Back by Popular Demand

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Randy's picture
Randy
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Joined: 05/05/2002 - 10:38
Posts: 4656
Back by Popular Demand

ANOTHER KITE VIDEO!!! We may be out of wind for a while, so this will summarize what I've figured out so far:

1.) The board is probably more important than the kite. The kite I'm using now is almost a parachute. Much simpler than what I started with, but seems to work about as well.

2.) The Start is too wide and too short to go very fast, but it has a center fin which makes it possible to sail across the wind, if there is a rudder. W/O a rudder you can get some control over direction by placing the kite to the edges and pushing down a rail. The width of the Start does make it easy to do this and keep fairly dry. Without a much bigger kite you are not going to exceed hull speed and get planning.
3.) A bigger kite is the obvious answer to get planning except that if the lines are too long, launching (and relaunching which is far more important) from the board is very difficult if not impossible.
4.) Longer lines would enable getting much more power out of the kite, but the same problem exists as having a kite that is too big. You would have to launch from shore and then as soon as the wind drops - you end up with a very wet kite. I've used a 2 line winder, but that's not as easy to work as one might hope. It is probably the ultimate solution, however.
5.) Despite all that, I think on a proper SUP board, one could go as fast with a kite as paddling in reasonably steady winds of ~10 mph or better. If so, this works out pretty well since it seems to be at about that windspeed SUP becomes a lot more difficult.

What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.

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webguy
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Joined: 12/31/2000 - 22:01
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Re: Back by Popular Demand

Randy! How have I missed this?

Your next effing project:

Notice that the video was uploaded by the guy who designed it.

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Randy
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Joined: 05/05/2002 - 10:38
Posts: 4656
Re: Back by Popular Demand

I was thinking of something simpler, that doesn't need wind.

What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.

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Randy
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Joined: 05/05/2002 - 10:38
Posts: 4656
Re: Back by Popular Demand

Changed my mind. Here's my new project. Find extraterrestrial life. $100 million prize. Think of all the kooky projects I could do with that much money. I'm getting ready as we speak. Hopefully the Cigarette Smoking Man won't get in my way.

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/20/searching-for-et-hawking-to-look-for-extraterrestrial-life/21211345/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D1970229010

What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.

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