John Barresi

I think we're going to see the quad market defined by end users more and more over the next couple of years as some companies focus on following the evolution of the "sport" or "performance" level fliers and other companies shift their focus more toward the absolute front end first and second time kite buyers... Both end users are completely valid and need products specifically for them, but the first approach requires you to be present and empathic to the community, the latter allows you to dictate what is new and appropriate to a class of buyers who aren't experienced yet. Good news is that if everyone generally plays fair cricket and good folks are actively out there sharing the passion with others, we should see both ends thrive. That being said, I can't help but imagine how it must have been for Tony Hawk (pro skateboard) and the other "godfathers" of modern skating who transitioned it from a "blond white boy in short shorts on a thin yellow board" to scruffy, cool looking kids flying through the air on wood boards with sticky tape on them... Some companies saw what was happening, others had tunnel vision on the market as it existed up until that point and told the scruffy kids they were using the equipment in ways that it shouldn't be - seems there may be some correlation here. Also, imagine for a moment that the first dual line delta kite had been properly patented and such... How would that have affected evolution of dual lines? Would we still have seen folks the likes of Tim Benson, Lam Hoac, Ken McNeill, etc if they couldn't make or sell that kind of kite during their formative years in the 90s? Anyway, I think diversity in this case is great - the next couple of years should be really fun.

This. I'm a firm believer that kiting is the fliers, not the stores or manufacturers, and I've seen the results of both paths repeated numerous times over the past 26 years... End of the day, we fly, we talk, the relative truth(s) reveal themselves through transparency and dialogue. Really, I couldn't be prouder of the community y'all make out of this space every day.

Minor trivia... I built Rev's entire website for them, twice. The Rev forum was actually my creation, managed by me and other enthusiasts - Rev was never really present there except for Ben, and the recent posts reflect all that (very little product specific discussion / mostly event and personal news). Their forum is now being managed by David Hathaway (iQuad co-founder) and all my admin privileges are gone but with company loyalty fading I don't expect much to happen there in the future.

Good things ahead, high road is the only way to get there.

Hello @hatim, Welcome to KiteLife®! Although this is an automated message, it is written with heart - I love kites deeply, and I believe the KiteLife community represents this passion with a very friendly and helpful environment for everyone. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Need to tweak settings? Edit your profile here - View Member Edit your settings - http://kitelife.com/forum/settings/ Other than that, here are a few handy links that you might have a use for... Member Chat Member Map KL Shop And while it's never an obligation, we always love hearing about our new members if you'd like to share some of your kite stories, videos, and/or background... Tell us a little about YOUR kite life!

Or being able to actually solve problems, instead of being limited to excuses or smokescreen.

This all matches with what I've been teaching. Thats also why the flex and return in our spars is so important. And to confirm / summarize some, the Rev quad platform (and all its variants) basically has dynamic camber in the wing, changing based on how flexible the leading edge is and how much pressure is being applied / released from the sail.

Bumpety bump bump! @wind poacher, @mystainedskin and @Flight Risk, better have those extra absorbent undies packed for this one!

At the very least, I'm happily moving into another kind of universe where the possibilities are endless.

Alas, my business is very seasonal and so gotta do what I gotta do in the especially tight months... I appreciate you though!

Just finished work on an older Nylon SLE sail for @zachprism01 from the Karma drawing - got this in the nick of time, it was already starting to show stress marks on the sail along the verticals (which lead to sail rips if left unsupported)... Also, the single stitch trailing edge with Nylon stretches way more and causes the trailing edge to actually scallop inward and recede. Nylon is way more flexible and porous (water absorption), so it especially benefits from some extra love. Finished with wear strips, LE tabs and the 2nd trailing edge stitch:

That's all it takes to make magic happen.

Happy 2017 everyone, and thanks for all the fish.

Hello @B3rnie, Welcome to KiteLife®! Although this is an automated message, it is written with heart - I love kites deeply, and I believe the KiteLife community represents this passion with a very friendly and helpful environment for everyone. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Need to tweak settings? Edit your profile here - View Member Edit your settings - http://kitelife.com/forum/settings/ Other than that, here are a few handy links that you might have a use for... Member Chat Member Map KL Shop And while it's never an obligation, we always love hearing about our new members if you'd like to share some of your kite stories, videos, and/or background... Tell us a little about YOUR kite life!

Yep, long as the ends (either) don't rotate around or pass through one another.

I just changed the expiration date to 2017, should work fine now. Sorry about that!

Also relevant for quads, I have one set of handles for each set of lines I use regularly so I never have to take my handles off, this helps reduce variables for me too.

End of the day, anything that gets you up in the air in 5-10 minutes without any stress is a good thing, regardless of how you do it.

Happy New Year, all.

Aye, that'd be it - I end up with a single pass through about half the time, still takes less than 30 seconds for me to work out from the handle end.

By and by, I expect an average 1-5 twists to undo each time I set up. Most times, it's more like 1-3.

Take loops off the kite, pairing right to right, left to left, they then go on the winder - NOT HAVING ROTATED them. Wind all the way to the handles, do a jig if you like, finish winding and pick up the handles so they DO NOT ROTATE and strap them onto the winder. == Unstrap winder and place handles on stake, again NOT HAVING ROTATED them more than 1-2 times naturally during handling. Unwind (winder is rocking but not rotating) until you get to the end and carefully remove the loops so they DON'T ROTATE around each other. == Now draw hard tension into all four lines at the same time - what happens? The ONLY place twists happen is when the ends go wonky - what you do in the middle is nearly irrelevant. It's the simplest math, have faith.

YES! I just added a numbered list to the lead post.

That's 7, one more and we go into the bonus prize!