In the mid-sixties I had a paper route in Brigham City, Utah delivering the Deseret News. It was my first experience in how to operate a small business as we were all essentially independent contractors. My route took about an hour & one half delivering 50 to 60 papers on my 3 speed English bike. The newspaper company was always trying to get us to sign up new subscribers. Incentives were given based on the number of new subscribers we recruited. The most memorable premium I ever receiv
So my nearest big time kite store was too far to go to very often. There is now a nice kite in a store nearby. Might never sell but that's okay too. SHBKF
Support your LKS
I started reading the kite forums with some intensity over four years ago. I had used computers for many years even back before the days of the WWW. It has been quite awhile since I’ve seen that initialism used in any context. I had previously been on a few forums of interest but I was really fired up wanting to learn anything kites. I saw mention of an initialism LKS, Local Kite Store. Out here in the mountains of western Virginia there was no such thing. Maybe
Sometimes we leave on a vacation having no idea where we'll wind up or how long we'll be gone. It is a powerful kind of freedom that our vast country provides. So we decide one evening to load a little gear into the RoadTrek the next morning & head up to a small town on the Ohio called Madison. We chose to leave with minimal preparation planning to buy anything we might have forgotten along the way. After a couple evenings on the road we decide we will venture onward. There was somethin
Reading the forums & watching videos you eventually notice that some kites have achieved an almost mythic reputation. But there are those that dismiss them too. Kite fashion moves on to the next latest greatest kite. But still you wonder about these special ones. The RSky Nirvana is one of those kites. New ones are pricey & used ones don't seem to be sold often. But somehow I wound up with one described as a SUL. I believe it is called a Nirvana WW. Didn't know what that stood f
We have had a few pretty days here in the valleys of western Virginia. It even hit eighty degrees for a bit this afternoon. So spring fever has everyone in a good mood round here. Then you feel a nice warm breeze blow late in the evening. And after a lot of work you may somehow get to the point that you're saying to yourself "Why am I doing this? Might as well spend some of the hard earned money, on a, on aahhh, another kite!" Just one more, don't really need one but why not. So
February has been quite a month. Working six days a week passes the time quickly. I finally had a day when it wasn't bad weather and coincided with a day off. As I headed out Sunday afternoon I checked the thermometer, sixty degrees. Checked the lowest recorded temperature and it read zero. I had not reset it since the beginning of the month. The breeze was blowing gently in my little valley so there was hope for stronger wind at my nearest flight area about five miles away. Grabbe
Other fliers talk about their “A bag, B bag, Rev roll up bag, single line bag” and so on. This is what’s usually in the trunk of my car. The Cruze is a fairly small car with a trunk you’d expect. If you want to carry large dualies with the leading edge tubes together you have to lower the rear seat back to let them poke through. So you can see I have the Quantum & the Zephyr broken down. The 4D is in a 3D case that allows full length storage. You would also notice I like Prism k
The leaves are gone now. As I gaze out the bay window, looking for wind in the hollow, I see the tops of the tall white pines gently waving, calling. Down to the dungeon I go, pondering which kites to select this day. Some days I only take one type of kite like maybe just foils. Other days I select to sort of force myself to fly something that has challenged me previously. Plenty of times I will just take one or two of my latest favorites. Additionally there are also at least five k
It’s not really a kite shop but sort of looks like one. I call mine the kite dungeon. There is a troll living under the staircase. In some of my early visits to kite stores, with broken kites in hand, I noticed they had large tables or counters to lay kites out on as they repaired them. Later I saw a video of a famous kite builder framing a kite suspended from the ceiling on a cord with a clip on the end. So I made a four by eight table out of two sheets of plywood screwed together s
I have flown many different kites in the past few years. I would like to think that they were all logical choices for my place on the path at the time. Some were chosen with my limited knowledge as the next great thing & others were purchased with raw emotion and/or true randomness.
Thanksgiving week I stayed at a beachfront campsite where I could actually step out the door & launch a kite in my front yard. It was less than a hundred steps to cross t
It's been over three years since: The Prism Flip appeared on the clearance table at LL Bean. Went to the beach & got a SnapShot 1.2 based on the cash in my pocket. Met Reef Runner on the forums, bought a Zero G from him. Flew my first Rev, a gift from my wife. And almost three years since I got everyone to buy kites for me for Christmas.
As time rolled on many more kites have followed, along with many great kite friends who are all still my kite heroes. I have been wisely
So it's four in the morning, cold & raining here in the mountains of Virginia. And I am reading KiteLife & thinking about kites. I thought kites might be an interesting thing to get into again a few years ago. Knew they were an old passion but did not think they would dominate me as they have. So now, for what it's worth, I will attempt to have a place to ramble on about my thoughts & efforts along the way.
Just got back from an extended beach tr
