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blast from the past


jambo101
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I've been out of kite flying for 20yrs or more and have recently been going through my inventory of kites i used to fly and plan on flying again now that i have retired.Perusing the net i notice that some of my kites have become obsolete as in 3 different models of Peter Powell kites including a 6ft triple combo

3 Hawian kites that i forget the model names of two of them the other is a "Spinoff"

3 6ft Flexifoils and one 4ft flexi

1 6ft Rev2 and a 4ft Rev2

And about a dozen other small Delta kites that i have forgotten the names of

So what have i missed in 20yrs? What happened to the Peter Powell company? are the Hawaiian kites still made or are they now considered too heavy?

I did notice they are now called sport kites instead of stunt kites..

First rookie mistake=posting in the wrong Beginners section apologies to the mod.If a moderator could put the thread in the two line section it would be appreciated

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Hey Jambo...

The Hawaiian kites are treasured collectible items now. They still fly as good as they did 20 years ago, work best in a 15+mph breeze. I don't think the flexifoils have changed much, and they're still sold. The Peter Powell kites are in the same catagory as the Hawaiians, no longer made, but worth good $$$ to collectors. I have a bunch of old similar kites that I enjoy flying once in a while, but the new kites have such greater capabilities in the trick department, that the older ones are almost boring to fly in comparison. I guess if you're out for excercise and noise making, fly the Hawaiians, they're awesome kites. If you want to fly in low and medium wind, pick up a new kite, it will blow your mind what they can do now.

Have fun...

~Rob.

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  • 1 year later...

All gone. Top of the Line, Action Kites, Hyperkites, Rainbow Kites, Trlby, just to add some.

I think Hypers can still be had, but only on a custom order basis from a kite shop in NC. They're no longer being

"mass" produced. Rainbow production had been picked up by another company, but I don't think

they're making them anymore, either.

I still have 3 Hyper stacks, a 12 stack of Rainbows, a Hawaiian and one big'un from Action Kites

as well as a few NoNames which I plan on stacking. I also have my first orange 4' Flexi and

a 4' custom Flexi. Got that after I played tour guide to the owner's present wife. :kid_drool:

Oh, yeah, last time I talked to Randy Tom of Hyperkites, he says he still has my 20 stack

in storage. :)

I never did get into any of the "new" stuff, like Revolution Kites, even after meeting the brothers

over here where they first introduced them. I thought they were neat, but never caught on to

flying with 4 lines. B) Also never got into the newer generation of sportkites as I found them to be too

"twitchy" to fly. I'm kinda like the old school surfers. I like to carve the sky, not shred it. :kid_drool:

I've been out of touch for so long, I may have some of my facts skewed. I hates senior moments.

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Welcome back, we have missed you

If you want to reminisce you can view my "old School" collection

Thanks for that, Mike. :kid_drool: It has been awhile. I joined this forum in 05 and have only 12 posts? :)

I guess it was a sign of how bad we lost our enthusiasm for the hobby. Not the people, though.

Was wondering if you get up towards Golden Valley ways and if you know Kathy Plummer who used to coordinate the old Avi Kite Fests. She was instrumental in getting the wife and me up there numerous times. Our puter crashed a good while back and we lost all our contact info for everyone we met at the Avi. Most importantly, we lost all our contact info for Kathy. If you know, that'd be great. If not, don't go putting yourself out of your way. I think the more I get back into kiting, the closer I'll get to finding her again. :kid_drool:

Btw, your collection does bring back memories. Some of the first sportkite competitions were out here and we saw a bunch of these old school kites at their inception to the market. We met the likes of Don Tabor, the Hadziki brothers, ummm whatshisname from Action Kites, Randy Tom whom I'd become good friends with. I made my first custom 6 pack of Hypers and ended up trading it to the late, great Lee Toy who loved my sweet sour spare ribs with pineapple. B) Btw, it's the reason why I was introduced to Randy. He ended up liking my work and didn't mind my continueing so long as I didn't sell them. :)

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  • 3 years later...

What have you missed is a great question. Check out some of the videos on utube and elsewhere and you will be shocked. The peter powell kites are probably in need of new straping tape to hold them together. It was used at all the connections so you could replace and retape the joint. The hawaiian team kite should be ready to go out of the package. You probably have some old Kevlar line which is frowned upon since its tough of the other kites. Spectra and a few other new lines are the norm now. The Flexifoils suffer from old age and loosing thier coating. IF the material is not sealed they wont inflate. I have several that wont fly any longer and a few new copies that I get out for old time sake. The general difference is in the past you could make it go left and right and if you were good do a loop or figure 8. New kites like the rev can fly upside down and backward so to speak since four lines are used and you basically fly each side of the kite seperate. one side up and the other down makes it spin. I was big in the kites in the mid 80's and left for a few years. When I saw what was new in the late 90's I started building a new collection and I have not slowed down since. I remember Dad asking how many kites I needed when we were stopping at the 5th kite shop on the outer banks. I said only the ones I did not have... I wish he was still around to complain about the collection.

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jambo - a 4' Rev 2?? Not that I know of!! Rev 2s are 6', Rev 1s are 9', and 1.5s are 7 1/2'! Better check your tape measure!!

If indeed you have a 4' Rev, it might be a "Backtracker", the black sheep of the Rev lineup!! But it did get me flying Revs in the first place!! I believe it has the name on it in the front of the sail!! PS: I traded mine off!

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