How fast can you go?

[Guest]

Did anybody record his speed! I am up to 74 km/h using a GPS ans a data logger! We are very aware of the danger and I don't want to entice people to get hurt. But hey! that's the name of the game, no? we have an non-official 130 up here in Quebec.

[kjelleren]

No question you can scream. How do you mount your GPS? Dou you use an armband? I was doing speed runs the other day in about 25 Knots of wind on a smooth, but edgeable ice plate. The thing that kept going through my mind was the potential for crashing and accidently pulling the back hand at 50 mph. I would assume that enormous altitude would be possible. Very exciting. I did some very mellow backhand pulls at high speed and went way further and higher than I was planning. Jumping on ice is too dangerous. I saw a guy on a 2 line, doing a one handed move at about 20 feet. His harness line broke and he came down like a rock. Fortuneately, there was 6 inches of snow, but he was still hurting.

Gary

[Flyboy]

My experience using a radar speed gun was around 80km/hr. That was on late season, flat, somewhat soft ice with skis & a B3 foil kite in 25 to 30 knots of wind.

It seems to be really hard to get any faster than that - I'm not sure why. In my experience it is much easier to go fast with a small kite & really strong wind - with a larger kite you seem to get more sideways pull as your speed increases to above kitesurfing speeds, & you end up getting pulled downwind & out of control & if you want to keep accelerating you cannot run too far downwind.

Jumping is cool, but when you're floating thru' the air it's easy to become complacent & forget what will happen if you break a line:worry: I figure it's better to keep a lot of sideways trajectory to the jumps, so at least you won't fall flat from a great height.

[Flyboy]

My experience using a radar speed gun was around 80km/hr. That was on late season, flat, somewhat soft ice with skis & a B3 foil kite in 25 to 30 knots of wind.

It seems to be really hard to get any faster than that - I'm not sure why. In my experience it is much easier to go fast with a small kite & really strong wind - with a larger kite you seem to get more sideways pull as your speed increases to above kitesurfing speeds, & you end up getting pulled downwind & out of control & if you want to keep accelerating you cannot run too far downwind.

Jumping is cool, but when you're floating thru' the air it's easy to become complacent & forget what will happen if you break a line:worry: I figure it's better to keep a lot of sideways trajectory to the jumps, so at least you won't fall flat from a great height.

[DibutilFtalat]

I have read on some Russian forum about a guy who registered with GPS a speed of 104 km/h on the Lake Baikal this year. He was sailing on DuneS3 kite, 3.5 sq.m. I will try to find that reference and follow up here.

Lake Baikal is known for the purest water terrible winds and smooth ice.

[Guest]

Last winter I recorded a speed of 103 km/h on a GPS unit. The wind was blowing approximately 45-50 km/h and I was flying a 2.0m ram air foil. There was a hard crust of snow about two inches in depth stuck to the ice. High speeds are possible but the conditions have to be right and your technique has to be fairly flawless. The key to speed runs is to not have to think about what you or your kite is doing. You need to fly on instinct. Any little mistake or indecision at speeds approaching 100 km/h can lead to some fairly severe consequences. A helmet and body armour are a must.

[Guest]

i've found that a speed suit is much faster and the chicks dig it too. 100 km/h is where fast begins. 140 is probably well within our reach with proper conditions, iceboats have gone over 200.

[IRIE]

Are you guys riding on boards or ski's? I would assume they are big fat downhill ski's???

[IRIE]

Where in Quebec are you guys doing these runs?