The Geoff

Not seen that before - I suspect the debunking video is probably spot on, it's a hoax. It IS in theory possible to make a motor that works in this way, there's plenty of "perpetual motion" machines that rely on very powerful fixed magnets - but what they're actually doing is slowly sapping the magnet of its magnetism, and the energy extracted is always less than that required to make the magnets, so you always have a net loss. They also need extremely fine bearings because friction is such an issue - they produce very little torque, so even if we discovered a never-ending supply of high power magnets they wouldn't be much use. FURTHER RAMBLINGS - LOOK AWAY NOW MICK It's all about entropy and thermodynamics. Entropy is a word that gets thrown around a lot with lots of definitions, but it's basically a measure of how unlikely a group of things is. A perfectly organised bookshelf has low entropy, and one with the books randomly ordered and placed in odd orientations has high entropy. This is because there's far fewer ways to arrange books alphabetically, spine out than there is to throw a bunch of books on shelves at random. This order/disorder is closely linked to the ability to extract energy...or, for that matter, the need to expend it. Generally, low entropy systems naturally decay into high entropy systems and energy is transferred as a result - if you can tap this process or even encourage it then you can use the energy to do other stuff like fly kites and run fans, but you HAVE to even out the difference between the high/low entropy systems, whatever they are. The energy COMES FROM evening out the differences. And it works in reverse. If you want to take an object and split it into high and low entropy you HAVE to put more energy into it. So....magnets: Magnetism is no mystery - charged particles (say, electrons or protons, but not neutrons because they're neutral) basically ARE magnets, it's a fundamental force written into the most basic laws of physics. They have a north and south "pole" and everything. Some atoms and molecules also share this feature because of the way they are "constructed" from smaller particles, they have more norths facing one way and more souths facing the other, so they too are magnets. So, take a big lump of iron and....well, it's not magnetic. That's because it has high entropy - in a plain old bit of iron each atom, each individual little magnet, is pointing in a fairly random direction, and when you average out all the atom-magnets they roughly cancel each other out and you get no real magnetic field. So...if we heat a bit of iron so all the atoms can wiggle around a bit, and put it in a strong magnetic field, they'll all shuffle round to align in the same direction, and we've made a magnet. This happens in the Earth's crust, molten rock with a high iron content bubbles up and slowly cools, making some bloody big (but weak) magnets. If you then use the magnet to move something the force on each atom will jiggle it a little, and it might flip around. The more you use it the more you jiggle them, the more that switch, and you eventually end up back in a 50/50 north/south split meaning you have no more magnet, it's now randomised - high entropy. So basically: 1: Make magnet (takes energy) 2: Us magnet to move thing (gives energy) 3: Dead magnet (no energy) The very, very best you can do in theory is to use fractionally more energy in step 1 than you get back in step 2. So still a net loss. Thermodynamics: 1: You can't win. 2: You can't break even. 3: You can't get out of the game.

Assuming 25m lines, and with directly above you being 0 degrees and sat on the water directly downwind being 90 degrees, horizontal distance between you and the kite is: 25 x sin(angle of lines) Adapting this to account for the kite being left/right in the window works the same way, with 90 degrees being directly ahead and dropping to 0 degrees either side of the window. Sorry.

Yup, this. There's always flat spots from time to time, they tend to appear out of nowhere (destructive interference innit) so you need to be quick, but that just sends you higher - I'm a big fan of using the chop as a kicker, got a few nice little jumps in today by just edging and popping off the chop, no redirection needed.

Using a leash makes your fins fall off. FACT.

You know you're a proper kitesurfer when you surf over to somebody with their board the first time - I kind of enjoy doing it, it's like having a big warm bath in karma - all part of the looking-after-each-other ethos that's so important in a sport like this.

Hello Yeah, I'm no leash fan. I've never used one and I'm still using the same board (straps, not bindings) that I've used from day one about a decade ago. I've had to body drag in a few times and wait for the board to get washed in, but that was usually when the wind was borderline at the low end and I was having trouble dragging upwind. In your normal shore break you don't even need to get upwind, just stay more upwind than the board is. Zephyrus' situation is interesting - bit of a newbie, but getting there quickly. (Like he said, he relaunched a 14.5m Ion III about 10 times in one session a few weeks back, he kept crashing it because the wind was marginal anyway, frankly I'm impressed he managed it so regularly, especially for a big, heavy, wet kite in low wind - low enough that the only way to relaunch was directly downwind, none of your sliding to the edge stuff.) A leash will certainly make things easier for him, the only question I have is with the safety aspect. He's far less likely to be seriously powered up and/or messing about in big waves, so the chances of getting big forces involved are smaller, but at the same time he's also more likely to lose control of the kite and have it start looping when he's not ready for it. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Either way, he's a helmet type and I'm generally there to either fetch his board for him or drag his broken, bleeding body from the water and feed it to his (rather lovely) dogs. He's a grownup, he's done his risk assessment, and he's bigger than me.

Cheap as in the jeep cost £100 - not cheap as in it's an MOT failure so you need to move to Scotland and buy a house that backs on to a brilliant beach. And no, I didn't "go big", we were in about 10 inches of water most of the time, a pop round to toeside is the funkiest you're getting

Totally do-able I'd imagine, if it worked back in the early days it should work now. You'd be far more prone to groin injuries though - ever landed a board with one foot in? Like that, but worse.

That's very, very cool! Looks like you've got a lot of weight over the back and it's producing a lot of drag - although I can see how that would stop the nose digging in and may give some more control when it's all being done from the waist up?

If it's heaven there has to be kitesurfing. Kitesurfing is no fun without the risk of dying. Therefore we're already in heaven Like that setup, looks quite usable - think I'd be wanting a life jacket or some kind of flotation if I didn't have the use of my legs though.

Or a Calthrop Special, the 12.5m The ultimate light wind-beast Blade is still the 8.5 Mk IV in my book, the 10.5 needed wind to turn any quicker than an oil tanker, but you could actually work the 8.5 in low winds and end up with more power. I've flown the 10.5 in about 8mph, it's just scary, the 8.5 you can actually USE in the same wind.

Problem with the site taking a cut is it may leave them open to claims as brokers if stuff goes tits-up? Not sure, I'm not a lawyer and all that. It's been tried in the past, it's just far to open to abuse. Caveat emptor I say, if you're looking for a second hand bargain on an internet forum then you need to accept that it's basically a classified ad, you pays your (less) money and takes your risks. If you want security and warranties you buy from a manufacturer or shop, that's why they have "rip-off" higher prices. I took a big gamble and bought a £3k+ van from somebody on here with a post count of about 10 - I DM'd them and asked for real-world references (a couple of shops and established presence on another forum), exchanged a bunch of emails and phone calls, then travelled 800 miles to meet them with thousands of pounds in cash. Having an "official KC seal of approval" wouldn't have swayed me either way, I can't think of any bonus that the community itself can't provide, and even then there's far more important measures to take on top of that.

We once had an annoying flatmate who left for a few weeks - so we sprayed his carpet with water and sowed a bunch of cress seeds (in the shape of a knob, obviously), it came up a treat and it took him ages to get rid of it properly.

Really? Round here that's a touching housewarming gift, this kept us fed for three days: (The goose, not the cat) When I was getting the guts out I didn't realise a goose's voicebox is at the bottom of the neck rather than up by the head, which had been removed. Plunged my hand in, pushing on the diaphragm, and got a nice loud "HONK!". Not sure who crapped themselves more, me or the cat, who was hanging around in hope of some raw goose liver.

In general, I've always found enquiries about potential advertising gets a pretty speedy reply from site admins...