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Light wind downwinder/upwinder

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Created by Kitehard > 9 months ago, 14 Nov 2009
Kitehard
WA, 2782 posts
Site Sponsor
14 Nov 2009 8:54PM
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Hey Peeps,

Today I managed to realise a great desire. To do a downwinder and then kite all the way back upwind again.

Wind was 12-15 knots WNW and I took off from Scarborough and blasted back and forth for a bit before riding upwind to Trigg, a quick turn around and blast back to Brighton, then onwards to South Cottesloe (Dutchies), a quick chat with some friends I hadn't seen for a while and then the daunting upwinder back to Brighton.

Wasn't so daunting actually, made it in 4 tacks and enjoyed watching the scenery blasting by. Of course riding on the racing gear and the 17m Zephyr, awesome fun and well powered almost all the time. Cranking upwind like a sailboat and being the only one in Perth having a sweet 2 hour powered session.

I can barely walk now of course, but hey, I'm chalking it up to training for racing

Cheers,

KH

Factory
WA, 266 posts
14 Nov 2009 9:24PM
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Wow, sounds like quite a novelty day for you Daz.

Maybe a first in Perth (?), I dont know, but an interesting take on a day that didnt seem to offer much...I like your thinking.

Nice work!...that beer must taste sweet tonight

snoidberg
QLD, 529 posts
15 Nov 2009 11:11PM
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hey kitehard u inspired me to do a upwinder 2day over in qld[D] i went to curramundi lake trying to find some1 for a downwinder then decided stuff it ill see how far upwind i can go.
wind was about 13 knots and i used the zephyr 17m to tack 9km upwind from curramundi lake to s-bends kawana. landed my kite, had a drink and scabbed some sunscreen of some oldlove then did a downwinder back to curramundi tryed some old school stuff on the downwinder because the hangtime on the zephyr is so dam crazy. been haveing fun just launching off waves and seeing how many frountrolls i can get in, managed to land a few quad frount rolls (stoked)

Kitehard
WA, 2782 posts
Site Sponsor
16 Nov 2009 8:45AM
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Hey Snoidberg,

If you did a 9km upwinder without a raceboard? thats amazing! Nice one.

The Zephyr does put fun back into lighter wind days. Try an upwinder on a Raceboard if you can get one to demo, it's brilliant, you can go upwind almost as fast as you go downwind.

Cheers,

KH

Spacemonkey!
SA, 2288 posts
16 Nov 2009 11:38AM
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Nothing better than the ol' upwinder

puppetonastring
WA, 3619 posts
16 Nov 2009 10:19AM
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Thought at first Scarbs to Trigg was a bit ordinary but Dutchies all the way to Brighton now that is impressive - big time.
Can I hear a challenge coming from a Young man somewhere

Jacques
NSW, 159 posts
16 Nov 2009 2:13PM
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Hey guys,

Love doing that kind of thing too (in either light or stronger winds), it's much more rewarding than a straight downwinder, I love to be able to go adventuring freely without relying on any logistics (unless things turn very bad!), and the satisfaction of accomplishing distance just with the power of wind (and legs) is great.

Yesterday I did Longreef to Manly and back, took me about 2 hours on a 10m kite and a standard twin type, great fun, beautiful scenari, met a penguin on the way too ahah, just missing some mates to join me, hopefully next time! If anyone is interested, let us know, would be more fun and safer!

Jacques

Danger Mouse
WA, 592 posts
16 Nov 2009 1:12PM
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Love these, it's so much fun after the hard slog seeing how far upwind you can get to then just head back down wind to the car can't say I've headed anywhere near that far upwind though. Nice work

Fooosh
WA, 563 posts
17 Nov 2009 5:30AM
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Upwinder???? Starting to sound like the oceanic equivalent of ski touring....



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"Light wind downwinder/upwinder" started by Kitehard