I just want to know how many of you guys share my pain. In wind between 10 to 20 knots i find kites absolutely killing windsurfers for speed. why is this happening, i thought windsurfers were way faster than kites?
any thoughts?
Up to 13-14 knots maybe, cos we're slogging (not planing).
But if the wind hits 15 knots and above, no kiter can catch a half-reasonable windsurfer 
I would like to say it's because
10-20 knots is not a wind it's a light breeze
above 20-30 knots, kiters go hiding under their dooners.
The reality is a kiter can find flat water in 2-3" of water where wind surfers can't venture that shallow.
Introduce a bit of chop to the equation and you have a total different scenario, the kiter's struggle to hold an edge.
Respect goes to anybody to who pushes their limits.
So what have you done Fob?
or are you just trying to stir the pot?
Remember
Action talks and bull**** walks.
GPS cuts the crap
quote:
Originally posted by fob
I just want to know how many of you guys share my pain. In wind between 10 to 20 knots i find kites absolutely killing windsurfers for speed. why is this happening, i thought windsurfers were way faster than kites?
any thoughts?
...... Should add locally most of the kite dudes here are into freestyle and waves, and not speed, so have never had a kiter faster than me, but I'm sure there's plenty of them that are, particularly if they wanna be.
Plus I make sure I learn to sail as fast as I can, and have the right gear....... That's what GPS is all about, learning to sail faster, and being objective about it.
The fastest, I;ve ever sailed is high 35's, have done lots of 35's seem stuck there, need new gear, and the other day I swore I did a 38 knot run, everything my brain and body told me said this is the fastest you've ever sailed by a long way!! It felt by far the fastest I've ever sailed, and I was totally shattered to look down at the gps dial and see a 33something......... GPS cuts the bullschit!!!!! Later analysis explained the issue was water state, I sailed at a different spot, it was much choppier, than Hardie's run, and therefore slower, but felt faster, much more was happening.
Kites are only faster than windsurfers in a very narrow set of circumstances at the very top end. ie: Very flat (shallow) water at a very broad angle. There are only a very small handful of guys in the world who have tapped that potential and gone 48 knots+.
At the light end of the scale large kites can get going sooner than many recreational windsurfers but this is not the case when comparing modern wide windsurfers, also with large sails. In 8-12 knots on a formula board with a recreational (KA Koyote) 8.4m sail I have not noticed that any kiters here are faster. Also, they have the prblem of a very long and tiring swim when the wind drops to 5 knots. I can just float along on the board past them to the shore.
Of course, a competent kiter on the right sized gear will be faster in 10-20 knots then a windsurfer on a small wave board with the wrong sized sail etc.
just planeing elmo nothing heroic. but i recon that kites could
have more potential in speed like when the technology gets better cause windsurfers have been around for like 30 years and kites only 5 or so? both windsurfers and kites will get faster for sure but in the end what will go the fastest?
Joined:5 May 2007
Last Here:6 May 2007 26,33 40 44
post
Joined:5 May 2007
Last Here:6 May 2007 44 post
ya got im,
44 a piece , an you can switch back to ya alter ego now
i think windsurfing will always be faster, just look at design and the shape of a kiteboard , it is not flat or has stabilty for speed, yes it can go at high speed but control is not there in high wind going from my experience at watching them and racing side by side next to them, i have never had a kiteboard pass me on the flat water in 12 + knots, we get lift from our fin where they don't have the abilty from what i see to get lift unless they use a huge bloody kite.
that's my opinion
i'm GCmoz
Joined:5 May 2007
Last Here:6 May 2007 26,33 40 44 post
Joined:5 May 2007
Last Here:6 May 2007 44 post
ya got im, 44 a piece , an you can switch back to ya alter ego now
fob,
If you're a genuine new member, excuse us, we are a bit paranoid of newbies.
We've recently had an invasion by a seppo with so many identities it's not funny.
Your similarity to hippo is worrying some of us, you must admit it's a huge coincidence you joined at the same time, have the same interests, and the same number of posts.
What are you twins or something?????
We don't know, but after the seppo incident, it's suspicious when 2 people start on the same day, have the same interests, and the same number of posts. That's what mineral was referring to.
quote:
Originally posted by fob
but u gotta admit it keeps the forum exciting [}:)]
Ok since were all honest,,,,, I'm a newbie, am I fitting in, with posting threads and contributing my 2cents worth occationally or am I spinnin ya's out too?
You're orright monsta,
Anyone who persists with linux after the first install must be a bit 'special' anyway
Monsta
You add value.
If no value added, then as ol Chopper said shut the...up.
Wonder what will happen when their Mummy catches them out
Mineral
Patman
Have you seen some of Tielmans vids of his sessions makes it look easy, kite just sitting in the zone an gliding along
Hope I spelt his name right
I haven't seen Tilmann's, but I saw Vide from Melbourne's. I've seen lots of speed kiting, I can't say it ever struck me as looking easy. The stance you take looks like there is a bucketload of strain on the body, which there is. What I found to be my limiting factor was the strain on my legs. I was wearing a waist harness and using a freestyle board, the guys who get the good times with kites have seat harnesses and custom boards. If you look closely they only have one rear fin, when I did that time I could actually feel the resistance of my other fin as the water blasted against it.
Anyway I suspect a seat harness may have reduced the strain on my body somewhat, but I can't remember the strain on the lower back as much as I can remember the strain on the legs, but that was massive.
With regards to the boards required, wouldn't a speed orientated water ski be the go, like the ones they use for the Murray River between the bridges runs.
Some of those guys are doing up to and past 70mph.
It's a thought, but I think you'd find too much torsional strain on the waist and hips or knees with your feet pointing forwards like that. Like I say, there's a fair bit of forces exerted on the body. So you'd probably want to turn the footstraps or whatever they're called sideways, then widen it a bit to keep your feet on the board and not poking over the end, and I think you'll find this monstrous beast is starting to look like a custom speed kiteboard all over again...
Harden up geenpat !!!
too much of what ever ?????
fuull on or fall off
the gps says 39.4 or something, i am an amateur and i am going at 37 - 38 knott on a bigboard (125 lt)
they really got to do something about there boards the kiters if they want speed !!!!
quote:
Originally posted by nebbian
Anyone who persists with linux after the first install must be a bit 'special' anyway
Hey Decrepit,
I reckon Ubuntu must be a bit easier than the old RedHat 7.0 I last tried with... couldn't get the sound to work, didn't like the "vibes" it gave off.
Yep I'm running Mac OS X, all the unix goodness in a package that's designed to all fit together snugly. Running PHP, MySQL, Apache for website testing, full gcc development environment with make, avr-gcc installed as well for programming chips, full java suite, as well as a couple of emulators for testing windows installations (XP and Win98).
Those new MacBook intel laptops are looking pretty sweet, I've got to say... native execution of windows stuff in a special program, no more emulators, that'll be my next machine... if only they came in a 12"
