02 Nov 2013 - Old skool kiting - Holy shit
A massive 5-8 knots was blowing in the inlet, so Pete decided to break out the zero - his new light wind kite. Amazingly, Pete was able to stay upwind, so I decided to have a crack. I was about to find out that 8 knots on the zero is scarier than 35 knots on my little kite.
Through the air it looks like an absolute beast. On the water, the thing pulls like a truck. Transitions are a bit unusual, it takes a long time to turn and likes to have some power so you must arc the thing to get a smooth transition. Coming back... holy hell... its like when I first started kiting in 2003...massively overpowered, getting pulled off a line and hard to stop. I would hate to imagine this thing in over 10 knots, you would end up in a tree. It consistently wanted to pull me downwind or straight up.
At one stage, I was heading towards a sand spit and tried to slow the zero down.
Stuart - Slow down kite, got to walk across this spit
Zero - Computer says no, I like going fast
Stuart - I'll have to jump this thing or ditch the board and run across like a clown.
Zero - Computer says "run little clown"
Needless to say, I went motoring across the sand spit with my little feet running like crazy.
I won't be going on the zero again if there is anything like over 10 knots forecast.
Through the air it looks like an absolute beast. On the water, the thing pulls like a truck. Transitions are a bit unusual, it takes a long time to turn and likes to have some power so you must arc the thing to get a smooth transition. Coming back... holy hell... its like when I first started kiting in 2003...massively overpowered, getting pulled off a line and hard to stop. I would hate to imagine this thing in over 10 knots, you would end up in a tree. It consistently wanted to pull me downwind or straight up.
At one stage, I was heading towards a sand spit and tried to slow the zero down.
Stuart - Slow down kite, got to walk across this spit
Zero - Computer says no, I like going fast
Stuart - I'll have to jump this thing or ditch the board and run across like a clown.
Zero - Computer says "run little clown"
Needless to say, I went motoring across the sand spit with my little feet running like crazy.
I won't be going on the zero again if there is anything like over 10 knots forecast.
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