Erick's first downwinder
 

So Erick and I went to Treasure Island to do a downwinder to Bongos on Sunday. We got there and rode for a while with a bunch of the other locals. Got to try the Nano 9 and that kite is SUPER stable and QUICK! Anyway so we go to launch for the downwinder and Erick says “okay, launch me”. It looked like my 12M Thruster lines were over the Nano ones so I said “no, let me launch first, my lines are over yours". So I get all set to launch, Erick starts to move into position as do I and I see the Nano start to move. I’m like “Erick!!! You are dragging the Nano with the Thruster lines!!!” Skyway Scott walked over and started laughing…I had hooked into the NANO bar!!! DUH!!!

So I hook into the Thruster bar, Erick launches me, SW Scott launches him and we’re finally off on an Eclipse/Mako downwinder!!! Erick’s first by the way and in conditions that were not too favorable for a first time downwinder but Erick tore it up the whole way!!! CRAZY chop/waves, at LEAST head high if not overhead in some places…big boosts off of waves and I was finally landing some bigger ones!!! So we get into the beach and there is this family there. I am LITT OUTTA MY MIND, had to body drag into the beach and then laid on my back just to hold the kite down fully depowered. The gusts were hitting so hard that the kite was picking me up off of my back at some points. So what does Erick do? He takes time out for a photo shoot with the 2 little kids in the family while I am getting lofted behind him. I think I’ll start calling him Hollywood Erick from now on…then the family starts to walk away and Erick is about to self-land. I’m like “let them catch our kites!!”

So we finally get the Father in the family instructed in detail on catching a kite, he did a perfect job of it and I grabbed it from him and set it down and caught the Nano from Erick. I get a thought…then ask Erick “you DID remember to leave your keys here didn’t you???”. You guessed it!!! Erick has that “OH, SH!T” look on his face.

As if things couldn't get any better, some bum walks up the beach, picks up a plastic trash can and walks over to my Thruster like he's gonna put the trash can on top of it. I'm like "Don't put that there man!" JUST in time. The guy that caught my kite stopped him from putting it on my kite at the last minute. THEN, MR. I'M GONNA STEAL A PIZZA FROM THE RACE AFTER PARTY shows up and won't leave us alone, following us on his crusty old bike. By the way, he still has his rhinestone flip flops!!!

Then Dennis (Russky) comes riding in and had a friendly chuckle about our misfortune. I think he finally decided to ride on down to PAG. So for Erick and I, it’s getting colder and the sun is going down so I head off to go find a pay phone to call Amber on. I find one at 7-11 and another at McDonalds and try to call Amber collect first, then my Parents with no luck. So I just say to myself “F*%& it, I’m gonna walk!” So I start walking and hitch-hiking soaking wet in some pretty darn cold wind. After a few minutes of unsuccessful hitching I realize that my hair is blown all over the place, I'm in a shortie, LS rash guard and board shorts, bare feet and a full beard. I look just like 99% of the bums on St. Pete Beach!!! Noone is gonna pick my gnarly ass up! :)

Just as I get to the light on St. Pete Beach near “SHHH, DON’T TELL MAMA” (porn shop) and “Mermaids” (exotic dancers) I am getting REALLY cold and think to myself “I just wish someone would pass driving home”. No sooner to I think that than I look up and see guess who driving by??? My roommate MIRA!!! So Mira picks me up and drives me to TI to get my truck.

When I get back, Erick is NOWHERE to be found!!! I’m like “where’s Erick?” The kites were still inflated on the beach and I could just imagine how cold he had to be by then. At least I was walking…

Then “Hey dude!!!” Erick comes running around the corner soaking wet and shivering. “I met this really cool windsurfer who invited me to chill out and wait for you in the pool's jacuzzi at the resort next door!!!” I could have strangled him to death right then and there...J/K!

Then, to add insult to injury I get to my 12 Thruster to wrap it up and the canopy has a small “L” shaped tear in it. Oh well, the downwinder was a classic one and I’ll just remember to let Erick drive upwind next time so I can sit in the Jacuzzi while he freezes his @$$ off in the cold and wind!!! :D

Hmm exotic dancers in bikinis made me remember something...

I was riding at EB the other day and one of our talented female riders (won't mention names out of respect) rode by in some little black bikini thing. Being used to seeing old men in rashguard covered beer bellies, it caught me off guard and when I did a double take I swear i almost crashed my kite! If we had more girls kiting we'd all be riding like a bunch of kooks crossing lines and falling all over the place. Pathetic.

It was sort of embarassing actually. :mrgreen:

Not as embarassing as sitting in the hot tub with some dude you just met on the beach!!! WHOAH!

I don't think she'll take it that way. If you weren't looking you should have been at the Backside!!! :)

Got some pics of her we'll put up on the pic sites with her permission...smokin'!

Good story...bad call!
Everything worked out OK but it was very risky letting someone land your kite. It could have been a disaster in those winds. Im glad it worked out but do not recommend anyone ever just let a bystander land a kite, no matter how much "training" you give them on the beach.
I thought you knew better than that. If you want, I will teach you how to self land. It very easy and much safer.

Paz,
Jaime

i rode IRB solo on sun around 5-8pm, wind was anywhere from 25-35, occasional gusting to 40 near the end (i know this cause i was occasionally litt on my 9m roo and im 200lbs :) ), when i finished i just walked over to one of the signs on the beach, wrapped the leash around it and clipped it to the CL, put the kite down on its wing tip and walked over to it.... its that easy....
most people dont know how to do this but you should learn, there is almost always something to tie your CL to.... ive done it on my 13m in about solid 25 as well....

Not sure I would try that with a hybrid... not all of them depower as much as a waroo but it would probably work for a few of them. I also use that method 90% of the time. I launch that way too. In a pinch I've burried my board and connected it to the handle. Definately don't do this if you can't fully depower the kite.

As a last ditch option, I would generally rather release my kite on one of the back lines than get a spectator involved. If it's really windy, gently crash it first and then release... less spinning.

In most cases in a lot of wind it's a good idea to crash it before you do anything...

But, when there are two of us, we usually catch each other. We flip a coin to see who's gonna catch first. Not recommended for beginners!

We don't do any of this around people on the beach of course.. things can and do go wrong once in awhile.

Christoph(from germany) lands by stalling hiz kite.
You basically get the kite straight overhead then grab the outside lines by the tips of the floaties and pull.
Kite stalls all the way to the ground straight downwind then you flag it. Kinda scary the first time you try it. I recomend having someone hold your harness the first try. Not sure if it works with bow/sle. Works great with the PL venom.

works with the waroo in light wind, but i would never try that on any kite in med to high wind....
(except a foil)

I learned to self land long ago but thanks for the offer. Everyone takes their own calculated risks and uses their best judgement out there. In my opinion, the winds were too high for me to safely attempt a self-landing of a Thruster much less have another rider attempt catching it with a kite in the air. So I pulled the Father of the family aside, took the time to carefully explain what he should expect in assisting me and all was VERY smooth. It is the people who don't make things clear to their assistants that have the issues. I am confident that I could teach an ape to catch my kite if I had to. If that is one of your personal limitations, sobeit but in that scenario I will ask if someone is comfortable helping me and take a minute to properly instruct them how to catch my kite any day. Just personal preference I guess.

I've done it as well....launching too. No problems whatsoever if you take the time to properly instruct the individual. It's not rocket science and in sunday's wind, self landing would have been a very bad idea.

Sounds like you were riding suicide leash? I can't remember if that bar had oh-shit handles or not... but releasing to one of those is what I generally do if I need to land in high wind.

No, the other attachment point is on the center of the bar on one of the center lines. It loops through the mickey mouse ears so this may be a form of the same thing. I'll try it out next session in lighter winds to see what happens but the attachment point is so high and my leash is always in the way so yes, I just ride suicide.

To each his own, but I would never ask a non-kiter to land my kite in 30 knots. We couldn't talk (hear) one another from 20 feet away that day at TI. No way to communicate with the guy if the process went just a tad wrong.
Also, they can't understand what not to do, by being given some brief instruction on what to do.
Might sound odd, but trust me on that. I've seen people do what they were told, and then "improvise".

Some of the worst kitemares I have witnessed have been associated with inexperienced people "landing" (more like hot launching) a kiter in high winds. Even Billy almost got whacked that way once. That was the most mad I have ever seen Billy was on that bad landing (turned into a hot-launch) in about 40.
(Probably because for one brief moment, he was at another's mercy, not in completely in control himself)

What are you saying??
Sobeit sometimes my english isn't perfect, and I don't use words like sobeit (I don't even know what sobeit means) I was being sincer but I think you are trying to insult me. Well, trhats ok Toby, you just keep having bystanders and apes land your kite in conditions thats questinable, i'll keep struggling with my english ,sobeit a personal limitation, and hopefully all will be OK. Hope you have fun when you come to Coche one day. Spanish may be sobeit difficult for U. Oh, Coche is in Venezuela, if you like I can teach you where its on a map.

Sobeit
Jaime

Grow up man...lose the paranoia. I'm not even sure who the hell you are or that I have ever ridden the same launch as you. I have no problem with you or what you wrote, it seemed like a sincere enough approach to me and my reply was sincere as a result. I just do things different than you do, that's all. Different strokes for different folks.

The word sobeit is an English slang term used to say basically "then that is fine with me" or "I guess that is just how it is". Hardly a knock at your use of the English language, I don't even know you, how should I know you are Venezuelan or speak broken english???

The majority of my best friends are of foreign birth and have accents, why would I poke fun at something you cannot control (where you are born)? I commend you for learning a second language. I was more so saying you can have that limitation (not comfortable explaining how to catch a kite to someone and be confident that they will correctly catch it) if it is what you are comfortable with and I will have my own personal limitations (not self-landing in 40 knot winds). That is nothing to get abrasive or dramatic over, you are the only one who has criticized or pointed fingers at anyone in this thread.

Oh thats right I remember now... that bar isn't a spinner bar and the leash is in your face.

That bar design is from 2003-2004. No 0-shit handles, not a spinner bar, a cleat for a stopper, a true suicide leash (called that for a reason) etc.

If you can pick up an 07 waroo bar for that kite you won't regret it. I think it's the best bar out right now... even Scott, noted best BASHER, who doesn't own a single best kite or board, uses an 07 waroo bar. That says a lot, trust me!

LOL

The best bar fully depowers the kite (releases the stopper) when you use the suicide leash safety.

There are two other attachment points also (o-shit handles).

You can release the stopper by just pushing the bar out with one hand (prevents getting lofted)...

TWO CL ropes instead of one

It's a spinner bar... you can spin it all day long in one direction if you want to.

The stopper doesn't chew away at the CL rope like a cleat...so it's not gonna wear and break letting you fall 40 feet into a foot of water and break your back ... (Scott did this a few times with the old slingshit bars).

Oh, and you can self land to one of the o-shit handles no problem. Done it myself several times now... it spins for awhile but it beats a surprise hot launch.

Bayflite can get you one at a really good price... you guys might even be able to work out a product swap :)

Just to be clear here, I definitely was vocal about BEST's claims of riding POWERED in 6 knots. I still have a 300 dollar "if you ride upwind in 5 knots" bet going.

But I am not a Best "brand" basher. I was definitely a vocal basher of the Hellfish's lightwind claims and how BEST tied up the market for awhile with all their hype. Not a fan of Gumball's tactics (back then).
But, I haven't said a negative thing about Best in 2 years or more. Gumball seems to have shut up, etc.
I never had a problem with anything they actually put out to market, it was the unsubstantiated claims that pissed me off.

I just don't want anyone thinking I bash Best, because I happen to do the opposite. I just recommend two Waroos to my boss, as a matter of fact. I really shouldn't be on here (during work) but I had to address this.

Also, as soon as I rode a waroo (Eric got the first one) I supported it. I happen to own RRD, but that kite is NOT a beginner's kite. The Ozone helps to have C kite experience, as well.

I have and will bash unrealistic claims though (likeriding powered and jumping in 6 knots). I still can't believe some people thought that was (or ever will be) possible.

After having said that, the new waroo bar is awesome on 4 line hybrids, imo.

Unfortunately the Thruster rides with exact specifications so I would have to even modify that bar some. Plus, I just bought 3 kites complete and they all have different sized bars, I just don't want to get into dropping another $200-$300 on a new bar right now. If I change my mind I will talk to Bayflite, heck we are part of the same outfit but I really like the Eclipse bars and am very comfortable on them. Plus, the CL replacement is only like $20 for the whole setup!!! I'll try and see what is up with the bar when I use the mickey mouse ear depower method.

I just went out into my garage and looked at the bar. The bar has a metal ring that is attached to one of the center leaders, then a stopper ball and then the leader goes through the mickey mouse ears. Looking at it now, it is obvious that if I threw the bar, it would travel up to the next stopper which is about 1/3 way up the lines and would have "fully depowered" the kite.

People who try it love the Thruster but only on the Thruster bar if you read the reviews. The kite gets horrible reviews on waroo bars or other bars citing high bar pressure and back stalling as negatives. So I would have needed to add extensions at the bar if I had bought the waroo bar.

If it aint broke, why fix it? ;)

Oh.. look at the big fish I caught just trolling along... gotcha!

But you have never desired to own a piece of best gear, except for that bar. So obviously it must be something special. lol.

Bastage....lol. The bar ROCKS!!

It's windy... tip toe .....

Today's (1/20/2008) Gandy to Pinellas Point downwinder
 

Something about today's Gandy to Pinellas Point downwinder has me searching my memory banks...hmmmmm...what could it be??? Oh yeah, that's it...Erick got in the jacuzzi again while I found a way back upwind and Katie, who started with him struggled with gear failure and freezing her @$$ off, that's what!!! Jayson, did you have a windsurfer over your house this afternoon? Great downwinder today, had a blast with all that rode it!!! We have to do it again real soon!