Hey everyone,
I am a kiter up here on lake Erie. Being a poor graduate student, I could only purchase one kite, and decided on a Switchblade IDS 12m. It flies like a dream, and I love it. The winds on lake Erie vary greatly, and this kite's large wind range is a huge plus. I have been out in winds ranging from 12mph to 30+mph, and this kite did just fine. Anyways, here is my question:
When the wind gets to about 20 or 25+, I am forced to fully trim in the depower, as well as sheath out nearly all the way while I am kiting in order to prevent becoming overpowered. This works fine and allows me to stay on the water in up to 30+mph winds (the switchblade's depower is remarkable). In these high winds and depowered conditions, however, I have noticed that the kite flutters quite a bit while I am on the water (the kite is fairly new and in great, tight condition; this fluttering is due to the full depower and de-sheath). I was just wondering if this is bad for the kite? It doesn't bother me at all, and again only occurs when fully depowered and de-sheathed in HIGH winds. Most of the time, the wind up here isn't that high, but there are those days here and there. So could this flutter during those high wind days damage the kite? Just curious.
THanks!
Nathan