Don and the Kiteboat Project were featured on France3’s Thalassa on Friday, September 21st. The full episode on San Francisco, “San Francisco La Rebelle,” is available online here. The portion featuring the Kiteboat Project, “La Cité des Pionniers,” has been disabled on the Thalassa site, but it’s available on Vimeo using the password “sf.”
We took the new pre-preg J-foils out for the first time today. We towed around the protected area by the big ships to make sure everything was working correctly, and it was–with no adjustments! We then went outside the breakwater to sail with the 40 sqm kite. Great upwind performance and ability to pop back up after a jibe. Bruce Sutphen joined us on this test.
Jamie made a new inflator after the last one broke during a test a few weeks ago. The new inflator, like the old one, measures temperature, pressure and altitude, and it inflates through an intake tube.
Jamie also discovered that the junction box had a leak, possibly due to loose cable gland.
A nice test today with the 40 sqm kite. Don’s friend Martin took the kite helm for a bit, and he hit 26 knots. Prior to putting the kite up, we towed to 35 knots with Greg and Joe on board to observe the foil performance at high speeds. After launching, we disassembled the A-frame mast and lashed it down. We hit a top kiting speed of 28 knots with four people.
