Good beginners kite

[povlhp]

Was out with my 7 y.o. son half an hour friday, he did not really fancy it, as my cheap 2m china kite has pulled him a bit on occations (and he was getting scared for straps), and the 1.4m china kite with crossed bridles more flies like a slightly controllable SLK than a 2-liner.

So I had bought a HQ Symphony Beach 1.3 for him, and had a cheap 10m tail from China (< $3), which are actually good value for the money (and the only kite related thing I now buy from China apart from Dynema lines, lessons learned).

This changed everything. At first we tried without the tail, and it was too fast. Then we added the tail, and it introduced a bit of drag slowing the kite down, but just as important, it makes the kite flying so much more interesting for my son. And he can see where the kite just was. He was all smiling. So this made all the difference.

So be sure to start with a good kite, and a tail will add a lot to the flying.

I was trying to tell him to use a neutral positition in front of his body, but he kept ending up with the arms spread wide, not being able to put more input into the kite. So he still has some practice to do. I do consider adding a piece of line between the 2 straps, to limit his movement, such that he can't spread his arms that wide. 20-25 inches. Will give him a wakeup call when he starts doing it. He don't want the video debriefing.

In this session we had the usual variable wind, and a couple of time the kite collapsed, so it is important to tell him when it is not his fault. But it is part of it. Sometimes when we launched the kite w/tail also did not want to go that high in the wind window. I try to teach him to park at the top after launch. And if it stops halfway, no tight maneuvers.

[makatakam]

Learning is fun, for both the young and the old. I think you had as much fun as he did. Good work, dad! Keep the spirit alive.

[Tmadz]

Glad to hear it. Feel free to ask questions. Nice that you added another kite flier.

[povlhp]

Children today have a short attention span. Want to be world champion at first attempt. So this thread is also started to help others get the right stuff to start on, rather than turning the kids away.

Not sure what advice there is trying to teach children. Altitude awareness seems to one thing I need to work on, and more important, hand position, and teaching him how to move the hands back to neutral the kite can fly forward.

Any other good advice ? Teach him to move one hand out another in to avoid the arms out to the sides ? For him it is all about having fun, making cool moves (the tail helps a lot), and less about getting good control.

What are things to practice with a dual-line foil ? Flying 8, inverted-8, tight loops (and unwind again), larger circles, box ? Not sure how the speed is compared to my HQ Symphony Pro 2.2, if we can play follow the leader ? I have 2 pcs 10m tail, and one 30m tail to help adjust speed. But I almost got the feeling the 1.3 is faster than the 2.2. And I have a set of Dynema lines I can switch to. I guess flying together would be fun for him as well.

[makatakam]

The 1.3 is faster than the 2.2 -- put a tail on the 1.3 to slow it down. Which tail? You will probably have to experiment to get the right length.

How do you keep a child interested? Give him a goal with a reward. Maybe something out near the kite on the ground to knock down or hit, like a balloon. Ice cream as a reward should work. Keep changing the goals and the rewards. Increase the difficulty slightly each time, but don't make it impossible.

[SparkieRob]

I started my kids on a Symphony Beach 1.3 and the tail, a micron one, helped keep their attention. That and dive bombing me! That was when my kids were 3 (boy) and 6 (girl).

Now my boy is 7 and wants his own Rev so I'm teaching him on mine. He's getting quite good. My daughter, now 10, prefers her SLK with the tails.

A bar of 400mm was a help for keeping the duals.

With quads I have to keep reminding my boy to keep his hands in front of him and not over his shoulders.

One thing though. I am not concerned if he breaks my Rev, his smile is worth far more than carbon and ripstop.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Craig Best]

Sounds like you nailed it!