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May Fly - Day 25 iFlite #1490 flew around the locomotive of the train at Walt Disney World during a rain delay at the station after lightning strikes had occurred in the area. The air was still between storms and the station was empty so it was quite the unique opportunity.

Clovers, no more than 6" high! (I want to be really tiny and fly under them for a day)

Teaser....

Wow Dashgee. You really do take it with you everywhere. Who would have thought that you would have an opportunity to fly at Disney?

May Fly - Day 22 iFlite #621 while relaxing at home. May Fly - Day 23 Flew iFlite Fusion #1488 at the Park View Hotel Pool

Point Piedras Blancas (Elephant Seal colony)

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (camped for one night)

FYI, while it does take a little navigation / translation skill for most folks to browse, TK's blog is a great place to see more of our travels and her awesome photography. http://kishitaka.exblog.jp/19840969/ Some photos from my side of the lens, shot along the way from the Bay Area to San Diego: Winchester Mystery House Will add some more momentarily, just moving into a better wifi network for the rest of these uploads.

Something to think about. Kites with multiple uses... A std. B series comes with 2 and 3 wrap frame. A std. B flies well indoors. A Race frame is almost a necessity. My personal preference is a B Pro (non pro works too) with a Race frame and a 2 wrap center LE. Plus it fly's outdoors to. The way the kite flies is also the same as it is outdoors. Having a bridel or not makes a difference. No bridel to me feels like the controls have to be overly exaggerated. Just my thought.

Resale value holds pretty well on all Revs or often times, you'll find that first kite (whatever it is) ends up being the "trainer" for friends and family.

What are Alternative kites to quantum pro? Looking for pros cons and alternative dual line kite to prism quantum pro

Why have a loud muscle car? <grin> Audio + visual!

Wildwood room-mates of cottage 10 found another useful purpose for the sissy sticks, . . . . they can be used as light poles to affix flashing LEDs when backlighting your kite. Amazingly cool to share with the spectators on the boardwalk.

May Fly - Day 24 iFlite Fusion #1488 was Flown under the Banyan Tree in the Cypress Gardens Area of Legoland Florida. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful place to fly.

We have a potentially new kite flyer in the kiting community, I will answer any questions in any forum. Sorry if that does not work for all.

The R-Sky Nirvana is a good one. The Kymera and Hydra are great kites (Shout out to Paul and John) in a great price range but I believe they only have 1 model, a std. No vent or sul. If u plan on competing or even just demoing you need to be ready for all wind conditions.

Don't get "married" to just looking at Prism kites!! There are plenty of manufacturers out there making a lot of other choices too! Prism makes a great product, but so too do others! My advice is to look at all your options before deciding on any one kite!!

For a quad line "trainer" I'm really happy that I bought my 1.7 Flexifoil. It has no frame to break and I have hit the ground far harder than I ever intended to - glad it wasn't my Rev. It's a great trainer for that reason, and a nice arm stretcher if you are feeling that way. Getting used to the quad setup, handles, 4 lines etc all were good experience that translated directly to better flying on the Rev when I went back to it. I first saw a Rev at the Vancouver BC Kite Festival in June last year. I immediately asked the iQuad team what Rev I should buy as a beginner. Consensus there was that I would outgrow the EXP too quickly and I was better off with the 1.5 SLE. That's what I did and I'm a happy camper with 3 more Revs to suit all different wind conditions and another on order. I have poor to middling hand eye coordination, so the Flexifoil trainer taking the bumps and slams in the learning curve made me a lot more confident flyer. The fact that it was less than a third of the price of a Rev made it easier too. My 2 cents to add.

Maybe I'm playing devil's advocate, but personally I have not seen an EXP with broken spars whereas I have seen a broken SLE (yes I mean the fat leading edge spar). I will admit that my data set may be rather small, and the owner of the SLE kite with the broken spar had used it to teach lots of people to fly (he taught me too) and in fairly strong wind, so maybe my comparison is not fair. However, my point is, don't expect the SLE frame to never break. Maybe it's harder to break, but it can still happen. The label on my EXP frame says "EXP" (kite was purchased in 2010). I think there is something else on the label, but cannot remember (maybe "Revolution"?). I identify the frame set by the "EXP" text, but treat it as any other 3 wrap set. It gets swapped into other kites as needed and if it's the most convenient set to grab.

My perspective is a little different. The EXP is an excellent first quad primarily due to its low price for a RTF package. As for the SLE leading edge - there is unfortunately a confusion of names in the Revolution kite line. There are SLE kites, which usually have the same standard frame as the EXP (called "3 wrap"), and there are SLE kite frames which have a larger and more robust leading edge. Most fliers, but certainly not all, avoid the SLE frames because they do not have the response necessary for group or competition flying. SLE kites come with either the SLE frame, or the more standard frames. The EXP standard frame is not marked (or at least was not marked a few years ago - check with the dealer about any questions) but was equivalent to the standard "3 wrap" marked with 3 feathers. There are also lighter frames, "2 wrap" and "race rods", heavier frames "4 wrap", and the extra strong frames "SLE", which are available in the SLE kites and the more advanced B-series (Barresi signature) kites. (Hmm - I've not heard of an SLE frame in a B-series kite before.) I broke one leading edge rod on my EXP while learning - which cost about $20 to replace. Moving from the EXP with a standard frame to an SLE and later a B series kite was natural because of the common frame sets. So, my recommendation is to avoid the SLE frame, go for an EXP RTF package, or at a bit higher price range, an SLE (KITE) RTF package with 3-wrap frame. Discuss this with your dealer. If they cannot satisfy your question, then contact any of the dealers that advertise on Kitelife. Your personal situation is probably different than mine - so take advise with caution. P.S. Reviewing Windwarrior's posts, I would guess his perspective is from power/traction kiting. He is correct - the EXP and all the 1.5 size Rev kites are basically for "ballet" or "precision" flying. There are other Rev kites that are much better if you want to explore power kiting. However, a 1.5 size Rev with SLE frame is not a good choice for power kiting either. Instead, look into the Supersonics and several other lines of Rev kites with a solid frame, or maybe a soft frame "foil" (I do not have experience with these - except to briefly fly a supersonic. I am WELL over the half-century mark, and do not need to wrestle with a powerfully pulling kite to have my fun. Thus, my experience may not be applicable.) Check out the Revolution Kite forum to see what most other Rev fliers are doing. Enjoy - you cannot make a bad decision.

Here is an in depth review of the Pro found on Google. http://v2.2.kiteclique.com/prism-quantum-pro-review/

Yep. :45 mark and beyond. This is a good watch if you want to see some expert control flying.

Yes it can. Here is a book that you can download that explains how you can control a Rev Kite. I would read this book, and then watch the beginner tutorials on Quads that are available on this website. http://www.gwtwforum.com/pdf/revbook.pdf http://kitelife.com/forum/tags/downloads/beginner/

Looks like something sold at Fredericks of Manitoba instead of Hollywood.

Join IKE, Illinois Kite Enthusiasts. You can borrow any of mine and most other member's anytime. Just go to ikeclub.org, and sign up. There are no club dues or any other cost to join, just people who enjoy flying kites. There are about 20 active members who live within 100 miles of Chicago, and many festivals and club flys throughout the year.

May Fly - Day 21 A quick fly at 11:45PM with the iFlite Classic #962. i flew til Kelli ahem-ed me a few times... it was kinda late and the camera flash woke her up ;-) There's something about the iFlites, once I start flying, i do not want to stop. Oh nice glider there Amexpmh! I have stared at those a few times on horvath's site (www.horvath.ch) The vent is a great idea i bet, does it help keep the nose down for a glide? My hybrid 200 is great , but sometimes i think it would benefit from a vent. When i spoke about wingtip strikes a couple of entries ago, it was because when the horvath 200 is low to the ground and i try to turn it back toward me, sometimes it will pick the nose up and then turn sideways a bit and that's when i get tip strikes. The wingspan is so wide compared to the height that it strikes the ground and then once it strikes the ground it will just crash. (so it's not a tip strike on trees or other objects, it's the ground! i wasn't clear in my earlier post.) It really makes me laugh when that happens though! Because the kite is going along so smoothly and then there is this sudden transiton to a crash. Like when flying the iFlite inside and it's on an absolutely gentle glide all peaceful and all and then a wingtip will just barely touch the ceiling fan or the dresser and you will hear a tiny "tink" and then it noses down and quickly spins to the ground. kites are fun. :-)

The Horvath's are in. I spent some time this morning with the CLV Glissandro.

Wayne: yes Patrick not only produces his kites in Striking Bold Colours, he also does the Fusion kites. Fusion Kites have a fantastic mix of colours in them. dashgee: Wow awesome Update. Brilliant to see you have been gliding everyday. Fantastic Pictures as always. Love them all. Thanks for sharing. Day 20: After a very long day I got to unwind with an hour of indoor gliding on my New Green iFlite (translucent green, not Emerald) With the Cold and Rain outdoors it was nice to relax indoors and fly. Day 21: A nice mid morning fly, again with the Green iFlite. My camera is having trouble capturing the Green of this kite. I think I need a sunny day.

May Fly - Day 18 Both iFlite Classic #964 for Kelli and iFlite Classic #621 for me made for some nice mellow gliding. May Fly - Day 19 Kelli flew iFlite Fusion #1490 at a fountain on campus and I flew iFlite Fusion #1487 May Fly - Day 20 What a nice kite the Horvath 200 is. This is my first glider and my favorite. The best time i had with this kite was at the beach in about 1mph wind and the kite would just overfly a tad, turn and glide for 200 feet before turning around for another climb. Tonight's session was really nice and would have lasted longer than 20 mins if the bugs had not been so aggressive. The 200 flies really flat and is very predictable. The major challenge flying in the smaller space of the backyard is trying to avoid wingtip strikes. I look forward to flying the Horvath this summer at the beach when nothing else will fly. Happy Gliding -g

May Fly - Day 17 Flew the Wala and the Emong in a nice open space in calm to no wind. The wind would blow at times and at one point had all the Wala's line out like an slk. Someone remarked, "oh you finally got it to fly up high in the air!". Kelli also flew iFlite #1264 without a photo op. Later back at home Kelli flew pink iFlite Classic #857

Wow, what a trip! That's totally something I want to do some day. I see you are making a stop in Yellowstone near the end of your journey (I'm imagining it will probably be this fall that you'll be there)... are you planning on a clinic or anything at that point? I live in Boise, I know you're not coming through B-town, but you'll be close, Yellowstone and/or Idaho Falls is only a few hours away from me.

May Fly - Day 16 Ahhhh Friday! The grass was mowed a few days before and it is already growing back fast but nonetheless it was time to fly. To the backyard with an arm full of gliders. The Emong gets alot of my attention. I am still enjoying getting to know this kite and it seems to act a little differently everytime it flies. sometimes it likes to circle a lot and not stay on a straight glide and others it really likes to travel back and forth across the field. It is easy to assemble it with the nose assembly upside down and i am sure i have done that once or twice. It also seems to change character a lot depending on how tight the sail adjustment is. And of course everything changes if the wind blows even a little. Mostly it seems to do really well once you have 30 feet of line out with some room to correct the attitude when need be. I like this glider alot. But wait, there's more... around 8 o'clock they were going to launch a Delta IV rocket from Kennedy Space Center and the skies were quite clear so we headed up the road to see what we could see from Lake Geneva in Keystone Heights. Now, KSC is about 132 miles driving distance from us, not quite sure what the straight line distance is but that gives you an idea. The launch went off exactly on time and it was very cool to watch as always. After the launch we hung out for a bit and Kelli flew her iFlite with the rocket trail still hanging in the sky. A great start for the weekend!

On the subject of brakes - think of it as a car transmission. You're looking for a neutral, not drive! You can set the kite up in a way that it doesn't do what you don't tell it to do! The stock setup is great for launching, but once in the air, it's always in drive! Always wants to go forward The longer leaders let you neutralize things so you have to tell it where to go! Now it doesn't just go off in your hands, flying crazy forward with every gust of wind! The kite is made for you to have complete control, any direction, any speed, any time! Longer leaders (more brakes) gives you that control!

Hi Everyone, Time to catch up from too long a lapse in posting our glides. We have certainly been doing a good deal of flying but schedules this time of year keeps the pace going at a pretty good clip. One missed post turns into several in the blink of an eye. This is where the iFlite can really come in handy as even when schedules do not yield time during the day you can always find time to fly inside the house for a few minutes while sitting and relaxing at the end of the day. And that's exactly what i did for Days 13 14 and 15. May Fly - Day 13 iFlite I #1217 Vented - Blue May Fly - Day 14 iFlite I #1239 - Orange - Acrobat May Fly - Day 15 iFlite I #962 - Blue - Mellow Glide And finally here are a couple of pics of my little iFlite case made last year. It fits well in my backpack so there is always something to fly nearby.

Ha, good luck I will let I know if I hear of one. Kinda one of those kites u never sell. Awesome.

Wow! Great turnout and weather it looks like... smiles all around

To Tmadz That turtle is my travel buddy AMA2. He is traveling with me all around the world. Hehehe! Let's Smile Together Tour 2014

Looks like a great spot & a lucky bunch of people in that class !

Sorry I don't have pix, but I'll try explaining! You know your home made bottoms? Imagine putting them on the top, then larksheading your regular leaders to them! Make them with just one knot for ease of use, I do the same on bottom anyways! If you get too much wear, just replace the short pigtail, larkshead the main leader to it, and off you go!! I do double over my bridle line on each one, probably overkill, strength-wise, but how I do it! I never had any problems with wear on my modded handles like yours, only since I switched to the no-snags! Movement of leaders through the hole and over itself, seem to be the issues of wear! I thought that having the leader exposed and rubbing of my thumb would be the major causes of wear, but it is the leaders themselves that are the worst reasons!! So I came up with the "mini" leaders that are expendable items! I got 2 pairs of no-snags last October, worn out a set of leaders on each pair!! Now I know I fly more than the average guy, but this was unexpected! Especially when it happened right as I was flying one day! Came up with this idea as a temporary solution, but the more I thought on it, the more sense it made! So I'm using it full time now!!