Neptune

pmed you

Or get used to pulling the backs up whilst you start sliding down the hill!! :-) But the toeside edge of board against the snow is a good tip, it works well for Flows. Just check that your boots will work with Flows as some manufacturers put large heel exteriors which can negate the Flow highback from lifting up easily! You don't need specific Flow boots but do check that yours work well with the bindings. Also buy the biggest size of Flows for your boot size. i.e. I am a size 10 and use XLs. This means that the top of the binding fits almost completely over my boot with only a small ammount of ratchet strap showing. This gives the best feel and comfort as well as maximum strength. You can use ratchet bindings whilst snowkiting - they are just not as easy. Other step in systems prefer to have no snow between boot and binding - thus not great for walking in snow first or in powder areas, which is where we mostly ride!

Give me your drive route as I live north east of Helsinki and you might be driving right past my town!! I can give you a few pointers of what size lake to look for on Google earth as to which are big enough for clean wind.

And if anyone is flying into Helsinki then we have a nice frozen sea inlet close by, to have fun on, or even have a quick afternoon session after a business meeting!! Just PM me or Kahis and we can give you the details! How are you getting to Vuokatti? If you have your own transport then I can give you some places to stop on the way, to have a fly also. Finland has well over 1000 lakes so snowkiting venues are easy to find!!

Yup, wind was from the south so was cross / onshore. Nope I am an Englishman in fact, so it wasn't that, I just moved to the snow!! I think it may be due to the fact that they were quiet and I took the time and effort to ask first.

Actually I found the complete opposite. I was there December 2005 and I found the centre very friendly and helpful. I just went there and asked if there were any rules. They said no restrictions, I could fly where I wanted (wind was cross/onshore) They pointed out the set up area. They even offered for me to use there compressor if I wanted. I did not pay anything - was flying on my own, using my own equipment. Just to show that not all experiences are the same!

9.5 Sabre is very stable in my opinion.

£50 for that is a really good deal. You can find a lot worse condition boards asking for more money. Yes the design is old but looks like a great learner!

Check out this thread about another place on Fuerte.... http://community.flexifoil.com/showthread.php?t=45862 As a beginner I would just try and check that the lagoon is flooded when you are there, as the normal direction of winds is off shore from the beach, although they have jet ski pick up!! Kite centre looked very good when I was there. I didn't get any lessons, just flew myself, but they seemed a friendly bunch. Hotel on the beach was being renovated so check it will be open when you want to go. Flag beach is fine when tide is up but horrible whne tide is out. Again no lessons but they gave out good info so didn't feel the arrogance others have talked about.

Well I have just come back form Fuerteventura and have been talking with Gunnar - Peter Lynn team rider. There will be a Phantom replacement coming out. Lots of lift with high AR and handles like an LEI! He has been flying the vortex lately and likes it for all the new low style moves. Hope this wets your appettite!

Anyone going to Fuerte next week? I am there from this Friday for one week. Have a hire car, so hope to get to explore the whole island and get some surfing in as well as kite surfing. Looking forward to the sunshine!! Cheers - Mark

Definitely you need a wide board. Small side cut turn radius (i.e. turns in a smaller circle) is not as nice for snowkiting as a wide radius, but better for general snowboarding! Otherwise answers go like this... yes normally not much in it but I would say medium (hard if you are never going to jump and soft for lots of jumping) most comfortable foot position - yes yes but best to get the tape measure out and check!

Now I have read your quiver - sounds good with the 5.5 and 7.0 inbetween - maybe you should look at a 3.5 or 4 to fill the small gap between the 2.5 and the 5.5??

Hi Brian, Glad to hear you had some good times too! Lets hope this season has lots of fresh powder. I will be trying the Sabres this winter. Have you got anything inbetween 8.5 and 2.5? That is a big range difference!! Yes big winds with small kites will always spank you harder as they fly so much faster and are very twitchy! Cheers - Mark P.S. Eat more pies to hold down the 8.5!!

6.6 or 8.5 Blade 3s are incredible snow kites. Lots of lift and they pack up small - fly on flexi's bar for four line control. No depower but when in their zone can't really be beaten. For your weight those sizes would be my sugggestion - I am 70kg and this is my quiver. You could have a 4.9 if it is really blowing hard or a 10.5 if there is hardly any wind. My 8.5 got the most use last year. Any more advice wanted, just ask. Cheers - Mark

Is that a piece of formica? Do tell......

Hi all, Was wondering whether it was worth me just taking fins, straps and a handle and making a ply board on arrival when travelling. Kites I can pack easily but boards are a worry and a pain. How long would it take me to make a throw away board? Cheers - Mark

Waste, seat or climbing harness - take your pick. I personally use a waiste one. Just make sure it is big enough to go over all layers of clothing and still be comfortable. Don't forget a helmet!!

Having said that, I would suggest you start without the harness or strop line to get a feel of kiting with skis. You will be able to move if the Bullett is flying and pulls even a little - albeit downwind. This will get you used to the sensation and have no safety problems. A strop line is just a line connected to both handles - normally at the tops of the handles - which then you hook into with your harness. I would suggest taking the Bullet and handles. If you get the harness then take that as well as a strop line. Then if Santa is kind take something a little bigger also. Start small and work up. Snowkiting is easy but take many little steps as opposed to giant leaps then everything should be easy. Have you done any traction power kiting before? Lots more advice for you if you want - just let me know! It is a fun sport and easy to enjoy!

Also you need a ramp, as most of the jumps come off of that snow kicker!

There are also pictures of the sled here........ http://www.peterlynnkites.co.nz/web/1archive/news/2005.htm

Taken from Peter Lynn web site............... Finally we now have a buggy that works properly on snow... the KiteSled. You probably think the world already knows every possible way to make such a thing- well think again! This is really out of left field- and it will finally establish kite buggies for snow use- because it works! The principle driving this development was simple- it’s just the solution that wasn’t. Very shortly after developing the kite buggy in 1990 we fitted ice runners and snow skis to them. But big enough accessible areas of useable ice is rare- it gets snow on it – and just fitting skis to buggies in place of wheels never worked that well: Firstly; because each ski didn’t, (couldn’t), lean over to just the precise angle required at every instant to hold their edge against the side load from the kite. Kite skiers are successful (442 km in just 24 hours recently across Greenland!) because they can do this, but they have the benefit of the finest feedback and control mechanism ever developed- excepting for the domestic cat’s management of their "owners". Secondly, when turning,. the buggy’s ski’s had to sweep out a wider path through the snow, and their edges (being straight) no longer matched the curved edge of snow they were running against- so their drag increased hugely. Every time you turned even a smidgen it was like putting the brakes on. This remained a problem for all except very hard snow conditions even with the short wide V form ski’s with central ice blades that ourselves and others eventually developed for snow buggies. The consequence of these shortcomings has been that snow buggies have not developed any significant market, even while snow kiting began to explode. The answer(s) we have found are to make the skis bend into curves for steering and to make them with a stepped cross section so as to be able to generate side force in hard and soft snow and without leaning. Getting the ski’s to bend enough to get a usefully tight turning circle was not easy (now down to 8m). The solution was to make them of multiple longitudinal elements, connected together so that they can slide lengthways relative to each other a bit while remaining constrained vertically and laterally. See photos. The name we have coined for this system is MECS; Multiple Element Curving Skis. It’s the breakthrough we’ve sought for so long.. Turning is like being on rails- no sideslip, no slowing down- quite frighteningly fast. It was also immediately obvious that this idea has applications far beyond kite traction. Of course, when you see it working it’s such an obvious idea that I can’t help but wonder why it hasn’t already been done- but I’ve thought this about every one of our successful new ideas for 35 years. As yet there’s no indication from anywhere that MECS aren’t original- but going public will be the best test of this assumption. We’ve now filed a patent application for the key features- so that licensing other applications can hopefully pay for the considerable investment that will be required in the manufacturing process we want to use for the ski elements (sintering) on production KiteSleds. Even if we’re prevented from getting IP on this by some obscure prior invention that I don’t know about yet, at least we should still be able to make and sell MECS equipped snow buggies- which is after all what matters for snow kiting. In the short term each ski element will be machined from solid UHMW polyethylene bar- which takes longer, but allows for tinkering with shape. Available now on order from Peter Lynn Kites Ltd.

Anyone coming to Finland is welcome to PM me. Conditions here are ideal for snowkiting. All you need is a big enough frozen lake! Anyone flying into Helsinki - Kahis and I can tell you where to fly. Anyone driving north from Helsinki I can give some advice to also. I live 1.5 hours from Helsinki but work there. I live 10 minutes drive away from my snowkite lake. There are maybe 5 people in my area that snowkite!! Come and sample some Finnish koskenkorva!! Regards - Mark - ex-brit now in Finland.

Just take the kites and harness, find some clear area and give it a go. Start off well underpowered to get a feel for the pull when standing up. It is surprisingly easy. You can do it with handles or a bar, whichever you have. Just start off being really slow and then move on from there. You want just enough power to be moving at about 5mph if you have never tried anything like it before. Don't hook into the harness until you know how it feels. I am sure it will not take long to be comfortable and then you can increase the kite size for the wind. Make sure you are away from all obstacles and drop-offs. Know your safety release sytems. Wear a helmet. Have fun.

Easier than kite surfing as board planing speed is not required. Can go upwind even if underpowered. Easier that way - just jump landings are harder!!