Leaderboard

Concept Drawing.. Silver, Wine, Red, Orange, Flo Orange, Yellow, Flo Yellow, & White Mesh. Started cutting the strips for this next project today. HOPING to have it ready for Waynesboro event next weekend. LE will be White, Edge Binding will be Orange. More to come this weekend.

First one is an ITW Spider (2017), small, twitchy; you know the one. We'll call it the gateway kite as it got me hooked immediately. Second is a Quantum which I picked up last year while on vacation in OBX - flew it a few times there - thought it was just fine (I'm a beginner so if it stays in the air for more than a minute, it's a good session). Put it away after I got home and hadn't touched it until this year's vacation (same place) - flew some more and decided to try some stalls, edge of the window stuff - just hold it in place for as long as I could, lower it slowly to the ground and touch a wing tip in the sand and head back up, etc. Simple "get to know the kite" things. That's all fine and dandy for the beach where there's usually a decent wind, but where I live (central Ohio - Columbus area) I have to hunt down a football or soccer field and hope there's some wind. Not having the best luck lately even finding the time let alone the wind, so I was thinking of adding another kite for lighter conditions and making more time to fly some local fields and maybe, just maybe trying to learn some tricks. I have (or at least I think I have; more later) a Widow NG on order at AWOC - third attempt at procuring one of these kites, seems they are harder to find now - and I'm wondering about something here; a lot of the "next" kites I started looking at a year or so ago are either gone or are very hard to find, and I'm not sure about their replacements. I did a fair bit of research over a year ago and had narrowed it down to a few "next" kites, and the Widow NG won out on price and specs so I decided on that one, but it took until just last week to pull the trigger and now I am having a heck of a time finding one. I tried a couple of kite companies - the first one told me the red/black/white one was no longer available (at least to them), and the second said they could not get the red/black/white one I wanted but had an "NG Special" in stock (didn't want that one) and could get a pink/purple NG in 4 to 5 days, Cripes! Found a yellow/black/grey Widow NG at AWOC so ordered it Tuesday night, but have not heard back from them since. Can't seem to get a hold of anyone there - tried phone, left messages, emailed also - nothin'. So I'm holding my breath that they can even get one to send to me. Barring being able to get the Widow NG, what other comparable kite is there these days in the $200-ish range that I could fly in "lighter" winds? (remember, I'm a beginner, but an ambitious one!) I like the idea of a full size kite, and would like to move from beginner to intermediate. I'm sure I could learn to do things on the Quantum but I'd like that "lighter wind" option in my bag as well.

Everything I've heard about the NG is good. Don't know much about flight characteristics, but maybe others will chime in. Just felt when you posted that you were getting a kite that was too much the same as you already had. I personally, ( when I flew exclusively dualies) believe in having a variety, capable of handling many wind ranges. i settled on 3 - a light wind kite (the Prism Ozone), a midrange (the Stranger), and a midhigh (the Prism Alien). Sadly none are in production anymore. I recently decided to upgrade my Stranger to a Hydra. Felt it was more in line with the modern tricks, but we will see. But I still believe in covering the wind ranges first, before duplicating what I already have.

Nice - I'll have to head up there next year for sure. EDIT - Just found a cool website for O.S.E.K in Cleveland (kiteinfo@osekcleveland.org) - had no idea! There's a club, that festival in August, cool stuff. Ok, so it looks like I may have found some fairly local folks to fly with and learn from after all.

Please bear in mind that this is my opinion only! Not sure that the Widow NG qualifies as a "light" wind kite. Are you going off the stated "wind range" given in the description? Sorry - don't believe in them. Why? Who wrote or established those? Think some common person did? No, it was probably a very experienced flier that could wring the most out of the kite. High range too. You, by your own admission are still learning. Depending on skill level, I usually knock 2-3 mph off of both ends of any stated wind range. Good light wind kites are spendy for a reason - they use very light materials. Rods, cloth, design, all are chosen to get performance at a low range. If there is any chance to hook up with other fliers - do it. Go to a festival. Meet some fliers. Get some advice. Learn some of the secrets others have spent years to get. Or, if possible, go to your local brick and mortar store. Ask questions. Online, have you tried either The Kite Shoppe or Ocean Shores Kites? Both are well qualified to answer any and all questions about your needs. I have dealt with both (and AWOC) and have had great success! Any of them should be able to help. And you will make friends as a result!

Kite is finished. Decided Red for the Edge Binding and Yellow for the wear strips. Will try a bridle test and a few pics tomorrow during daylight if possible. First flight will be Waynesboro (weather and wind permitting)

Only Edge Binding and Framing remain.. Little oops, I forgot to adjust my initial panel sizes for the symmetrical sail (due to the venting). When I got everything lined up I ended up having to do a bottom trim wedge to give me the proper size. Given the silver along the outer edge, I think it actually accented the overall look.

Glad to hear that the Lam kite is working for you. I have flown a number of his kites, but only have ULs and SULs in my bag right now. The Sea Devils are good all-arounders, a little old-school, and the Fearless can do anything I know how to do. Lam says that he designs his kites for smaller inputs, because he is a smaller guy and is more about the finesse.

Time to complete the middle and start sewing.