Street kiting with MBS landboard, which kite?

[Northern Kites Australia]

Hey guys, just asking for advice.

Recently my work has asked us all to park our cars in a new carpark about 400m away from work and walk. I don't mind the walking, but sometimes when the wind is up, I wish I could just street kite to and from work, especially as it's clear of trees and all asphalt. There is plenty of room with a bonus slight downhill section right into work, but a slight up hill from the car. It takes about 5mins to walk, but I reckon it would take me less than 2 mins if I could street kite.

What short line kite would you recommend, and I assume it would be flown purely on handles? I have a Peter Lynn Viper 2.6m kite which would fly really nicely on handle but I have yet to try it. Or would a NASA be better, as I would not waste time trying to inflate the kite? Yeah something that I can just pop open and go? An umbrella?! LOL

[windstruck]

You might wish to consider Born-Kite NASA Star-3s with a street kiting bar as one way to go. 

http://www.venturi-power.de/index.php?cat=c22_Streetkites-NST-3--Streetkites.html&XTCsid=rbh431jdee70vc522km0pacog4

NS3s are FB kites, and as such have somewhat limited wind range for each kite size so I'm not sure if you'd get away with only having a single kite for all wind conditions. NS3s run off of short lines (or in this case, no lines, just bridles) can be somewhat finicky in jumbled up "janky" winds, subject to backstalling and related irritating flying habits. I suspect your wind conditions would be janky in a concrete jungle setting, but I don't know your layout. 

A fellow XK guy @ssayre has considerable experience with parking lot boarding using NASA Stars on short/no lines and I suspect he'll weigh in here. 

Good luck!  Nice idea to pull the "making lemonade" option. 

[ssayre]

@windstruck is right about needing a few sizes.  Whether you use nasa star or fb foil.

My initial thoughts are it would be way easier to use a longboard and it could do double duty as far as being able to ride it without kite.  In fact, if it were me, I would just push the longboard to and from without kite.  It would be reliable and not wind dependent at all.  Then you could keep 1 kite with you for when the wind strength and direction are right to make a run.

[SoutherlyBuster]

Funny you mention this, this is the solution I have for the same problem, er um more like how to enjoy your self more at work

We have two offices at work at either end of the road. With meetings left right and centre, I use my skate board to travel between the offices. 100% reliable, great cool factor, gives me exercise and gets me to the meetings on time -- win win. So also would recommend a long board. Adding kite, hmm, even with short lines, quite often there are those enoying but unavoidable kill joys called street lights and power poles -- kites don't like these.

Also when I was back in OZ, I used the skate board to travel to work and left my car at home. I used a combination to skate-bus-train-skate. Was kind of neat skating down Collins Street in the Melbourne CBD to go to work.

[ssayre]

On June 17, 2016 at 4:05 PM, SoutherlyBuster said:

Adding kite, hmm, even with short lines, quite often there are those enoying but unavoidable kill joys called street lights and power poles -- kites don't like these.

 

That's only a myth about light poles being in the way in parking lots.  I very much prefer having them.  They make it a lot more fun navigating around them.  I will fly by and brush the kite across the pole or have fun flying up and over and seeing how close I can get.  They really aren't hard to navigate.  Here is a still from today.  My kite is actually touching the light pole in this picture.

 

This one, I had just flown up and over.

 

[SoutherlyBuster]

Chuckle chuckle .....

[Northern Kites Australia]

@ssayre and @SoutherlyBuster, you guys are way ahead with this. Very cool.

Yeah long board is the way to go as I also want to do some street SUP along the strand on weekends. A kite... will help not have to push with my foot, and would be more time consuming depending on wind etc. Sometimes I make it to the car park with 5mins to go before work so getting there on time is more paramount. hehe.

cheers for the tips.

[Northern Kites Australia]

Well I made myself a street bar and hmmm about 4m lines to my PL VibeII twin skin (2.6m). I'll give it a shot this week as winds are expected to pick up by Wed. I"ll try and gopro it too for lols.

[Northern Kites Australia]

Me again, as Northern Kites Au this time.

Well I tried it but it wasn't worth recording. The kite kept syning figure 8 back and forth and wouldn't sit still in the wind window. all I dod was allocate 3m lines to my 2 line kite. I am now going to attach a connector from the end of the lines that gives the bar that box look, and see if that stabilises it. If not, then I will need to try another kite. I don't have a NASA (anyone selling one?) but I suspect they are perfect for this due to their stability.

[the_hatman]

go for a wing as I believe this will cover most winds, just a case of getting it in and out of the car

[plummet]

Lets face it. If you have a 400m walk. It will never be faster to kite there. It will take you longer to set up/pack up than it would to walk.
But non the less, it would be cool to arrive to work by kite. So proceed as planned.

2.6m viper will work fine. Get your self a longboard with big wheels and hey presto instant urban kiting.