yes! imagine a perfect kite, zero drag, so it sits perpendicular to the wind direction.Ismo wrote:no.kitester wrote:The closer to the edge the WW a kite flies the more susceptible it can be to gusts and direction changes in the wind.
Just wanted to make an addition here.stanroc wrote:Foils can be hot launched as long as it is not inflated. The kite then inflates on its way to the zenith, slowly powering up as it gets into more and more of the "right" shape before getting completely inflated at the zenith.
In high wind conditions, however it can be very dangerous.
How much space is there downwind at the sandpoole site?
Hope the guy gets a full recovery.
Well, I'd say that it depends model, venom 1+2 are easy and safe to launch downwind, synergy is not.FredBGG wrote: Foils can be launched straight downwind when the wind is low enough, but not all foils.
Peter Lynn Arc Kites absolutley cannot be launched uninflated stright downwind.
Downwind launch for Peter Lynn Arcs will be pretty hot in rideable winds. I don't recommend it.
This depends of the tide but this is very smal.stanroc wrote: How much space is there downwind at the sandpoole site?
Do you launch your Venoms uninflated?Ismo wrote:Well, I'd say that it depends model, venom 1+2 are easy and safe to launch downwind, synergy is not.FredBGG wrote: Foils can be launched straight downwind when the wind is low enough, but not all foils.
Peter Lynn Arc Kites absolutley cannot be launched uninflated stright downwind.
Downwind launch for Peter Lynn Arcs will be pretty hot in rideable winds. I don't recommend it.
I launched my venom-2 10m2 downwind every time when I was in mui nea, and wind was about 15m/s. 2 days ago I launched my venom-1 13m2 downwind and wind was about 12m/s.
I launch my synergy-19 allways downwind, but winds are less than 8m/s and I get pulled about 5m when it blows that 8m/s. I don't recommend downwind launches for smaller synergy.
And quite often I launch my kites from water, but thats because we don't have beaches here, trees grown 5 meter from water and I just walk 50 meter to water, open kite, inflate kite, let kite drift walking backwards until lines are straight and launch kite.
Ismo
ARCs since 2003, guerilla-1 10+13+15+18, Venom-1 8+13+19, Venom-2 10+16, Synergy-19
Pump me up wrote:The accident was terrible. Condolences to the kiter involved and his family. A number of my posts have been critical of the aerodynamic and safety inferiority of ram air (foil) kites. Without wanting to use this man's terrible misfortune to score cheap political points, it is important to note that this man's accident was DIRECTLY attributable to the type of kite he was using - ie ram air. The requirement or temptation to do downwind launches with many ram air kites, eg Flysurfer, makes them inherently dangerous and less safe compared to inflatables. There are countless episodes where ram air riders have got into trouble because of launches in the middle of the window. Ram airs are less safe compared to inflatables and this tragic accident, once again, demonstrates this.
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