Hey Zenon....

I hear you took a big 'spanking' this weekend down south.... Hope you are okay mate....

Tell us what happened..?

We all learn from these sort of 'spankings', so you got advice for the rest of us...?

scary windy down here over the weekend. still is

might've been a good one

Please tell us what happened in full detail ....not missing out any good bits like if you cried or not,broken bones,broken gear ect
I went to the doctor today cause my foot still wont get any better from the kite festival day in Jan ....I think by now it should be fixed so I had to go see the Doctor .....off to get it xrayed in the morning cause he thinks it may be cracked some how ..................................
But enough about me ......what happened Zennon ...was it a goody,was there any blood .........................................
Photos of injuries should be uploaded as well please

It all started by asking the question of "how much wind is too much"?

If anyone knows the answer to this one then I'd like to know. But lets just say that 60 - 70 kmph was probably too much. Zenon can tell the rest. I'll just fill in the gaps.

KD

depends how fat u are and how big your kite is

also how careful u r being

1.5m pl pepper in 50+ knots is fine at 125kg, until u accidently loop it

OoooooooooKkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk..............ok

Well we got to the beach constructed the buggy and the wind was blowing very much into the high 20knts

Not sure on amount as i didnt have a wind meter.

Set up the 2.9 reactor with the intention of going and breaking at least 60kmph in teh buggy. thought id be fine as this thing is NOT DESIGNED TO LIFT or so the description said.

Time to launch...sat in the buggy before dad suggested i launch first then strap in so got up and set the kite launched.....kite straight to the zenith but unfortunatly it was fast enough to lift on teh way up....what resulted was a fast hover down teh beach....past where the ktie landed without touching the ground...touch ground continue skid to the base of the dunes about 50m away from start position.

Once the kite hit above the dunes the old compression zone came into effect and immediatly left me hanging 5m above the top...This jump was fine landed on my feet on teh next dune....

Ok so now i now its not good and time to put kite down...fly it down towards the right side and it lifted me horizontal off the top and slammed me into the dune kite somehow never crashed and launched itsself back across the top of the window which of course resulted in another lofting...

Bounce hard of that dune that was lofted into and the last thing i remember was heading upside down head first at the ground. never knocked out so stood up expecting to be really sore and nope could stand up fine....

Looking round im in a 3m gorse bush which i had ploughed a hole into which was at least a meter round and i had clearly come in from above the bush...not through it...but into it.

The only injures sustained were a scratch to the left side of my face and several small holes in my right leg and some scraps on my right arm...Nothing else no broken bones no sore legs.

Not even a load of blood i was amazed. Anyways got the kite back out of the pine tree it crashed into thank god and no holes no broken bridals nothing could sell it saying as new.....

Only thing i take out of this....Peter Lynn lie that reactor definitly has lift...I want my money back....

Zee

sweet potato cakes!! You got owned....

That sounds so incredible, can't imagine wind that strong...

Well, that takes the cake of all kiting stories I think. Sure as hell beats my concussion from a 12mtr NASA in a NW....

Goddammit I wish I had of been there to witness (and to hold a camera)

Questions:
1-were you wearing your body armour/helmet at the time?
2-have you considered what would of happened in a buggy :shock:
3-how fast/violent were the loftings?
4- how much control did you actually have over the kite?
5- did you ever consider just letting the kite go after say lofting 2 or 3 (after trying to land the kite, at the right side of the window??)
6- how sore was your head from impacting with the dune?

Man I've gotta do a roadie to Invercargill... it sounds so mint.

Cheers, Will

EDIT: I'm just wondering if we can find a MAX wind reading for the location? Or at least something within the vicinity of the coast...

Would be interesting to see how strong it actually was... I think it sounds like 30-40 knots (well above 20 for sure). How much sand was being blasted up the beach at the time?

AEOBB The Movie .............Part Two

If only you had it on camera

Sounds like you got your arse kicked , but damm that would have been a fun ride

The audio for the movie would have been sumthin like

"ok Dad I got it"said Z
"are you sure son it's a bit gusty out here" replied KD
"Nah should be fine its only 2.5 PL Reactor"said Z
"ok then off you go son,but be careful"insisted KD
"up we go then .............................."Z said to himself
"Oh Oooooooooooooo SH*T DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD get the Kite whoooooooooo Dune cummin ah ow ooh ouch ....OH NO GORSE AHEAD .....DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD get the F*%#kn KITE bang crash oh F$#k ouch oww ow slam kapow ahh"
"Oh no here we go againnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn "screamed Z

Kite finally comes down

"we hee lets do it again"squealed Z as he brushes himself off and checks to see if all his limbs are faceing the correct way ......................

I don't normally go for gambling, but dude you really should buy a Lotto ticket after that! :shock:

Good post Norwester....

ANSWER MY QUESTIONS DAMN YOU:

1-were you wearing your body armour/helmet at the time?
2-have you considered what would of happened in a buggy Shocked
3-how fast/violent were the loftings?
4- how much control did you actually have over the kite?
5- did you ever consider just letting the kite go after say lofting 2 or 3 (after trying to land the kite, at the right side of the window??)
6- how sore was your head from impacting with the dune?

i can answer a couple of those

1: yes both
2: that would have written something/one off had he been in the buggy
5: who the hell lets go?!?!

I Let Go ...................

But im an old bugger and a ride like that probably would have booked me a one way seat on the hurt train to Burwood Hospital with multiple fractures

Oh the foolishness of youth ah Spig .......

I've been thinking about the results if he was strapped in...

I almost think it would have been safer.

1-you can hold down a SHIT load of power from the kite. When you add like 20 kgs its a whole different ball game.
2- he would of been able to edge against the kite, holding down even more power...
3- in the soft sand/dunes, it takes more energy from the kite to shift the buggy... speed would have been greatly reduced...

Plus the tube on the back of the flexi is massively thick... so I think the risk of breaking the buggy would be minimal. Maybe a slightly twisted downtube or something minor..

But then again, if you flip in that flexi, you ain't coming back up :roll:

I can just imagine the amount of broken bones (from collision with the steel frame) that you'd receive if the buggy did flip at speed under those conditions...

All this thinking about increased momentum has got me scheming...

Now I want some big wind!!!

in soft sand you can hold an edge however when you need to slide suddenly to kill power you sink in and roll, combine this with jerky kites and youve got your self a problem...personally i wouldnt buggy in wind i couldnt static jump in(and come back down) in saying that however ive yet to find a wind i could jump with my little junkie

had he been on hard sand it would have been 0-50km in 2seconds followed by a sudden lurch onto 2 wheels and over onto his face

would have been sweet wind for racing with my 1.5m tho

I can now confirm the wind was at 30 knots and the biggest gust of the day reached 67kms. At this sort of wind speed I have been told by a local pilot that a full size glider would be able to stay ariborne over the sand dunes. They would however have trouble getting back to the airfield.

Zenons filght through the air was recorded at 33km/h from the GPS in his pocket.

HAHA, 33km through the AIR!! That's a fairly violent lofting.

Insane...

Just wondering what kind of winds you get down in 'chigill. Was it "pulsating?" Or was it constantly at 30+ knots?