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  • SHBKF

    Support your LKS

    By 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
    • 1 comment
    • 1,624 views
  • Exult

    Learning from flying in unfamiliar or non-ideal situations

    By Exult

    When being removed from your comfort flying zone you might get new experiences that you couldn't imagine or predict. This blog entry is also a vacation post card from the medieval city (in the sense that ruins and buildings from that time still exist) of Visby ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visby ) in the island of Gotland ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland ) in the Baltic Sea as well as an example of how flying during new and non-ideal conditions turned out to be educational, fun and very
    • 1 comment
    • 2,840 views

Kites in the trunk

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
SHBKF

SHBKF

7

How I got started with kites.

I got started in kites not that long ago. Coming up 4 years this Christmas.  I took the kids across the road to the park to fly the el cheap-o fluoro yellow SLK octopus after lunch. They had fun for a few minutes then they got bored. I thought this is a good thing to do but there has to be more to it. That night I went online to look at kites. Saw all the usual delta shaped dual line kites. Then I came across a "sport wing". What the heck is a sport wing I thought
SparkieRob

SparkieRob

1

Went for an urban fly the other night...

Believe it or not, I don't actually fly locally very much... Sometimes though, I get the itch and wander out to one of my favorite Portland haunts.        They all have one thing in common, pretty variable winds of anywhere from 0-8 mph with changing directions... Fact is, that stuff really gets me off and I'm very much at home with it.        This time out I went to Eastbank Esplenade, on the e
John Barresi

John Barresi

7

Headin' out

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
SHBKF

SHBKF

1

What A Kite Flier Does...

This past weekend was the weekly kite club fly.  While the weather was great, the wind was nonexistent.  As it has been in many Sundays past.  And so this is the routine for a non-wind day. What A Kite Flier Does….
photomom

photomom

0

Little Flying this Fall...

Hey Everyone... Just starting this up, checking out this new feature on Kitelife. I haven't flown anywhere near as much as I would've liked this Fall, but had a few memorable outings. I caught up with one of our new members last weekend, Frank, who seems to have the Kite Bug really bad ! There wasn't really much wind to fly in, but we got a little air time. It was really good to see another enthusiast on my normally kite-free beaches !
RobB

RobB

16

Live it. Share it. Feed it.

Live it. Share it. Feed it.    Live it   A passion, no matter the type, cannot help but be exuded from your pores. It doesn't control your life but definitely guides the choices made within it. Kiting. You know when the winds are sweetest. You know the markers. The trees that sway in the right direction. You change your travel route home from work to take advantage. Your passion is infectious to those around you. &
SparkieRob

SparkieRob

1

Down in the dungeon

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
SHBKF

SHBKF

9

So what’s been flying lately?

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
SHBKF

SHBKF

0

Been There, Done That

Quite a while ago, I started a kiting blog on another site.  The link to that blog has been in my signature.  While I think this feature makes for a better placement of a kiting blog, it is a major undertaking to migrate and already established blog from one site to another.  One I am not technically up to doing.  So, instead, I'm going to put a link in this blog whenever there is a new posting to my kiting blog. I hope my friends here will make use of the link an
photomom

photomom

2

It's a "Mind Set"

For the longest time, I was my own worst "block" to advancing my skill set.  Starting out I quickly learned when I could fly and when I couldn't. As my skills came along I fell into the "comfort zone" and basically stuck to that wind range. Sure, as I got a vented sail I would venture out in the higher winds but still stuck to what I was comfortable flying in. Comfortable. I was stagnating. I started to wonder if this was it. I began to make those excuses we all h
SparkieRob

SparkieRob

1

Heading into summer.

Down here in Oz we have just turned the corner into Summer and I'm hoping to be out a lot more during the daylight than I have been. Where I live we have this belting Easterly that comes rushing down the escarpment making a Vented sail pretty much the only option. Then tapering to NOTHING around midday giving the SUL and Indoors a go. Then early evening "the doctor" comes in to provide some respite from the heat and lends itself to Standards/Mids. Literally an entire bag could be used in
SparkieRob

SparkieRob

1

Where am I now?

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
SHBKF

SHBKF

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