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OK I took the plunge.. I tried Facebook. Purposefully, not many people know my real name. As prolific as I am here on Kitelife, I'm still a very private person outside of kites. Those that know me well can back me up on that front. I used Riffclown Riffclown. This is the name most of the individuals (including most of you) know me by.. I've gone through intense Facebook Scrutiny since that point less than 10 hours ago. "You HAVE to give us your Cell number." I guess the email I have on riffclown.com just isn't enough. "You have to send us a picture to use for facial recognition and you account is locked until we verify you." That being said, my personal foray into that social network is going to be very short-lived. I will be deleting my account if I ever get access to it again. To All, Please disregard any requests you receive from Riffclown Riffclown on Facebook.. in a few hours that will no longer be me. This was about kites and nothing else. Folks were asking about riffclown kites in certain circles and I wanted to respond.. Sorry, Facebook just isn't for me and at this point, I don't think it ever will be. I want to get the small amount of personal information I did submit off of it. Kitelife is MUCH friendlier.

Started the grand kids on a 1.4 Prism Snapshot and GFK with a bar. They don't get going until 8 mph. The ones that are really into it are 5 to 9. 3 girls and 4 boys. The older ones (11 to 17) seem a little embarrassed that the younger ones are better.The younger ones have flown a lot more. Above 13 mph the youngest need some help unless butt sliding.They all learned what the power zone is and do a pretty good job of avoiding it when necessary. On a foil they all know to drop 1 line when needed.Kite comes to the ground and won't blow away.Winds were up at the top for the 5 year olds one day. The girl got face planted and dragged across the playa. We were running after telling her to let go. She kept going and I feared she might be tangled in the lines. Got to her and she was laughing quite hard. Asked her why she didn't let go. She said she was having to much fun to let go and it's a long wait for her next turn. The 5 year olds and one 6 year old have not moved to framed yet.The others have flown Premier Vision, Nighthawk and Addiction. Prism Zephyr, ITW Hydra, Sky Dog Black Dog and as of last Monday a Sky Burner Pro Dancer. Hour and a half into the day the wind dropped and never went over 5. Took a bit for them to understand the PD is a precision kite not a trick kite. 6 hours later I was wore out and they still wanted more. Nerves got pretty frazzled letting them fly the Pro Dancer 😱. One moderate crash and no harm done. They all loved that kite and did really well.Their favorite is the Zephyr with the PD running a very close 2nd. Everything else is faster and they still struggle with the speed.Winds get much over 10 and it's back to the foil for them.We've had one line burn on the neck. Kite got crashed.Kid didn't see the pilot recover into launch position. Jumped in the way going to reset the kite as it launched. Surprised us all because that was the pilots 1st recovery and launch. Think the pilot was the most surprised. Boy with the burn said it stung for 3 days. Safety is pretty simple but needs to be adhered to. Leaned over a kite in 20 plus wind.Got popped pretty hard in the jaw when unexpectedly the kite decided it was time to fly.There is such a thing as the CONCEPT of the perfect kite.Problem is that It takes a dozen or more kites in a quiver to create it LOL. As you guys learn you'll gravitate towards certain kites and figure out how you like to fly. For me it's very satisfying learning tricks and flying in less than 12. Lots and lots of zen like moments.Above 12 now that's when the fun starts. I like fast. In 30 mph winds the I can't believe I didn't crash moments are scary fun. Some kites will go over 100mph. Whee I gotta get one. You guys have been having fun with the cheapest of kites. Gonna be a lot more fun now.

I get touchy if people at a gathering expect me to wear a name badge, sigh. SHBKF

Bridle check complete. this kite is ready for the field..

May I make this suggestion: Move your race frame to the standard and the 3 wrap to the full vent. Reason: You never know what the winds are like at the bottom of the wind range and I feel the race frame is a little more versatile. You know if the wind is up and a F/V, 3 wrap combo, should work pretty well. All IMHO! I tend to use frame/sail combos, rather than frame changes, especially on the beach in windy conditions. I have favorite setups for each sail and will switch sails rather than frames. Just what works for me ....YMMV!

I’ll happily take that as a positive review, lovely to finally meet you @Exult - thanks for participating, I really enjoyed flying with you and everyone else. 🙏🏻

Thanks..I like the way white LE looks. I've seen a lot of your kites and took some inspiration from that.

I've got copies of the Wind Cheater and the XITR sport kites on the way! Pretty excited!

Gray 2 is done.. Decided it should be the smaller 72" (B2 size) Ready for flight testing..

Hey Tom, I like that idea......... Oh come on! You guys with beach access don't have any worries ... just stretch out 240 ft plus (or 480 ft plus) and tug away the creep. Here in the Midwest the &$%^# corn gets in the way. I used our RC club's flying field early one morning to build my first set of 120s. Stretched out the 480 ft plus of line and tugged away. It worked okay, but the wind interfered with the sag method of evening them out, thus the transfer to my local school's hallway during evening hours. Cheers, Tom