Kiting tells the story.

[davemcw3]

My motor was recently repaired and needed to be tested by flying it. The prop was spinning at the appropriate RPMs at full throttle when setting the carburetor so all seemed well.

I arrived at the field early in the morning and the wind was not too steady in spite of the forecast. The wing was kited for awhile and would do strange things like frontal, lift me unexpectedly, tuck a tip, ....

Not being too bright, I decided to launch anyway. [After all the motor hadn't been flown since it was repaired and tuned.] It took several attempts to get airborne due to the foolish behaviour of my wing. Finally I launched and found that I wasn't climbing very well. Then all of a sudden I was up 100' or so. Then the right tip collapsed. Then I was rocked back and forth. Then I was in sink and a moment later in lift with more rocking. This was not fun. After 1/2 circuit of the field I decided that the motor was fine but the conditions weren't. The bumps that I was experiencing were the worst that I have been in so far. I proceeded cautiously 'feeling the air' for a short time and actively stabilizing the wing as well as possible. It wasn't easy in these roller coaster conditions. Fortunately the wind didn't play any tricks on me as I approached and flared for the landing.

The lesson to be taken from this is, if the wing isn't kiting well it won't fly well in the conditions you find yourself in at the moment. We are feathers in the wind in our ultra-ultra-light craft. Play it safe! I won't ever do this again!