:?: Has anyone in this country actually pitted a kite against a windsurfer like they do in West Africa or wherever it is they run the world speed records?

Having spent some enforced time observing arguably one of the best stretches of flat water in Auckland recently, I'm getting tired of seeing the poleys have the Sandspit all to their adrenaline-soaked selves when it's 20+ knots.

I know we kite for the buzz of the 3rd, aerial dimension that the local poleys can't really take advantage of (no waves) but it might be fun to take them on in a flat out drag race. [If you fell behind you could just pop a MASSIVE air...]

Otherwise they might just write us off as light-wind showboating danglers.

What kind of kit would give you the best chance?
My money's on a <10m BOW and a smallish Mutant ridden flat.

:idea:

Flysurfer speed would be the kite non of this bow rubbish. No idea what board they use but defo a directional.

A ramair kite and a directional... A Manolo board similiar to the one that Alan has would be a speed machine. Tubes are slow compared to ram airs.... ever noticed how hard it is to carry a tube kite into a strong wind?

Are buggy kites made from mr blobbies? Definately not and buggiers unlike danglers are more interested in speed.

It's a southerly at the mo. Why don't one of ya show us how itz done out on the spit?? i'm sure there will be a few polies out there up for the challenge. I think the best spot for speed runs would be in the Manuka Harbour... rumours of a super flat water channel that appears at low tide???

"bow rubbish"? -have you tried one? Fastest Kite I have ever flown BY FAR.

Trouble is getting the right place and right time - glass and 30 knots+. What is the gps record (absolute max speed and over 500m) for a windsurfer down that way? A windsurfer would eat shit where I have been fastest though - ie 20-30 cm of water.

Expense or dangle power hover love could be a reason that there are so few kiters riding fast when it gets windy.

The reason is that they probably have the wrong kit for the amount of wind and it lacks controllability (ie. only just holding on to an edge for fear of the tea bag to eat shit)

slow poo stance edge gripper to an impossibly grotesque hover dangle (puffed cheeks and all..) vs Locked in, fast 'n flowing

We got the 3rd dimension - Use it don't abuse it

Count me in for any kind of speed race/trials.

Yep go the speed thing.... plenty of flat water spots in AK that work great in 30+ knots and still remain flat. The sandspit at low tide would be fine. Use a directional board and a ram air kite and get it on with best the polies have to offer.

Jamie i'm sure the bow kites would work too but having the most power per unit mass (the main advantage of bow kites over normal LEIs??) isn't a prerequisite for strraight line speed.

Infact i do remmeber reading about this on hungvu's website quite a few years ago when kitiing was still in it's infancy (and we had all those nice radicial designs like c Quads, 3 line ram airs etc). I also remember reading that kite speed has sod all effect on a speed attempt. Reason being is that kites travel pretty fast as it is (and this was in the days of Wipika classics) and it's the board speed that is the factor when it comes to equipment. Using short lines would also help. Boards have been fast for ages.. as the technology has come from the windsurfing side of things.

Interesting addendum:

www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=...ight=record+windsurf

That's beautiful, man - pure poetry

PS Getting the sponsorship feelers out as we speak.

That spot in Manukau Harbour i think runs from Titirangi to Weymouth. It's way way longer than 500m... more like 5km. It was talked about on this forum in an earlier post....

In the interests of this post would you mind finding and including a link to it here, in this thread?

It was sometime this year.... that's all i know

FYI, here it is:

www2.iserve.co.nz/users/d1helxb/kiteforu...;amp;highlight=speed

don't want to get into an arguement about bow vs foil vs c... couldn't really give a rats arse but I think youll find that the current 500m speed coarse record was set on a Low aspect C like a wook or something.
Anyways for you speed freeks who think your fast on whatever it is your pimping there will be a border cross race at the Raglan freeride on the 17th and 18th December

Officially it's the Rhino 05 unofficially it's the FS Speed (Over 500m)

strangly enough I was in Walvis Bay for the last speed compitition. Kitsurfers were definitly faster and there is no doubt, strangly enough none of them had a kiteboard anything like what we have. these guys are talking a huge difference with the board with regard to speed, sorry to the flying sleeping bags, not a big showing to talk about

hi john,
i followed the event closely and would have loved to be there to have a look at how they compare.
but i don't quite understand how you come to the conclusion that kitesurfers are definitely faster with no doubt...
the official results do not show that. the top four windsurfers all had faster 500m speed runs than the fastest kite and there was an even bigger gap over the nautical mile where the fastest kite was 13th overall.
oceanspirit.co.za/speedweek/

the kites have been closing the gap quite rapidly over the last few years, but they have a long way to go to go for the big prize.
i still think that kites are more likely to break the 50kn than the windsurfers or any other speed sailing project, except maybe macquarie innovation [ex yellow pages].

if any of you guys intend to line up windsurfers for a drag, then do your self a favour and pick a fast one if you want any credibility/glory for it.
no point in lining up an intermediate freerider that shits his pants going 25kn at pt.chev....
windsurfers to line up are for example Chris Torckler [sails mostly manukau/lynfield run], Luke Watson [big black guy on Northsails], or Luke Wigglesworth [the guys who's done the costal classic on a windsurfer].

or just get a GPS and show the track analysis/results.
the bullshit stops, when the data drops...

Who has a spare GPS for the next honkin SSW at low tide glendowie sandspit??? The polies love that place for their speed runs.

Better still why doesn't someone head down to Glenorchy and really show us how itz done. i hear that spot is wicked for speed sailing.

Kiteing is all about going huge though :roll:

"the bullshit stops, when the data drops..."

Well put 4T

Very true Ian but every now and then a fringe element comes into play.... that's what keeps our sport interesting and making the most of the fact that kitesurfing takes it's form from many other sports..... speedsailing is a step closer to kiteboarding's mothersport... windsurfing. In a way waveriding is another variation on the stock kiteboarding theme.... as is the wakestyle/handlepass/kiteloop/pulleybar vibe.

But yeah kiteboarding is primarily about boosting the big jumps and will allways (hopefully) be the stock theme of kitesurfing.

only a kitesurfer knows the feeling

geeeee, I thought it was about having FUN!

hey trasher,
if you run into any of the speed windsurfer guys with a GPS strapped to their arm, i'm sure they would let you have a few runs on it if you ask nicely....

i sailed glenorchy last summer and the speed strip down there was crap.
after speaking to paul fraser [one of the loacal windsurfers] he told me the river mouth has changed a lot since the late 80's early 90's when speedsailing was still popular down there. it was also a very high lake level with lots of water coming down the river when we were there.
paul said you need dry conditions and a few days of solid southerly to square up the bank to get a halfway decent run along it theses days.

it's still an awesome place to sail in an unreal setting with snow capped mountains around and the dusty NWer coming down the valley in a grey cloud...

well its been done b4 a few years ago at mangawhai speed week,the wind surfers won the day but things have changed abit, but no arugument foils r faster grunter and FLY better,i use tubes, wipis, but the way 4 speed is long linear speed neddles and a small fast kite plus lots of room also someone else doing it. i almost 4got about kiteboats, i got a prototype off perrin who got it from prter lynn we all had a go but kept breaking it, now its got potential, its a tripod hydroplane u sit and steer it from a trampeze in the middle of the thing, made from stainless steel tube and fiberglass so if anyones keen let me know k.

Good to see some interest in a bit of speed ... despite the whipping from a certain raglan rider last time I dared to enter a comment about windsurfers on this forum....believe it or not there is life beyond kiting!
For those interested. ... the garmin geko 201 is the best gps unit at the moment as far as reliablity and with a tracklog that can be downloaded to your computer.... you should be able to pick one up for between $250 to $350...
And while we retarded poleys have reached the very slow max speed of 44.6 knots our 500 metre record is 42.6 knots .... I am sure there will be a few kiters who will need to prove they are faster!
While I will windsurf the manukau in anything over 25 knots of wind Kiting the channels is a buzz... on a sw there is a 1.5 k run and on a s/e a 3 k run ... but these channels start 1 k out in the middle of the harbour .. in high wind there is a pretty rough ride to get to the flat water!
Biggest hassle for a kite is launching... green bay is the best but be warned when it blows 40 to 50 knots out here there are waterspouts running down the harbour and the edges get gusty to the extreme
Once you have recorded a your session on gps the program GPSAR allows you to download and plot out your session with a stats readout giving you the cold hard facts! download it for free here! users.info.unicaen.fr/~mathet/gpsar/

happy to pass on any more info to those who are interested
Chris

not wanting to rub it in but the outright world speed record is held by a windsurfer at 48.70 knots for the 500metre! something for the kites to chase!

For those interested in GPS timing .. While there are claims of high speeds by some gps users .. some outrageous! the gps speedsurfing site
www.gps-speedsurfing.com/gps.asp has a check system where each country has a regional time keeper who checks and verifies track logs for accuracy.
GPS units do at times produce speed "spikes" with sailors claiming to have phenomenal speeds.... these are normally associated with the sailor bailing at high speed and crashing underwater....but by analysing the recorded track log these spikes can be trimmed out giving a much more accurate indication of actual speed...
For this reason the GPS site also uses as its main ranking the average of the 5 best 10 second runs ... again this creates a much more consistent method of ranking.... A lot of the worlds fastest speedsailors have carried gps units when sailing in video timed events and this has backed up the accuracy of the current gps units.....
So if any of you guys are thinking of getting a gps ... the better unit is one that records a tracklog so you can verify the run rather than say the Navman unit which only gives a visual readout ... not a tracklog .. so no check can be made as to whether the speed is a spike or an accurate speed.... Look forward to some of you guys hitting the Manukau and giving it your best shot!

Wanna know how fast you where going???

You can with this little beast! 8)
www.kiteforum.co.nz/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1569
Gps for sale, thought you guys might be intrested.

Martin :mrgreen:

Ps, was just reading post 2 above that talks about a 'Geko' Gps and had to mention that this is a way better Gps than a 'Geko'(a good few models higher in the same range) and is from the same manufacture.