there were some pretty amazing big things. But not much else. No power kites at all - which really surprised me. Having read the thread, I get it now. I'd be happy to help out by writing a letter to get use of the park back for recreational powerkiting.

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