pongnut - 6-4-2014 at 01:25 PM
Blowing about 20-30mph so was going to put up the 11m HQ NEO - note: closed-cell. I can usually get away with pounding this big old screwdriver all
the way into the turf as the anchor (I kite alone so no risk to anyone downwind). Well, as luck would have it, add not-so-dry ground + gust and my
kite left my location without me attached yet! As I'm running after my kite, I'm thinking to myself, "Isn't this thing supposed to deflate and stop
blowing away at some point?". Not gaining on the kite at all, I call off the chase and watch as it slides right between some obstacles that would
have nicely slowed or stopped its progress. Then, as it approaches the highway, I get this immediate ache in my gut (my 200 yd dash probably also had
something to do with that). I crossed my fingers and hoped it would hang up on some weeds before crossing the highway. Nope!, it slid right across
the highway and stopped in the ditch on the other side, lines stretched across the road and bar on the near side. I ran (jogged) the last 200 yds and
during a break in the traffic, quickly dragged the kite and lines back across the road. A few cars had already driven over my lines but I'm just
grateful that there wasn't a car speeding by at the same time my kite crossed the road. I unzipped the vent and rolled the whole mess into a giant
ball of kite and lines and bar, and proceeded to do the 400 yard walk of shame back to where I started.
My lessons from this event:
1. I will be purchasing one of those "big dog" screw-in anchors.
2. Or maybe I'll just set a second anchor near the first one for the 5th or flagging lines, just in case...
3. Closed-cell kites don't deflate and stop blowing away like open-cell kites.
4. I can't run as fast as my 11m kite when its blowing away, so next time I'm hopping in the minivan and chasing it down.
ssayre - 6-4-2014 at 04:04 PM
Holy crap, that did fly a long way. I just put my venom up for the first time today and that potential problem did cross my mind.
Kamikuza - 6-4-2014 at 05:28 PM
Yeah, the can do that :D
Thank god the lines didn't get caught on the cars!
BeamerBob - 6-4-2014 at 06:27 PM
That seems like a lot of wind for the 11m! That kite has a fairly flat profile and catches everything. Was it flagged on the safety while attached
to the screwdriver?
pongnut - 6-4-2014 at 08:23 PM
It's pretty "alive" from 20-30 but has good depower, so is manageable. I had only the brake and chicken loop on the anchor. I was putting on my
harness and hadn't attached to the 5th line safety quite yet.
PHREERIDER - 7-4-2014 at 12:02 PM
long blow! glad u got it all back, Kami can indeed relate!
had my 9m blow off the beach with violent gusting.... kite laying on the beach, started to roll up lines and just snatched out my hands . about 2
/10 mile up a tree about 30 ft. up and shredded!
pongnut - 7-4-2014 at 01:23 PM
Ouch! Phree, that sux - hopefully that was and old kite and ready to be sent to kite heaven
I consider myself extremely lucky, in that no vehicles snagged my kite or lines before I recovered the kite... :saint:
Gives me the willies thinking of what might have happened if one of those cars had hit the kite or snagged the lines as it crossed the highway ... :o
B-Roc - 7-4-2014 at 06:38 PM
My pulse use to pop ground stakes all the time and have me chasing it. That's one if the main reasons I sold it and now fly open cell foils only.
PHREERIDER - 7-4-2014 at 06:43 PM
i repaired it and got another full year, then offshore session ended with kite heaven event.
BeamerBob - 7-4-2014 at 06:48 PM
Phree, most people don't understand that a "new" kite of yours probably has more hours on it the first month than lots of fliers ever put on their
kites. You have a "duty cycle" that equipment mfrs. would never imagine their equipment being put through.
PHREERIDER - 8-4-2014 at 06:09 AM
its easy to let junk go!
Nfish - 9-4-2014 at 08:20 PM
I lost my first Venom 16m just like that. Put a sand bag on it while I was sorting the line out. Next thing I knew it had been blown into the cold
winter ocean...Some how the first thing came to mind at that moment was...Wilson!!....