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I got my first kite


ucdcrew
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Yep, great kite to learn on, for sure. As you mentioned, nothing to break. I've got the older version, which was called the Stylus. I always use that kite if someone wants to learn. Once they've got the two line concept down, you can usually let them land, then hand over the reins of a regular dualie, and they are off and flying.........(hooked for life)

post-4670-0-72108400-1387219541_thumb.jp

Prism Stylus P2

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Well I tried to fly it yesterday, but I could not remember how to make the lark's head knot without the video. I was going to use a clove hitch and was almost ready to launch it when I decided that might not be the best course of action. I wasn't 100% convinced that the kite would not just fly away if the knots slipped over the ends. I may try again today.

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Got a Snapshot 1.2 as my first new sport kite when I started flying again 16 months ago. Seemed like a great choice at the time & I still feel it was. Very fast fun kite & I would feel fine letting anyone give it a go. Hope it inspires you to continue. Wear it out.

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I got to go into the NWS (NOAA) office here in Tucson. They were really cool, and showed us how they look at all the models and make predictions. They say they just read data, I say they're brilliant. They also like to write us tongue twisters for the discussion we have to read on the radio. "Seemingly showery on Sunday"...and I'm tripping over my tongue on the radio.

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I flew it a couple times today. The wind died for a few hours while it switched direction, perfect for a lunch break and then back at it! My first first attempt was not so successful. I kept trying to get it into the air to launch. It wouldn't go, or it would automatically do a nosedive. Someone I didn't know even held it up for me but it crashed right away. Then I noticed the bridle lines were tangled, and had to unhook the flying lines, straighten them out, and reattach. I must not have been very careful when putting them on the first time. After that, it self launched with a water bottle fairly easily.

It moves pretty quick! I think I figured out what the 'window' means. If I go too far to one side or the other, it slows down and starts to lose altitude. I got it making figure 8s pretty quickly. Then I started having to 'flare' (for lack of a better word) to keep it in the air - so I put it down and brought it home. When the wind came back up, I went back to the park. I can self launch it no problem, and even if I crash it I don't usually have to go and fix it (unless it gets really twisted). I started making ground passes as best I could, and got it to do some loops. For some reason, looping to the right is much easier than looping to the left. Then the air force showed up to play flag football and set up right where I could crash into them. So I went home, but it was so fun! I cannot wait for it to be windy again.

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Check your lines for equal length. With pull on the foil (all kites really) the spectra fiber lines can lengthen up to 2%. On 85' lines that can be nearly a foot and a half. When lines start to stretch it can be easier to pull to one direction than the other because one line is longer than the other. Glad you had fun. It 's a great intro to all kiting.

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  • 1 month later...

I haven't seen my MesoWest site pop up for wind. This one is preset for the Tucson area, but you can move the map around. It has all the RAWS and HADS stations on it, so you can check what the weather stations are reporting. It helps me pick where I'm gonna fly. If you zoom in, more stations show up.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/gmap.php?map=twc

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  • 2 months later...

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