Mountain Boarding

The_Scary_Man

Anyone into mountain boarding around the Cork area?

I'm just looking for any good spots to bring the board out to.

I have a Super 10 Flexifoil kite too that hasn't been getting the airing it deserves.

I was taking my board out around Farran Woods before the summer when I was on shift work but now I'm working 9-5 and don't get as much of a chance.

Cork Skate

Nice One .... Where did you get your board, Is it an "off road" one. Some nice spots out there i bet. How long have you been into it ??

The_Scary_Man

I've had it a few months now I got ordered it from ATB Sports in England but Tubes have them now and they are even cheaper.

Farran Woods is great but you have to make sure that there is no-one around or you're likely to plough into some poor misfortunate out walking his dog.

I should take it out more so thats why I'm on the look out for good spots, any where with dirt paths or smooth grassy hills is perfect.

You can get a fair bit of speed up on them as I discovered out in Farran Woods one time when I came off trying to do a tight turn and bruised my ribs hehe

Jak

Slick board pal. How much did it cost you out of interest?

Was thinking about getting one to use out on the strand at low tide or if the winds were strong offshore. Would be a great way to get extra kite handling days in I reckon.

Have you used it with your kite yet?

The only thing I'm really wondering about those boards is, if you were to go out on one with say a 9m + kite, or even a 3m on a heavy day and you tried to get a bit of air ... just how good is that suspension?

The_Scary_Man

The springs are part of the truck design and just serve to allow a tighter turning circle. They don't work as suspensions, thats all done with the spring of the board.

They are pretty strong though and I've seen clips of guys getting big air with kites and off ramps and having no problems.



As for trying it out with the kite, I reckon that I'll have to get a little bit more practice in with the kite before I try it out, but I will try it out

Pricewise I'd say anywhere from €250 up.

The kite I have is small enough but I'd say I'd get a bit of speed up on a big day. I'd love to try out a bigger one but as I said I'll get used to this one first.

Jak

Aye for a stacker 8 or super 10 you will probably need a fairly huge amount of wind to get really going .. but I've never liked those kites really as power kites, they tend to be a bit more stunty.

If you are looking for a cheap good starter kite for it, try maybe a 3m Slingshot, I think that could probably work well enough and they are comparable in price to stackers, but give far better pull.

Personally if I get around to getting a mountain board, I'll be using the 3m with harness for a good long while before I have a go with my full size kite. Though at least the bigger kites have depower systems which I reckon would make a huge difference for controlling the board on land. That said, I'd rather take out the small kite with less power for the first whiles ... I have this mental block about sand being considerably harder than water.

The_Scary_Man

Would I be able to hook a harness up to the 3m Slingshot then?

One of the main concerns I had with using the kite with the board was getting the balance between controlling the kite well enough to keep it in the window while still maintaining control of the board.

I have it in my head that if I was hooked on to the kite it would make this a bit easier.

Cork Skate

Originally posted by The_Scary_Man
I have it in my head that if I was hooked on to the kite it would make this a bit easier.

That sounds fairly narly to me .... tied onto the kite and trying to control the board at 50 clicks an hour down banna strand, sand castles and pony rides out the window there my friend !!

To be honest .... it'd be one or the other for me i think, i mean when i skate .... i push myself and control my speed, where as the wind on the beach (most days) takes no prisoners !!

Narly stuff me tinks

Jak

On my way to work - so this will be a bit short

Right the 3m slingshot is a 2 line foil type kite - as such it generates a fair amount of pull but the big issue (which usually won't come into it on lighter wind days with such a small kite) is that it has no (and no facility for) a depower ring/system. Nor does it have a harness loop.

Now the former there means simply that you cannnot hook a 3rd depower line/loop into your harness (or 3rd/5th line in the case of bigger kites). The depower system on foil type kites is more or less an extra line that connects to the kites trailing edge which allows you to dump air out off the back of the kite (depowering) or close the kite in so to speak which can power it up.

Anyhows all this means is that if you throw a harness loop onto your 3m control bar (which I have done no bother - just took an old windsurfing one) the problem is that it is a dead loop.

I.e. When you are hooked into that you have no control over power, but the tradeoff is - your bodyweight will take the edge off handling for longer periods of time. Now the earlier kitesurfing kites were this design and frankly they were ok - but in gusty conditions or if they luff and repower due to a handling error they can be plain lethal because you are locked in (granted you can unhook from the harness, but it is not always great to have to ditch your kite and sometimes we all get caught out).

Anyhows best away,

JAK.