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rok steady

The wind was slated to be strong all weekend long with only a twenty percent chance of rain on Saturday. Unfortunately the twenty percent hung overhead most of Saturday. Sunday's winds were strong at times but seemed to wane every few minutes so we stayed away from the field most of the day.

Around five the winds picked up a bit and we headed to the field with the goal of getting the new crab inflated and to get some experience with our new sea creature.

The wind was still unsteady, but the foil 15 went up fairly easily and before long it was above the trees and stable. Kelli had the Triad up and Morgan took pictures.

I unpacked the Crab and unfolded the fabric to find the bridle.

The bridle on the crab has many connection points and comes with a nice line cover to keep them all straight. This really makes everything fairly straight forward, just separate the two bridles sets that are connected together with a carabiner. Connect the upper bridle set to the pilot line with the carabiner and then larkshead onto the main lower bridle set with the flight line. And of course you will want to anchor the flight line or keep a good hold on the spool.

Once connected walk out a bit so that the upper line begins to support some of the crab's weight. At this point the claws will begin to fill. Once they inflate position the crab so that the mouth can gather wind to inflate the body. This all happens fairly easily and our crab wanted to fly right away.

I was very happy with how stable the crab floated and it was very light on its feet. It would climb easily when the breeze would pick up and then set down on the field and wait for the next wave. The crab reinflates very easily and does not have near as much drag as I suspected. Even with light wind and 300 lb dacron line this kite lifted very well. The tag recommends 200 lb line and that should be plenty even in strong wind.

Next up was the Rokkaku which was also having its maiden flight today. It was very easy to set up and really wanted to jump right up in the sky. It was very steady in the sky and had a nice pull even with the light winds. This kite may get used a a pilot for our sea creatures should the need arrive.