Heading back to St. Augustine for a look at
more new kites and riding action ...
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Swinging by Castillo de San Marcos, one of the local fortifications from centuries past.
Sun's up, let's get to it!
Pat assisted by his daughter gets setup.
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The launch.
The Slingshot Turbo Diesel kite for 2006.
The Turbo Diesel control bar. Note the black plastic slider/stopper on the central lines. You can move this up and down to fix the sheeting on the front lines to give your arms a rest. This simple device allows for fairly small adjustments in fixed power control. However, it defeats the emergency depowering unless it is moved up. So, if you are riding in marginally powered conditions and have the stopper pulled far down and are suddenly hit by a major gust you might get launched.
The control bar "cartridge" developed for the Turbo Diesel and for other '06 kites (with some variations such as a 5th line jam cleat) is shown above. The red knob completely releases the kite from the rider in a major emergency. It looks bulky but like helmets you really don't notice the size at all. Thanks to Jim for bringing down, launching and landing all the demo Slingshot Demo kites.
I would keep an eye on the lines used to attach the pulleys to the control bar (below the black foam cylinders). The one I tried may have been showing some early wear and could perhaps be of a larger diameter.
The launch just north of Matazas Inlet.
Let's swing by
Extreme Kites in St. Augustine for a look inside. These are the folks that made this fun event possible.
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Starting them out young.
Back to the beach, spectators and kite retrievers, woof!
I was impressed by the quantity of helmets in use at the event. People are getting more used to the idea of ripping hard while looking out for number one.
The Ocean Rodeo One Kite, the OR flat kite design for 2006.
The One Kite was setup with a new prototype control bar so it is uncertain what the production bar will be like. The proto bar had no stop so if you dropped the bar by accident or in fatigue it flew up several feet out of reach. You would need to pull the central lines down until you could be able to grab the bar again. I suspect that OR will roll out an interesting production control bar soon enough.
The One Kite was fun to fly although the arm strain did build up a bit with the proto bar.
Fun times on the water.
Getting sorted out on the beach.
There's Mark Rush over from Panama City where he has launched a new shop,
Emerald Coast Kiteboarding He has always been a good supporter of the FKA, thanks Mark!
A Slingshot Octane and rider flying.
I tried the Octane for a short time with the new 2006 control bar. I was told the kite flew like a kite about 2 m smaller. By then the wind was starting to ease off a bit and I was a little underpowered. Still, it gave me a chance to checkout the SS 5th line setup and control features. The 5th line jam cleat allows for fairly precise adjustment of the 5th line tension fairly easily on the fly.
So long from St. Augustine, FL for now. It's been fun!