how was Eb yesterday? (Sat)
 

I couldnt make it :( was there on Friday when the wind died but wasnt able to make it out on Saturday and the forecasts looked good.

Eastbeach was great yesterday. Wind was good in the morning 20+ kites in the air, then dropped so that I had the whole place to myself for over an hour right in the middle of a Saturday afternoon kind of a bazzar feeling.

were u on a SA2 19 meter?

yes, big fat old man having lots of fun in no wind. Acutally it was not the SA (silver arrow) model, it is a stock flysurfer speed 2 19m. The silver arrow is the same kite model made out of a lighter fabric that is white/silver in color.

Dude that air foil rocked man. I couldn't quite keep up with you on the 16M SB2 when the wind died down.

Looks like fun!

What is the low end of the speed II? I've heard you can stay upwind with a big board in about 6-7 knots and get good jumps in 10 knots. True?

Jay, True. I weigh a little over 200# and on a glide and the 19m speed II I cannot just stay up wind in 8 kts but go up wind, no problem. Often do upwinders in the summer on the seabreeze. Can boost, jump, do jump transitions with a kite loop etc in 10 kts easy. Keep in mind that I don't have mad skills even when it blowing 20 and I'm on my 10m and 138 board. With a little time on the thing to get use to the timing I have no doubt that you would be doing boosts with kite loops at the top in 10 kts. It has it's pros and cons.

It is easy to self launch and self land. It requires a lot of room to launch and land. You don't pull in to the line up with kites all over the place and drop it in the mix.

It will let you play in very very light winds, and have fun playing.
And while it is very fast in a straight line, it is very slow to turn, you have to learn a whole new timing sequence to do a move.

It's a little nerve racking to ride in a crowd knowing you need some time and room to turn around. Good news is that most of the time you are riding it there is no crowd.

Do you only ride foils or do you ride inflatos in higher winds? The reason I ask is that it seems like everytime I'm off of work the winds are too light to make riding my 15m much fun(I'm over 200# as well). I've read alot about the foils for light winds and thought maybe I'd like to get a light wind foil to increase my days on the water. I'm fairly new and just recently finished with my lessons and am riding on my own. I think I need more time on the water to build my skills, but wasn't sure if a foil would require a much different skill set and affect my progression. Any input would be nice.

Whitey,

I was hanging with you for a bit on my orange 14m Contra and 148x46 Underground when there weren't too many others out there but when it got even lighter I had to call it quits - I'm 195 lbs. It was amazing to see you still riding and jumping.

Rob

An amazing piece. I can hang with Whitey on a 17Contra but I am also 50 pounds less. At my weight, we found if we can get the kite to fly I can scream on it upwind.

I also did a session in chop city out in the Gulf and I was riding a 15M at 150lbs. Whitey was flying around no problem and I was struggling just to hold my ground. Maybe 10 knots.

Amazing piece of work. Gotta love those Germans.