We have had some outstanding snow and wind in the past several days in the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City. Much to my delight I've found that
the NS3s make for outstanding Snowkite engines. Their single skin design easily sheds the snow you pile on it and their 3-line simplicity is a real
crowd pleaser, making for minimal times I need to take off my gloves to swap kites, unpack, pack, etc. These are probably the last kites you would
want for boosting, but for me that is a distinct plus as I don't want to get lifted, rather just pulled along.
Yesterday the wind was howling and I slung the 4m up on 20m lines hooked in. Pulled like a mother. Today the wind was lighter and the snow a lot
deeper (up over my knee) and I put the Big Momma up (12.5m!). Wholly mackerel that Lady's got some pull. She sort of makes me nervous as it doesn't
take much change in wind speed to get seriously overpowered and I was on the edge a fair bit fully leaned in with both Powder Pigs clawing at the
snow.
Man this Snowkiting thing is a little bit of alright!
Sweet...never tried snow kiting but it's a bucket list item for sure.
Got any pics to share?
Didn't realize you have the whole range of Nasa Star's. Got the 4 and 7 coming but if I like them, I will probably want something bigger. If that's
the case, I'll reach out to you regarding the differences between the 10 and 12.
Flexifoil Blurr 2.5, Ozone Cult 3.5, Nasa Star 3 4.0 Ozone Yakuza 4.0, PL Reactor 4.9, JoJo RM+ 5.0, Ozone Method 5.0, Ozone Yakuza 6.0, Flexifoil
Blade IV 6.5, Nasa Star 3 7.0, PL Vapor 7.8, JoJo RX 8.0 (in route), Flexifoil Blade VIP 8.5, PL Vapor 9.4, Ozone Yakuza 10.0, PL Reactor II 10.8, PL
Vapor 16.1, PL Venom II 13, PL Charger 15, 19, Flysurfer Unity 12, Flysurfer Pulse 2 14, Flysurfer Speed 2 SA 19, Flysurfer Speed 3 21, MBS Comp 95
landboard, PL Folding buggy, PL XR+ buggy, Slingshot LFT, Lots of surfboards
Sweet...never tried snow kiting but it's a bucket list item for sure.
Got any pics to share?
Didn't realize you have the whole range of Nasa Star's. Got the 4 and 7 coming but if I like them, I will probably want something bigger. If that's
the case, I'll reach out to you regarding the differences between the 10 and 12.
The 4 and 7 NS3s are a great starter set! By the look of your quiver you too
have the tendency to gather some toys about you.
I have found the NS3s to be really pleasing kites. Very predictable in flight, easily controllable, and a nice combination of qualities all around.
A great deal of my flying (all the time in the buggy and a blend when I'm snowkiting) is in highly confined spaces with obstacles all around (school
soccer fields, athletic facility fields, etc) plus I'm in my mid-50s, so I don't want to be boosted one inch off of the ground. NS3s are great in
that regard as they provide almost exclusively pull but not lift. Of course you can get lifted with the right combination of wind, kite size, and
pilot error, but with proper sizing and the willingness to pull the plug and get the kite down in a hurry that becomes a pretty rare occasion.
The big drawback of NS3s are their individual versatility. Compared to, say, the Peak-2 DPs you would need to have perhaps three NS3s to cover the
same wind range as a single P2. So... lots of FB single skin NPWs in a quiver! I have a range of stuff sacks of incremental sizes all labeled with
their kite sizes that I carry around in a single large volume backpack (all nine of them) and use a single adjustable-width bar. Please feel free to
reach out about the larger sizes; I believe I may be the only one that comments in the Born-Kite threads here on PK that owns the 12.5. I know
Spencer (soliver) recently procured the 10m. Whupp!
I would suggest perusing our General Born-Kite thread for more information; we hash out all this and more throughout those fine pages!
And yes, pics will come by and by. I've got to work out some details to get some varying camera angles in the snow beyond the single helmet cam view.
One additional note is that I actually landed the 12.5m, put it away, and got out the 10.0m. The winds were rising to dangerous levels for the 12.5
and I had to get it down before things got ugly. That is a whole lot of FB to handle in too much wind for its size and I was getting spooked. Had I
been on a wide open plane I would likely have kept it in the air and just sped up, but I was on some athletic fields behind our local middle school
that have fences, play structures, and a stray parking lot or two next to them that some knuckle heads put in my way (what were they thinking?). The
10.0m worked well but then the wind died down for a spell plus I was running out of time so I pulled the plug after a few laps. Nothing like inland
storm driven jank to keep a boy busy!
Had some fun with my NS3s today in the snow. This is my first season snow kiting and I have a lot to get used to. One thing I've found is when the
snow is deep and wind blown I need to size up a lot to get the pull I need. I was using a 7m NS3 in hard gusty winds and I probably could have used
the 8.5m. In a buggy with BigFoots on grass in the same winds I would probably have been using the 3.2m.
Here is a video highlighting some of today's action. I hope you enjoy it!
Excellent Steve. I like the credits towards the middle, then showing the wind blowing the snow around when you were packing up. What was the
temperature like?
Excellent Steve. I like the credits towards the middle, then showing the wind blowing the snow around when you were packing up. What was the
temperature like?
Thanks Sean! Car thermometer was reading 20 F. Wind chill, who knows. Wild weather yesterday. In the space of two hours we had repeated bouts of
pelting snow, gusts, lulls, sun, you name it. The back end footage is actually me putting out my 4m. I added that footage to fill out the song and
because it sort of showed it like it is setting up a kite in the deep snow when the wind is howling. I had it in mind originally to launch the 5.5m
but once I got things all in place I found that my red-side bridle was all screwed up and it was not going to get fixed in the field (I wasn't about
to go to bare skin on my hands which is what it was going to take). The 5.5 is the 1000% sped up action in the beginning. The mistake I made is sizing
down instead of up when I couldn't launch the 5.5. The 4m was way underpowered and was what I had up in the air when I was holding the camera on the
extension stick in my hand. Got that down in a hurry and got out the 7m. Except for the strongest gusts I really could have skied with the 8.5m.
Still a learning curve for me getting the sizes right for the varying snow conditions. Yesterday we had powder over my knee in places but it was so
wind blown that it was compact and provided a lot of resistance to the skis and I needed a lot of kite to really get moving. On those same exact
fields in my buggy with those winds I would have had the 3.2m up and gotten one heck of a ride with a lot of side pull.
I ain't complaining, it's all just a fun learning curve!
Steve - for the same kite size what takes more wind to get going - buggy or snow ski? Alternatively, for the same amount of wind, what takes a bigger
kite? (Academic question, since we seldom get snow in Georgia, and when we do the roads are usually completely backed up with abandoned cars, and
wrecks.)
Steve - for the same kite size what takes more wind to get going - buggy or snow ski? Alternatively, for the same amount of wind, what takes a bigger
kite? (Academic question, since we seldom get snow in Georgia, and when we do the roads are usually completely backed up with abandoned cars, and
wrecks.)
Depends a lot on surface for answering that Randy. Dry snow/compacted, skis need a bit less power to get going fast (in my experience), but it's
close. You get deep snow, and you need more power than buggy. I say this normally buggying on grass with little experience on other surfaces for the
buggy, so take that with a grain of salt.
It's 68 in Boston now.. headed to 70....Crap! People have their X-mass shorts on.
Ummmm....snow looks good there...
Great for you...sad for me!
How bout any nearby open hills(treeless) to go on? Almost seems I'm looking at some kind of hills/slopes that are pretty white nearby..?
Which takes more wind?
Ice, Hard pack, Bullet proof, Unbreakable crust...you will rocket. Deep snow, wet snow, you will drag. So, yeah..depends.
If you usually have great conditions- cold, dry, deep and loose snows- you will need MORE power mostly....a lot more than a buggy on hard sand,
anyway.
It's 68 in Boston now.. headed to 70....Crap! People have their X-mass shorts on.
Ummmm....snow looks good there...
Great for you...sad for me!
How bout any nearby open hills(treeless) to go on? Almost seems I'm looking at some kind of hills/slopes that are pretty white nearby..?
Which takes more wind?
Ice, Hard pack, Bullet proof, Unbreakable crust...you will rocket. Deep snow, wet snow, you will drag. So, yeah..depends.
If you usually have great conditions- cold, dry, deep and loose snows- you will need MORE power mostly....a lot more than a buggy on hard sand,
anyway.
Believe me, I've been looking at all sorts of sites too! We have a huge amount of open space around where I live that is covered with large sagebrush
bushes. The snow pack is now plenty deep enough to ride where there is open land with grass or rock/dirt, but not yet deep enough to cover the sage.
Once the sage gets covered the options really open up.
Agreed with what has been stated about resistance versus buggy. Deep wind-compacted snow like I was in yesterday takes a lot of kite upsizing
compared to buggying on grass with BigFoot tires, really about twice the square footage of a FB kite.
Sounds great to be able to at least get some snowkiting in. Have you had a chance to check out Strawberry or Skyline yet or other good spots near you?
I need to come out to your neck of the woods soon, not much snow here in Orange County.
Sounds great to be able to at least get some snowkiting in. Have you had a chance to check out Strawberry or Skyline yet or other good spots near you?
I need to come out to your neck of the woods soon, not much snow here in Orange County.
Not yet, but I'm fixin' to do so sooner than later. A major issue for me is time. My kite endeavors are solo activities and I need to stay balanced
with family time. I ski both weekend days with my daughter and bride and the limited snowkiting I've bagged to date have been either after we get
home from skiing late in the afternoon or as it was this week when for a few days it was too windy to ski (but perfect for kiting!). Strawberry is
over an hour drive away as is Skyline so that would have me gone doing my own thing for a minimum of 4-5 hours. Kind of stuff divorces are made
of.... What I'm hoping for is about two more feet of base snow that settles in on
top of the sagebrush that grows locally. Once that happens there will be spots within 0-15 minutes away to get out in the open. Stuff dreams are
made of.
Thanks for sharing your vid Steve! As your finding out on your own, many different power requirements depending on surface. Deep snow is much like
water, lots of power needed to go upwind. Bare ice requires no more than a shopping bag to get speed. Jealous of your snow Think I'll get the buggy back out while we wait for snow and ice
SS Turbine 17m
SS Rally 14m
SS Rally 12m
SS RPM 10m
SS Rally 8m
SS Rally 6m
FS Speed 3 15m dlx
FS Peak 2 6m
Ozone Frenzy 9m
Ozone Access XT 6m
PL Farc 1200
What I ride:
Home brew buggy
Volkl race tiger DH 210
Dynastar DH 218
Blizzard Cochise 185
Steepwater 179 twin tip
Aboards Reverse 161
Thanks for sharing your vid Steve! As your finding out on your own, many different power requirements depending on surface. Deep snow is much like
water, lots of power needed to go upwind. Bare ice requires no more than a shopping bag to get speed. Jealous of your snow Think I'll get the buggy back out while we wait for snow and ice
Thanks Cheddar! I feel bad for all you guys in the more Eastern part of the country. Winter so far just isn't for you guys. Hopefully the switch
will get thrown and you'll get the cold temps and the snow you deserve. Merry Christmas!
![[*]](images/perspective/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
By the look of your quiver you too
have the tendency to gather some toys about you.
What I'm hoping for is about two more feet of base snow that settles in on
top of the sagebrush that grows locally. Once that happens there will be spots within 0-15 minutes away to get out in the open. Stuff dreams are
made of.
Think I'll get the buggy back out while we wait for snow and ice
