Timeline

New quad flyer ... and leaders??? By glench Tuesday at 12:37 PM in Quad Heads glench Members 1 Location:Austin Tx Posted Tuesday at 12:37 PM I now have a Rev NYM, and this is my first post. I really hope you won't mind my (beginners)conversation! Once I erased every lesson I ever learned flying a 2-string, it hasn't been hard to learn the basics. Here's my first question for you folks: there seems to be universal agreement that lengthening the top lines helps control. And yet, I have been SHORTENING my top lines, perhaps because I often have minimal or squirrelly winds. I found that I was having to crank back my wrists to a level of discomfort and shortening the top lines allows me to straighten out my grip a bit. I'd love to hear any comments on this subject. I appreciate it! I suppose that I might mention also, that the Rev videos are invaluable to me. Many of you are past them, but I'm not and I don't have a kite community here in Austin Texas, and so no teacher either. Hopefully if I keep flying someone will walk up and go "oh, I fly a quad too!" Quote mebeatee Members 164 Location:Sechelt(ish) BC Country:Canada Posted Wednesday at 01:26 PM Yeehaw!!!! Welcome to quad world!!! As in all kites ya can’t just stop at one.....however you have made an excellent point regarding leaders. You can’t generalize making adjustments because, as you say, no one wants to have any level of discomfort when flying. You have to find out what works for you and not what the general consensus is....although I have always used that as an initial guideline. Everyone’s bodies, arms, wrists, the flexibility’s of etc. are all different, as are the movements. Are there adjustment points on the bottom leaders as well? I have a pair of handles where I adjust the bottom rather than the top and works just fine for how my wrists work. I must also add my wrists are a big part of my livelihood.....I am a drummer.....so I’m not going to screw around with them just to go fly a kite or three...lol. I also have a few pairs of handles where I have found the leaders sweet spot for both the size of kite....1’s, 2’s, and 1.5’s (NYM), and the windspeed. This meaning the leaders are set with no adjustment points and I will change to a longer or shorter length of handle according to windspeed.....shorter handles for more wind and longer handles for less wind. This also gets rid of the superfluous bit of leader that flaps around if you are in the middle of the adjustment points for example. My determining factor in finding the sweet spot was to feel how my wrists reacted to a full on dive stop....when the kite stops dead and what pressure is on my wrist. bt Quote BeaTee Riddims Go fly a kite.... https://www.youtube.com/@aleatorasounds4033 Quote selection frob Kitelife Subscriber 415 Location:Austin Texas Country:United States Posted yesterday at 11:31 AM Hol'up! I'm here! And a few others are too. I try to arrange a monthly fly on the second Saturday of each month but usually it's either just me alone or me and a family member. We've had a few times where some others join in, between about a quarter to half the time. I fly most Saturdays at the same place if I'm in town, but just don't advertise the flying beyond possibly posting a video on youtube. There's Austin End of the Line kite team, but they've been hit by some medical issues last year. There's Go Big or Go Home, although they're transitioning a bit due to age as well. There are a few other people in the region but most are quiet online. As Mebeatee said, there's a lot of views there. I'm not a big fan of the French style, but it's another popular method. It is not so much about the the length, its the difference top and bottom total line length. Go back to when the Rev was introduced in the 1980s and the company had shorter lines on bottom and longer lines on top. Moving a leader to the handles allowed for lines to be equal length, and the longer length could be easily adjusted at the handles. Each kite can have a different 'sweet spot', especially when switching brands or models. I'm a fan of the way John taught it, although I've no idea who came up with it, possibly Lee Sedgwick. With equalized lines, short leader line on the bottom on the longest setting. Put the long leader line on top, find the farthest out that you can still launch the kite, then go in one knot from there. The result mid-air will hover in a neutral position, with the grip balanced midway down the foam on your handles neither pulling forward nor back. Quote Quote selection Great to get your responses! First, Mebeatee, my (new generation) NYM came with no intermediate knots, I had to tie my own in the top leader line. I'm guessing Rev has altered it from the original so that it is closer to the line lengths you guys prefer. But I will do exactly as you suggest: "feel how my wrists reacted to a full on dive stop." Thanks, good reference point. And BTW, I viewed a couple of your videos ... man, you are one heck of a flyer! Graceful and smooth, so much control. In my dreams!!! And frob, yippee, local flyers! Well sorta local, I'm a South Austin guy 40 minutes away (around the corner from Zilker Park). Do you think you will fly the Sat. after thanksgiving, Nov 30? Also, you said "with the grip balanced midway down the foam on your handles neither pulling forward nor back." and I like that a lot. Honestly, that is what I've been after. Follow topic Hide Go to topic listing Next unread topic '

Also make sure they are proper Sky Delight Joel Scholz kites and not the licensed GFAK ones......huge difference. I still have one JS Neptune (dualie) and one single line Parrot left from the stash....lol. The Parrot is decorating part of a wall in my music studio nowadaze...;) I used to have a matching pair of Neptune’s for two at once flying, and a Jaws 2 to fly with the one I’ve kept. They were a few years apart so didn’t quite match like the other’s. So many great kites.....Kestrel, Luna Moth, Hummingbird, and that’s just some of the dualies. Many wonderful “critter” single liners as well..... The late great Ray Bethell turned me onto JS kites as he flew 3 Kestrels at once, and I knew another fellow who had a Luna Moth ul.......yoweeeeeee!! bt

Countdown to an amazing kite for somebody... It's a great time to register for the site if you've not done it already.

Got 5 make offer 515 351 1662 call

Hi Windward, Looking very closely at the photograph I am not sure that it is stiches that have failed but the material that makes the pocket has frayed and pulled through the stitches. If that is the case then you will need to do something to stop the fraying continuing. i think that this means bonding the warp to the weft of the pocket fabric so you donot have a raw edge. if the edges of the pocket material are raw edges and the material is dacron, polyester or similar then it might have originally been heat cut/sealed to melt the raw edges to prevent fraying. it does not look like heat sealing the edge of the fray is an option for you unless you are very brave as you have little material to work with. Fortunately the fray is at the open end of the pocket and not too severe. I would try the superglue on the edge of the pocket material to bond the warp and weft threads together and stop the fraying getting any worse. The pocket material edge is very close to the stich line on that side so anything that you can do to reinforce the warp/weft bond strenth will help. Worst case will be replacing the pocket eventually if the fray works further down the side. For openweave fabrics there is a glue called Fray Stop to prevent the unravelling of raw edges but i would not suggest using it for kites. Cheers Stephen

A few months later.... (ok, 30 months later), I finally ordered something and after reviewing this forum and chatting with John B, I opted for a Djuice. Wife says I have to wait for Santa to bring it to me, though. After last post the next time I flew kites I spent the entire time helping the family and it just hit me that it was going to be a while before I was going to get any time to try to fly what I wanted to do. So the quad was put on hold and then there was this new kite available now that I should have more time. It was a tough choice because I really like the colors on that Seahawks themed OSK Vertigo. Maybe if the kids decide they want to really fly it can come later (or a custom Djinn). Come January when it is cold and snowy and easy to break parts I will probably be out in the field trying to figure this whole quad thing out. I also ordered spare parts. Thanks for all the help.

A warm welcome here Nita, hope you and your little man are doing fine. 👍

I have lots of kites for sale mostley discontinued that you can not get anymore. I am new to this site so not sure of the rules about contacting people but i accept offers on all kites no matter what i might be asking. Most are brand new never flow some are used these r just some quick photos of some of the ones i have nitaharbaughs@gmail.com. https://www.ebay.com/usr/buck.fift-62

I have a bunch of tori takos kites if anyone still reads this post contact me at https://www.facebook.com/share/CtcgJXLuXj3FYP1X/

Thank you. I have done much web searching and I believe I can sell my kites at a reasonable price. So I have decided to reopen in January. I will be offering basically the same kites I used to offer updated to new material and some new sail patterns. I don't expect to make a lot, just enough to have an excuse to go to festivals. Contact me directly if you want more information.

I have a one, never used. 5 clores, blue, orange, purple, pink and yellow. original translucent acrylic tube. instructions, and all pieces, strings and tails. Let me know if you or anyone interested. cheers

An 8x7 vertical spar broke on my full-sail XX in winds that were beginning to pull me pretty hard. I should have been flying a vented kite. Now I use 9x8 vertical spars on all kites. The full-sail kite in lighter winds gets the 8x7 leading edge spars, while the vented kite gets 9x8 leading edge spars.

Congratulations and have a lot of fun with it

Welcome to our latest supporter! 1770 - @D-Wiin Current subscriber count, 357.

It would be nice to have some of the tips and advice threads still available. I know I have a few older bits of gear with no contemporary help resources. It would be a shame for all of that collective wisdom to just vanish. Of course there was lots of trolling and sh@# posts - maybe they can stay as fond/traumatic memories, but it would be nice for that database to be publicly available somehow

Hmm...guess I should thought about that a bit more. That's obvious once I read your response. 🤔

Just like a winch or anything else with wrapped lines, it should never be stored with high tension. Bring the kite down either hand-over-hand (always wearing gloves) or using a block with a pulley or a large carabiner, or whatever else that can slide easily across the line without damage. Start at the anchor, and slowly walk toward the kite bringing it down one step at a time. For a strong-pulling kite it may take more than one person's weight and strength. Be very careful when doing it, as a gust of wind can cause it to re-launch. Make sure you never get the line wrapped around a finger or hand or under an arm during the process, and if the kite takes off with a gust let go instead of getting injured, which sadly occasionally happens. If you've been around the kite circuit for a while you'll meet people missing a fingertip or have had other major injuries, and hear the horror stories from years past where a few people have died and others needing major reconstructive surgery. When you've walked the line down, detach it when you reach the tow point. With the kite on the ground, it is easy to wind the line up with minimal tension, just hand strength to keep it on.

Hello! I've been searching the web trying to find some good books on kite making but somehow can't seem to find what I'm looking for (websites with clear directions ok too). I'm an artist and decided I want to see my work fly. I can sew a bit, but those skills are pretty basic at the moment. I have never built a kite so I know I need to start with basics. A long term goal is to make a traditional style dragon/centipede kite, so knowing how to make a round kite would be great. Once I get the hang of that and all the general basics, will try to string a few together. Anyway, I hope someone here can lead me in the right direction. Thanks in advance, David Here are a coulple of photos of what make me think about how they'd look in the sky...

I am still looking for the smaller version of the original Prism roll up bag.

Hi everyone. I see there are a few familiar faces from the old Kitebuilder's forum here 👋. My name is David and I'm a kite-aholic. It's been a few years since my last build, but with support and encouragement from forum members I intend to remedy this situation. Big 'O' is still waiting. 😉

Does anybody have some quality plans for building this kite or have followed plans and built their own? Size doesn't matter, small, medium, large. Whatever plan is easier to follow. Thanks in advance! Joe

That’s awesome about Lockout Lines! I’ve been really into Solitaire lately—it’s been a great way to relax and unwind. It’s interesting to see how you’ve taken Sudoku and added a unique twist. I’ve dabbled a bit in creating my own puzzles too, and it’s always exciting to see new ideas get showcased. Checking out Lockout Lines on Cracking the Cryptic must have been a great moment. It’s cool to see creative puzzle concepts getting some spotlight.

Thx 😀