kites, building and flying the batwing [ building: 1, 2, 3, the photos: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ]
3rd June 2003: Gusty 25-30+ mph, proberbly dropping to less
than 25 between gusts. Horrible wind.
The first time I launched I got dragged and it scared the pants off me,
eventually I was getting out of control and let the kite go on its leish.
Tried again later, the wind was slightly less. Got going ok, the tip wobble is almost
gone, but I had plenty of back line tension. Good sized jumps, some rotations. Went
out into the waves which was fun.
This kite would be great with tip battons instead of the LE tube with its rocket
struts. I can't pump it up super hard cos the tarp will fail I expect, so the tips
wobble like hell. I expect that adding dacron in the wing tips would also stiffent them
up a bit.
This kite goes so far around the edge of the window it's great, I can storm up wind. Easy
to depower as well, sheet out and edge like hell through the gusts.
