shadowphax

Thanks for all the local info on the beach at Fraisthorpe. I'm going to risk it as going on Sunday. If any of you guys are there I'll be the middle-aged git trying to remember howe to board and once I get going I just cruise up and down and the old bones can't take all that jumpting/airborne stuff. Thanks agin for you help.

Been away from boarding for a year or 2 due to a hand injury but wanting to get going again this weekend to get a bit of practice in ready for the Wallop10 meeting. I went to Fraisethorpe about June last year and was shocked at how soft the sand was. Previously it was like concrete but was too soft to board. Been to both Fraisethorpe and Redcar previously and had great sessions boarding but just vouldn't stop sinking in as Fraisethorpe a year ago. Can anyone give feedback as to what either Fraisethorpe or Redcar beaches are like regarding suitability for boarding? Is the sand hard enough this time of year? As it's about 2 hours drive to either sopt, I want to make sure that the sand is hard enough.

Best bet is Pontefract racecource. Theres a large playing field area in the centre that has a very active buggy and boarding club. Fly there myself fairly regularly but it does get a bit muddy during winter as the fields are used for football matches. It's right across the M62 from the Factory Outlet Shopping centre and the Xscape indoor (real snow) slope. The club has a website at http://www.pontykites.co.uk/

Try to get a piece of pipe that will fit over the axle once the wheels and spacers are off. You can then use this as a lever to straighten the axles back. A similar thing can be achieved by using a large ring spanner hooked over the end of the axle just past the threads. This allows you to lever against the axle. You may need to have the truck off the deck and in a large vice to do this though. A trip and a chat to your local friendly back-street mechanic may help. They always have large vices in their work shops and lots of tools. They also tend to be built like brick ****-houses and are used to fixing and straightening bent or broken bits. They may help you for the cost of a packet of fags or a pint of beer.

Seems like ban waiting to happen at Farisethorpe guys. Please be careful or we may end up loosing another beach becasue of an incident like thins. If it was that windy that the safety system was required the guy flying should have been FULLYaware of which safety was required. Or he should have landed the kite and given up. The PL kites can't be landed easily solo though can they cos they are like LEI kites in the landing department. Also, if I get this right, the kite was dragging the bar down the beach? Imagine what could have happened if the bar had hit someone, the lines and got wrapped around them and a bloody great kite is then attached to them? Think before you fly in conditions that are above your abilities especially with these large depowerable kites. The PL kites can be a real bugger when they start to fight back as you can't get the air out of the things like you can an open foil like a Frenzy (I looked at getting one and decided they weren't for me cos of the safety issues). Makes then potentially very dangerous to both the pilot and anyone else around once the things are out of control.

A Skytiger 18 would be good if you can find one second hand. Other small kites that are newer do outperform it in some ways but ALL newer kites tend to be too fast in very strong winds. It means you really have to keep your eye on the kite as the thing is zipping around the sky. The Skytigers, being an older and more draggy design, still pull damned well, but the extra drag does slow them down a lot. Up to about 25mph the 18 does get quicker, but after that it just seems to pull harder without getting any quicker as the drag starts to limit the upper speed of the kite. Any other older kite design with flaps on the trailing edge like the Skytiger (Flexifoil Viper etc etc) may have similar characteristics so may be worth a look second hand.

Damned things sometimes powers up in reverse when staked out (NPW's do this sometimes when the wind gets under them). They are nearly as powerful in reverse as when going forwards. I watched in amazement as the thing slowly and methodically doubled over my golf-ball stake in small ammounts till it was exactly a 90° bend. Handles slipped of the golf ball at that point and I had to chase teh thing down the field. Packed it away staright after that cos gusty winds and NPW9's don't mixed well.

Once my body tells me I'm too old for landboarding I'll take up buggying. At the moment I just find it easier to transport a board around rather than a buggy as 2 of us go out each Saturday with the wives in tow and it would be impossible to fit 2 buggies in the car.

I thought that boards had now been given a classification under the land yachting regs so wouldn't it be damned near impossible to ban one part of the sport and not the other?

I stick reviews on Racekites I think people would find useful or if I have a different opinion to some others that may be putting people off a certain kite. I try to avoid saying one kite is much better than the other as peoples preference do make a big difference. Only when a certain kite clearly outperforms a competitor do I make a personal preference clear. One such recent finding is I think the Helium beats the Samurai and considering the cost differences not by a small amount either.

Zman on the forums in the closest dealer and he's in Lancashire. He makes Barracude buggys and has a website with details of the kites and contact details at http://www.barracudabuggys.co.uk/ I think only him, Coastguard kites and the distributor in Scotland actually sell U-Turn kites in the UK at the moment. I test flew a 2.8m Helium and a 3.2m Oxygen before I bought my 5.5m Helium. Couldn't fly anyhting bigger as that day the winds were 20mph+. I personally preferred the Helium but I have a liking for low AR kites like Busters. I heard nothing but praise for any of the U-turn kites from everyone thats had a go on one. There are now reviews (translated from German) on the U-Turn UK website at http://www.u-turn-kites.co.uk/

Seriously though, the only way a tell if the helmet is going to fit you properly is to try it on yourself. I would never buy any sort of helmet without trying it as some helmets fit some people better than others. Applies to motorbike helmets or anything. To give a good example of what can go wrong, many years ago AGV bike helmets could be removed with the straps done up tight by some people. Not good when your sliding along on your head!

Had another go with the Helium last night using the board. Absolutely nothing wrong with the kite at all! It was bad wind when flying at the previous site (OK it was my own heavy handed kite flying that was causing the problem but I'm not going to admit it anywhere but on the forum). I was simply diving the kite too hard through the power zone so that by the time I was turning the board to broad reach (90° to the wind) the kite had simply got to the edge of the wind window where the pull was least. Having sorted out my poor technique the kite is brilliant on the board. Really got lots of grunt. Was boarding in less than 6mph winds last night and didn't have to work the kite too much either. This kite has some serious overhead lift too. Not Blade like where you get launched upwards but a strong static overhead lift. In 10mph winds I have static flown in, I couldn't actually get my hands down when the kite was locked overhead so I had the typical Blade pilot posture with arms in the air. This is one bloody brilliant kite. Not easy to get hold of but the price is absolutley amazing. Also, for you Samurai owners out there. This 5.5m kite is much more powerful than the 6m Samurai, turn a lot quicker, has more lift and doesn't luff anywhere near as easy.

Mee, the wind was a bit marginal as the only other kites working OK were 6.6m and 8.5m Blades, Mac Bego 600 and 7m Buster. I find the kite quite lifty actually. Not what you would call Blade like, but once the wind is over 10mph it's nearly impossible to bring your arms down in the static overhead position. I did demo fly a 2.8m Helium and a 3.2m Oxygen but the winds were about 20mph. I found the Helium more 'punchy' and eager at the edge of the window and overhead with the Oxygen having a more progressive build up of power. I tried the kite with the brakes really slack but it didn't seem to help at all and the power is lower without the trailing edge creased over. It's almost like the power rings are too short casuing too much of a trailing edge crease. I even tried flying the kite without power rings but that makes it feels a bit on-off with the power.

As the kite flies great when static flying I don't think theres anything actually wrong with it. I think it's my technique that's off a bit (a bit like your's with the Frenzy I guess?). I may even have a play shortening the main lines as a bit more tension in the upper lines may prevent this.

Councils always seem to be able to victimise law abiding kite fliers by putting restrictions and bans in place but when it comes to protecting the general public from filthy, stealing pikey gitts nothing gets done! The travellers always complain that they are being victimised and made the scape goats but it's a bit of a coincidence that crime waves follow them around don't you think? A friend of mine manages a factory nearby that had part of it's site invaded by pikeys. They were stealing the cut stone cappings from a wall over 400m long. The police were rung and said they could do nothing to prevent it but came and watched as they stole the whole lot. Must have weighed about 20 tonnes all in and the insurance company quoted £10k to replace it with similar cut stone. This bloody country is turning into a cess pitt where law abiding people are made to be victims of all the scum bags. Burn the buggers out I say. They'd do it to you and loose no sleep over it. I bet you flying site will look like an open sewer once they've moved on.

Tried yesterday but was completely overpowered due to strength of wind. It was also really gusty so, for safety's sake, I dropped down to a 4m Buster and that was a handful until I dropped the power by adjusting the knots on the bridle. I'll just have to keep working at it once I get some better conditions. The day I was having problems was a bit iffy but me and other boarders had no problems with 8.5m Blade, Mac Bego 600 and 7m Buster. As 2 out of 3 of these kites are light wind monsters maybe the wind was just too low?

I think it's more to do with either the position of the kite or the direction of the board relative to the wind. You saw me board with the Bego at PS and I did have a similar problem with that until i found that a small cahnge of direction downwind prevented the luffing, but this doesn't seem to work with the Helium. I may try shortening the power lines (knots at the handle leaders) to see if that helps.

I took delivery of my new 5.5m Helium last week as my new boarding kite to replace my 9.5m Frenzy 03 that i just wasn't getting along with on the board (do other people also find depowerable kites a bit of a headache or is it just me?). However, I find the Helium absolutely superb when static flying but that it gets a bit unhappy when attempting to board just as the borad starts to roll. I dive it down into the power to get the board rolling and cut the board back at 90° to the wind and suddenly the kite just stops, deflates a bit and reverses back to the ground almost like it has too much brake on. I messed about with settings on the brakes (easy on the Helium as there is a really long bridle leader line that runs through the power rings allowing lots of knots to give brake adjustment). I had similar problems with a friends Mac Bego 600 but found that a turn downwind just as the kite starts to die prevents any luffing and allows the kite to continue flying. This technique doesn't seem to work with the Helium and I don't have any such problems with my 4m Bustera a friends 3m Buster or my own 2.5m Beamer storm kite. What am I doing wrong? Should I be holding a downwind course for slightly longer to build up more speed before turning to 90°?

I met up with Cobbsunited at Easter to go through flying a Frenzy for the first time. I've since sold mine as I just couldn't get along with the depower on a board. I think he's having similar problems. Hopefully we'll meet up on Saturday then. I thought Port Solent looked small but I bow to your expwerience as I never actually flown there. Farlington wasn't that bad when we tried it at Easter. The drainage strips (sand filled) did make boarding 'interesting' though but the field is nice and large.

Anyone up for a meeting in Portsmouth for a bit of kiting and boarding (wind permitting). I'll be there Saturday visiting family and have arranged to meet up with Cobbsunited for a fly either at Port Solent or Farlington playing fields. Farlington is the best bet due to larger size but is very wind direction sensitive (not good if coming from a northerly direction). Anyone interested?

The 15m² NAsa Wings should get you going lower than anything else available. You wouldn't win any races with them though. My 5.3m² can pull pull a buggy with 3mph winds no problem so god only knows how low the 15m² one will go. I would think you would have a job holding it much above 8mph as well. Another big advantage is that the 15m² ones are only £278.95 ready to fly with lines and handles.

Damn...I thought they were cheap when I got them at £12.95 (instead of £25 skates shops sell them for). They only do the medium size but I'm 6 foot and 12 stone and they fit me OK. They are really nice pads. Thicker than others I have used. Look nice as well and match my McGill helmet (£10 in sale at Quicksilver). Get them they are great pads. Am I tight getting all this stuff on the cheap. I'm a Yorkshireman....Defined as a Scottsman with all the generosity removed....so I have an excuse for searching for bargains and being a bit thrifty.

Woody, If you're using the angled riser between the trucks and the deck you can try turning them round to affect how the board steers. With the fat ends pointing inwards (towards each other) the deck will turn a lot quicker but be less stable (like riding a shorter board). With the fat ends pointing outwards (away from each other) the deck will turn slower but be more stable (like riding a longer deck). The other alternative is to remove the tapered risers altogether and just use a set a thin rubber risers that any skate shop will sell. These simply give a bit of cushioning between deck and trucks. With no taper risers you get midway between the other settings with the taper risers. I rin my Trampa long deck (same length as the Scudda 39 deck I also have) without any taper risers as the guys at Upahill kites siad. It turns a bit quicker now but isn't unstable. It also makes the deck lower which is good with the Trampas as they are a lot higher than the Scudda 39.

By the time you have put the time, effort and cost into it would you have saved any money (or is that not the point if you want something unique?). I bet you would be close to the cost of a Trampa deck by the time you had finished messing about (although the Trampa's aren't Carbon). Getting the kick-ups at the end and the upwards curve required to get the correct flex will be pretty hard without making some form of jig (as a flat deck wouldn't be suitable). It's a similar thing to making your own buggy. I looked at this a while ago and wanted to make one in stainless steel tubing like the Flexifoil and Peter Lynn ones. I costed it out and thought it was a waste of time and that was with access to some pipe bending, welding and machining kit. Just my pennys worth.