flexiblade - 16-1-2010 at 08:11 PM
After a god awful drought in the California central valley for about 4 months (I kid you not - 4 months without any decent usable wind - the nor cal
crew can attest to this), thanks in a major part to the El Nino that is currently taking place, there was a day of wind. I made it up to Blue Canyon
to try out my new 12m Phantom at the closed airport there - they close it down around November because of snowfall. Well I was able to have 2 firsts
1. Buggying on snow 2. Buggying on an airstrip. Both were way fun - the 12m Phantom was amazing for its upwind performance: the wind was coming in
parallel to the runway but I was able to cruise at about 10mph practically directly into the wind - astonishing. The self launching of the Phantom
wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, even in winds that went from 6mph to 14 to 19mph, a tad hectic. Did bowtie a few times but was able to work it
out with some fancy line yanking while the kite was on the ground. Overall that kite is an amazing all arounder - she stayed up in some horrible
lulls and handled some very choppy air without getting out of control. Mind you I would have loved to be down at the beach, but for right now beggars
can't be choosers. And to those of the Nor-cal crew that feel left out on this - I had relatively low expectations for the day so I didn't want to
have some of you travel 80+ miles one way for a maybe day that was supposed to be raining as well - it didn't, but it was supposed to. I apologize
for my fun - I swear next time I'll have enough for the whole class.
Here's a pic from today - by the way I quit smoking the last Saturday before the end of NABX last year - still use the old smokin pic for my avatar
solely because I like it.
furbowski - 16-1-2010 at 08:22 PM
sounds like a fantastic day!
tbh I thought you'd gotten two noobs hooked on kites.... :evil:
flexiblade - 16-1-2010 at 08:30 PM
You gotta get a bug for that 12m phanny furbs - even in a small spot it is a blast.
furbowski - 16-1-2010 at 08:59 PM
*must update profile*
I'm hoping to use it with my new GI patrol!
I may at some point get around to building the gilligan's special... a bamboo buggy!
congrats on the smoking by the way... I've been trying recently, but d@m its tough, I can't even get to 48 hours...
heliboy50 - 16-1-2010 at 10:19 PM
I would have to quit my job to stop smoking. BORING and yet working-with-tards stressful. Sounds like a blast, flexiblade. Got an airfield right
near me, but I gotta' deal with dog walkers some times. I love it when they cheer their dogs on after they went after my gear. That and scudding
through dog #@%$#! really puts a smile on my face. Furbs, I think I am going to find some old wicker furniture so I can help with a Gilligan bug
prototype.
rocfighter - 18-1-2010 at 05:36 AM
Helboy I was in a state park flying once where there is a strict leash law. And some woman was so excited to see her dog excited about my kite that
she let it off the leash to chase it. I told her if it caught it I would make her pay me $400.00 to replace it. She said it would be worth it seeing
her dog happy. :barf:
Some people are just asses. After a short time I sent one of my kids to get a ranger near by and he fixed the problem. A big fine and booted from
the park.
Sorry to hyjack!!!
sp4cem0nkey - 18-1-2010 at 02:16 PM
Congrats on the session, and congrats on quitting smoking! One only has to compare your profile pic to your snow pic to see that you are way happier
as a non-smoker! 