Dimitri's video are here to prove the stability of his kite with no windpmaggie wrote:Dimitri, IMO the lesson is (and I'm not talking about the Infinity but about EVERY ultra light wind kite): for the moment, kiting in ridicolous winds is not an option, is just an exercise of style or a research for the future.
You fell in the water, you explained why, no blame on you for this. But man, you're a pro! And saying you're a pro I don't mean you shouldn't fell, I mean that an average joe like me will for sure fall in the water far before you did! So my opinion is: I just can't kite in 6 knots, I just don't want to kite in 6 knots because I'm pretty sure that also if I'm lucky enough to start and ride 200 yards, I'm going to swim back to the beach.
IMO, it's completely useless this "no wind war" just to show that your kite or another one can ride 10 minutes in 5 or so knots, simply because most of us just can't kite in these conditions. We can dream of kiting in 5 knots, but the day we will try in the real world, our dream is going to vanish in the same thin air we hoped to ride.
I go skiing 5 months a year here on the Alps. Sometimes, at season opening, there's no snow or only a few. Nobody is looking for a pair of skis that can make you carve on the grass: we just wait for the snow, and when it comes it's magic.
Dimitri, IMO the lesson is (and I'm not talking about the Infinity but about EVERY ultra light wind kite): for the moment, kiting in ridicolous winds is not an option, is just an exercise of style or a research for the future.
You fell in the water, you explained why, no blame on you for this. But man, you're a pro! And saying you're a pro I don't mean you shouldn't fell, I mean that an average joe like me will for sure fall in the water far before you did! So my opinion is: I just can't kite in 6 knots, I just don't want to kite in 6 knots because I'm pretty sure that also if I'm lucky enough to start and ride 200 yards, I'm going to swim back to the beach.
IMO, it's completely useless this "no wind war" just to show that your kite or another one can ride 10 minutes in 5 or so knots, simply because most of us just can't kite in these conditions. We can dream of kiting in 5 knots, but the day we will try in the real world, our dream is going to vanish in the same thin air we hoped to ride.
I go skiing 5 months a year here on the Alps. Sometimes, at season opening, there's no snow or only a few. Nobody is looking for a pair of skis that can make you carve on the grass: we just wait for the snow, and when it comes it's magic.
I agree with you about kiting in 6kts, but for me the value with the Infinity is just staying in the air during the lulls that occur with low winds. I kite frequently in sub 10kts here because sometimes that is all I can get (sad but true) so if I can get going on a gust and ride for a while it is worth it to me. While kiting in this sad state, it is much better to wait out the lulls sitting in the water with the kite dry and barely hanging in the sky as opposed to kite fishing with a wet kite on the water praying for a gust to relaunch.pmaggie wrote:Dimitri, IMO the lesson is (and I'm not talking about the Infinity but about EVERY ultra light wind kite): for the moment, kiting in ridicolous winds is not an option, is just an exercise of style or a research for the future.
You fell in the water, you explained why, no blame on you for this. But man, you're a pro! And saying you're a pro I don't mean you shouldn't fell, I mean that an average joe like me will for sure fall in the water far before you did! So my opinion is: I just can't kite in 6 knots, I just don't want to kite in 6 knots because I'm pretty sure that also if I'm lucky enough to start and ride 200 yards, I'm going to swim back to the beach.
IMO, it's completely useless this "no wind war" just to show that your kite or another one can ride 10 minutes in 5 or so knots, simply because most of us just can't kite in these conditions. We can dream of kiting in 5 knots, but the day we will try in the real world, our dream is going to vanish in the same thin air we hoped to ride.
I go skiing 5 months a year here on the Alps. Sometimes, at season opening, there's no snow or only a few. Nobody is looking for a pair of skis that can make you carve on the grass: we just wait for the snow, and when it comes it's magic.
Dimitri M wrote:Yes you are right Mr. latino. I knew you had a video and was able to
CATCH ME FALLING IN THE WATER.
Well no body is perfect. Any way I took the risk to post this video just to show you the performance of the INFINITY V3 that day. But you have to understand that once I was far away from the shore, the next thing was to turn around so I can get back to the beach. So I was trying to turn on the 12 foot SUP board that you let me borrow and for the life of me
COULD NOT TURN THAT BIG BOARD AT ALL.
So suddenly the SUP board start moving side ways towards the kite with no pressure on the lines so
I FELL IN THE WATER
and the wing tip of the kite slowly went and touched the water.
SO I GOT BACK ON THE SUP
and was trying to relaunch it. This is what you see on the video you just post. But as you can see
I WAS WAY UPWIND
and was able to prove once again the stability and performance of the INFINITY V3.
Kiting on an SUP is very different especially when you are trying to turn while both of your hands are on the kite with a camera in your mouth and you have nothing to steer the SUP board so it can turn. Actually I was using my right foot to turn the SUP board while pushing it into the water as a paddle so the SUP board can turn. Big boards like that are very hard to move or turn. It's like a Ferry Boat and every thing is so slow.
On the other hand my friend Damien is well know for his talent in racing and everything else he does, and having a big Race board that is wider then the SUP I was using + very big fins and an 18 meter kite helps a lot since you are creating apparent wind and using resistance on these big fins. Using an SUP board is totally different. You cannot go fast and your single fin is so small that you will start to go side ways if you try to turn (especially on an SUP board that you are not used to). This is what happened in that video. The SUP board that I borrowed from you start going side ways while I was trying to turn and I fell in the water. I wish I had a wide RACE board that day with very long 50 cm (x3) fins.
A race board is more manageable especially when it's wider then the SUP board I was using and turns faster and of course planes faster and is way more stable because of its wide surface. If I had a Race board I would easily be able to turn the board and come back.
It was a pilot mistake and
YES I DO FALL IN THE WATER.
Very hard to turn that 12 foot SUP board especially when their is minimum wind out there.