windstruck

Joel - great thanks for your leadership on this important issue. As an American I've always greatly enjoyed getting to know so many of you from around and under the world and of course sharing and learning so much. A rag tag outfit of misfits (just the way we like 'em) keeps Power Kite Forum alive as well. Hold the flag high!

That of course makes good sense. However, from the video it appears that the TRAILING edge is in front and he is holding the bar the other way on the way down than the way up. One the way up it appears that he has the red side of the bar to the left but not on the way down when the red side is now to the right. Also, the big decal on the kite is reversed.

That was a good notation! Any comments on why the aerodynamics of the kite would be better for gliding down with the trailing edge acting as the leading edge? I've got zero flight experience other than one huge accidental flight that almost killed me so I won't be trying this, but I sure am curious.

Sean, memory serves that you are quite skillful on your board while shortlining a 6m Peak. I was very fond of your video with the beautiful classical music from about five years ago...

3-D buggying at its finest!

I too have a kite for 25-stupid! Love that wind range.

@plummet

I had a first gen 4.0m StreetStar a couple of years ago. I didn't find that it provided very much actual traction, and far less than a comparable 4.0m NasaStar of any generation. From what I am able to gather from watching StreetStar videos is that it may be well suited for low friction riding such as pavement. I've yet to see a video of it pulling a person through thick grass for example on a landboard or some sort of skates. The videos I've watched (mostly of Steffen Born himself) has it appear that these are low traction kites since his landboard speed seems very slow to me based on my

Re-read this review this morning and continue to agree with Tony's and (indirectly) Plummet's comments. I've recently had a week of buggying on the hard inland Ivanpah playa near Las Vegas, NV, USA at IBX 2019. Had the opportunity to log many, many miles on an array of RaceStars and the new 3.0m RaceStar+, all set up with their own Born-Kite Universal control bars that are adjustable in terms of width between the brake lines, going from 45cm - 60cm by 5cm increments. I like to use the most narrow 45mm setting for the 3.0m RS+ and 5.0m RS, 55cm for the 7.0m RS, and the widest 60cm for the 9.

Thanks! There is an immense playa in central Oregon called Lake Alvord that especially hardy adventurers camp out at and ride forever. It is said to make Ivanpah seem like a postage stamp. The nearest services are miles away and approach to this playa is a long ways on crude dirt roads. You need to pack in everything, water and all. The surface of Alvord is described in exactly the same way so they must be quite similar. Folks that have ridden it say you can slide your turns and scrub speed like you can on a beach. You can do this on Ivanpah but bring some extra tires.

Taking a look at that video and your clay pan looks very much like our Ivanpah playa where we hold IBX each year just outside of Las Vegas at the NV/CA state line. Is this surface really abrasive? Ivanpah could be likened to flat, rock hard, endlessly cracked 40# sandpaper. Plays hell on your kites if you drag them at high speeds under line tension. There's nothing like the swell feeling of riding at 40-50 mph, loose focus and dip your wingtip down until it touches. Like dropping your kite on a belt sander. I swear I saw a poof of red dust when I touched down a 4.0m Peak2 one year. Now it's a

This is interesting. I look forward to learning your impressions once you have some time with a full line set coated this way. Is there a bad odor? Does the stuff come off on your hands or stain some material the lineset comes in contact with, line snappage, etc. This could be a great discovery.

So that is a cool setup! With a big kite out at the end of those 40m lines how much pull is needed on the handles to turn the barge? I see that the static load is taken up by your seat harness.

You are correct. A few years ago I had what I refer to as my "freak gasoline fight accident" (Zoolander) while riding on a grass field with wheels of doom and a 9m Ozone Frenzy. A dirt devil snuck up on me and I am said to have been 30-40 feet in the air. I have no memory of the flight or subsequent crash but I do have a broken helmet and a recovered subdural hematoma to show for it so I guess it happened. To stay married to a woman I love I agreed to stop kite skating and snow kiting and stick to buggy riding with an AQR. Easy decision. I'm a proficient ice skater and skier so I picked

Yummy yummy in my tummy!