Google Earth Kiting

[andyandmarlys]

I wish I knew how to keep this error from happening....

[andyandmarlys]

I have once had a gps indicate I was in south america and moving at a rate of 8000mph..... additionally I have been flying over deserts and had no GPS signal in absolute clear skies....

[Pablito]

It's a fact that consumer GPS is only accurate to 3 meters at any given time. I'm not an engineer, but it seems to me if you extrapolate that margin of error to a 500 meter speed run, it would be close to impossible to use it to judge your exact speed.

Sure, you can get way more accurate with GPS. They make GPS systems to use on farm tractors that are accurate to 1/2 inch (I'm sure they use them in other land use applications too), but they require you to install your own base station for triangulation. They also cost $30,000 and are about the size of a laptop computer and the antenna is a satellite dish.

I think it'd be pretty hard to kite 40 knots with one of those taped to your arm! :shock:

[clints]

Leo, Poor weather does affect signal(delay signal or loss), and we've seen it in action with our co's product in the field. Having said that, it also depends on the GPS chip that you're using, I suspect for flying, you're using a more sophistacated chip to handle this problem. Consumer gps chip or cheap ones like the one we used in our product don't handle problem very well or even at all. There's also a problem called "GPS drift" which is what andy refers to when he got a reading of 8000mph and location is in south america. These problem does not happen all the time, so don't start throwing you're GPS away :).

I would suggest try the speed run again on a clear sunny day and make sure the GPS is getting the correct data before and after the run. Also, mount you're GPS where it will have a clear view of the sky(top of the helmet).

-clint

[Greg]

I say we hook that mo-fo to the kite and whip the hell out of it...
L.M.G.

[Loscocco]

Wow thats sweet!!

[lmontejo]

Yesterday, the wind meter at Alameda picked up, and all of a sudden we had 15 kites set up and ready to go at Crown beach... Even Charlie pumped up his kite. My one and a half year old had his 1 meter foil out too.

But it never really happened. I nevertheless pumped up my Crossbow 12, with some 8mph, took out my Glide, and here's what I did... Two other kiters went out too.



The tracing even shows me walking up the beach... :-( You can see why I gave up at the end...

Notice how I was able to stay upwind for a while. A few puffs at the beginning kept me going, and my top speed was a meager 18.5mph.

Conclusion: Let's see if I can stay upwind, with 8mph, on the new Cabrinha Contra 16.5m.

Cheers.

[LionKite]

Leo... I bit the GPS bait and taped one onto my arm today..... Armed with my brand new Misfit 134 (super sweet board... and REALLY FAST) I did a few speed runs and pretty easily broke 30mph.....didn't feel all that powered... but did my best.. My last run of the day felt much more powered ( I caught a gust) and I know I went much faster than my prior runs... GPS said 46.6kts as top speed, but that has to be too much (I am not the best judge of speed).... I'd believe 35-40mph... but 46.6kts has got to be close to a record.... I am now wondering if my GPS is really accurate or is reading some sort of bounced signal or something... (Leo... have you experienced this with your watch GPS?)

Also... I rode a little over an hour and it said I went 15 miles... I believe that is accurate.

Andy

If you rode for an hour and did an average of 15 miles there is no way that you even got close to 40 and we are talking miles per hour here...
The wind at Alameda for that day wasn`t gusting above 30 mph so it is praticaly impossible for a rider to go faster than the wind by almost 20 mph
On speed runs it`s glassy butter smooth/40 KNOTS conditions and only a hand few(and we are talking La creme de la creme here) has made it above the 40 knts barrier...

[andyandmarlys]

I don't think I my average over an hour has anything to do with a top speed. My speed runs lasted all of 20-30 seconds each.. and I probably did 7-8 runs... Other times I was going upwind, or just riding for fun

Now, I don't think I went 46.6kts, but I was in glassy water, and did go pretty darn fast... I may not have gone over 40kts, but I'll stick to 35-40mph estimate...

[fearlu]

I'll bite my tongue (once again) on these speed guess-timates. Anyone who's been clocked in excess of 40 mph will know exactly what I mean.

(I can assure you that the day you DO go 40 mph on a kiteboard will feel like a VERY special session indeed.)