Larry et al, Your words about your parafoil encourage me. I use mine with my single Klepper, and agree that nothing can compare with kite sailing downwind if you want to log up the miles. I think it is on 'expeditions' that parafoils come into play. Because you can really cover the ground in a breeze I find it takes a good deal of discipline to pull the thing down if you are really flying downwind! Before you know it you are several miles 'downhill' from your put-in, facing a long slog back into a headwind! This can be a trap for the unwary. I have made for myself a 'three to one' rule, which roughly states that it will take at least three times as long to cover the ground upwind after that wonderful exhilarating ride downhill. I believe this is critical if you are heading out into a freshening breeze and lifting sea-state and you are not [intentionally!] on a one way trip. Some questions for kite sailors: I believe a skeg or fin, or centreboard at a point just aft of the kite line would assist in control at speed and in a sea. Anyone experimented with this? How do you control your line[s] on retrieval? I find that when I want that parafoil down, I usually want it down in a hurry which results in a most unseamanlike tangle of line in the bottom of the cockpit. I have one of those fishing line handreels about 10 inches in diameter which is great on launch, but not so good for a speedy retrieval. Do you use a tail on your parafoil for control in the higher wind speeds? Supposedly a tail stabilises the kite, but I find it is just something else to get wrapped around your gear. Has anyone come up with different ways to keep hold of that line. Has anyone experimented with using your bow tether to take the line forward to the bow? I thought of some fast release clip system attached to my mast step to take most of the strain, but retaining hand control. I think this is basically Larry's system. Has anyone tried seakayaking with the Wipika type of kites, seemingly very powerful, but very expensive? Regards, Peter Rattenbury Wollongong Australia *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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