ikky68

That's crazy talk. The Addiction is like a miniature 'Lix. Although, I agree with you. The Magnum is a dog (ie. flies weird).

Well folks, the competition year is coming to an end. That means that the Indiana Trick Clinic is back. The Hoosier Kiteflyers Society is again sponsoring the event. This year we will have Ari Contzius as our guest instructor. May I add that Ari is the guy that got me over the hump in learning the comete`. Between Mark K., Ari C., and the supporting instructors, we should have all tricks available for learning. Anyways... Here's the information. WHERE: The Academy of Model Aeronautics. Muncie, Indiana. The exact address is at this link: http://www.modelaircraft.org/ Look at the bottom of the page. WHEN: First weekend of September. That is the Labor Day Holiday weekend. The trick clinic starts at 10am Saturday morning. We camp out at the field and socialize in the evening. The trick clinic starts up Sunday and continues until everyone is done. COST: Free... The Indiana Trick Clinic is a free event sponsored by the Hoosier Kiteflyers Society. Camping at the AMA is free. Food and drinks is your responsibility. The cost of said food and drinks is directly proportional to how much you decide to consume.

Music, Is the size of that kite 48" when assembled or laid out flat on the ground? Smaller kites give you the total wingspan whereas other kites will give you the assembled wing span. If you can afford it, you should treat yourself to a larger kite. Firstly, they are easier to fly. Secondly, they have better wing loading, meaning that they will fly in lesser winds. Prism, New Tech, and Premier have great intro kites in the 6 foot range (assembled wing span).

Paul, To answer your question: "It depends." The Elixir is very touchy in the pancake. That is, the flic-flac trick is not the easiest to perform on this kite. Weight on the tail of a kite will do one thing. While weight in other places will do something else. It really depends on your style of flying on what you want and where to put it. If you want a pitch happy kite, then weight on the tail will help you. But this makes the kite sit more shallow when in the turtle postition. This pitch happy attitude is only applicable when the kite is pitching nose first. Not so much when the tail is leading the pitch. If you put weight on the nose, the pitch will have a longer throw when the nose is leading. Bridle adjustments will affect the kite greatly... That was a no-brainer. For example, try to rebridle your elixir with wider tow points and you'll see that the backspins get easier. The mylar on the Elixir add much to its personality (IMHO). The outer standoff also contributes to the Elixir's personality when pitching. If you want to make the backspin easier, take out some of the flair from the outer standoff. One last thing, the weight on the tail of the kite will affect the flic-flac move. Most kites aren't hindered too badly. My home grown kite for example, sucks at flic-flacs if more than 10g are on the tail.

Hi Jan, There's no hard-fast rule on what ripstop to use. I personally like my prototypes built from the .5oz ripstop. They hold up well in most wind conditions. I've made .75oz ripstop versions of the same kite. It flies well, but I can feel the extra mass. It feels like the kite wants to do the tricks, but a finer control is needed to keep it under control. The 1.5oz ripstop is stuff for banners. I have made a vented prototype that felt great! The frame is made out of p400s and the lower spreaders are g-force standards. Took a beating and handled winds from 6-13mph without the venting. After I put holes in the sail, it took (about)12mph to make it feel like it was pressured. The day that I tested it had winds hovering at 18mph. By far, the friendliest of the 3 kites was the .5oz ripstop. Floaty and fealt very light on the lines. Some tricks were there and automatic, but others needed finer inputs. The .75oz has all the tricks and most of them are almost free, but the free-ness of the tricks can get the kite out of control if you're not paying attention.

Hi John, I like the East Coast way, although, I've never been to a West Coast comp... I don't think that the casual observer can appreciate the technical beauty of the comete. The casual observer probably gives bias to a 'pretty' kite as well (but what do I know). I think that Mat Epstein(?) was announcing at Wildwood. And if all announcers had a fraction of Mat's style and knowledge of tricks, then all Hot Tricks Shootouts will be a success.

What are the winds like at home? The fanatic is a really small kite. Good for tricks but will punish you if you're a little off with your technique The quantum isn't trick friendly. The Nighthawk is small (still bigger than the fanatic) but capable of doing most of the new tricks. I saw RonG and LamH spanking that kite round. The Magnum is a good sized kite. It needs about 7mph (or more) for precision. The Magnum tricks nicely in 5mph. The rods are P300 so it'll take some punishment... But it'll need more wind to fly it. If the winds are low in your area, you might want to consider a UL.

Dude, If you can fly around without crashing a kite then you can skip the Beetle. If your controls are slightly off and you crash on occasion, then the Beetle is the kite to buy. That kite is bullet proof. For trick flying I would start out with the Addiction. As for Mirecat's suggestion, you can't go wrong with the Elixir. I've had both and liked both for different reasons. The Addiction behaves very similar to the Elixir. BUT the Elixir has a wider useable wind range. There are a bunch of kite under $150 that are coming into the market. You might want to look at those and read up on what they are capable of.

Dude, that question doesn't really have a straight forward answer. Some guys like the shorter lines for trick flying, while others like the competition length lines. The kite will also dictate the line length. Example of dumb: "putting a set of 90# 120' spectra on a prism micron. Some kites work well with a longer linset and others don't. If memory serves, the pyro xs is a little over 6.5'. So the 80' lineset that you have should be more than adequate.

If Mr. Barresi gives the okay, I'll write instructions.

***HIGHJACK*** How did the Spirit Quad get past Revolution's monopoly on quadline kites?

Most junker kites need a lot of wind to fly. When they do fly they, don't track well. Most kites are made to do certain things. This affects their personality. A tricky kite will feel faster, and spastic. A precision kite will feel more solid and will fly straight lines better. When you get to the high end kites, the distiction between precision and trickiness gets vague.

Dude, Quality kites come in different sizes, functions and flavors. Are you looking to compete? Are you a recreational flyer? Do you want to do the latest and greatest tricks? Do you like (or care for) a certain amount of pull from a kite? If you're relatively new and don't want to spend a lot on an initial kite investment, then I would suggest: 1. If you are still learning to control a kite and want one that will take a beating, then you need to get a Flying Wings Beetle. It'll fly from 2 to 15+mph. Most Beetle packages come with lines and a tail (for sky writing). The kite will fly in a light breeze, which will give you more chances to have fun. 2. If you can keep the kite flying with no unintentional crashes. AND if you want to learn tricks, get a Premier Addiction. This kite needs 5-8mph for some really good tricking. This kite always gave me the impression of a smaller version of the Elixir. 3. If you want some pull (traction/power) from the kite, then you'll probably be better off with a foil. Just pick a size and you can start wrestling with it. 4. If you want to compete, then there are a few competition level kites that don't cost much (around $150). Too many to list. Let us know what you want to do. Then we will be able to narrow your search. We also need an idea of the windrange where you live.

If you can fly around without crashing, then you're good to go... Get the Addiction. Great trick kite.

What new, high-end stunters use a straighter trailing edge?

Hi Oculus, The precision thing is a strange animal. What looks good to you may look like crap 12ft behind you. So practicing with a spotter(coach) helps. Precision, as I've been introduced to it, is the nothing like slackline. With precision you control the amount of pressure on the sail by moving forward or backward. Having a constant pressure means having constant speed throughout the window. So no, precision will not help with slackline tricks. ALTHOUGH, it will help with the feel of the kite and how much air you need to dump before going into a stall. There are lots of trick oriented kites that track well. John, I'm not disagreeing with you when you added the precision skill to the list. But,,, are you sure that recreational flyers that want to learn tricks will want to learn precision?

Hi John, I asked about skills/trick progression someplace else and got mixed results (obvious and expected). The people that responded went through, gaining a set a skills and building from said skill. No specific order in tricks learned, but you can see clearly that rotation was learned first then pitch. Here's a rough draft of the skills ladder Flying: No crashing stunt kite unless trying something abnormal (like a trick). Push, pull, and combo turns: You know… Stall: Comfortable with kite hovering at edge of window. Can control hovering kite with correct inputs and footwork. Flying kite in really low winds. Stalls2: Spin stalls, snap stalls, and the side slide. Flat spin moves: Axel, spin axel, half axel, 540, backspin, genie pop, slotmachine, etc… With the flat spin moves, the pilot learns to give more than one input to the kite. Some intangible learning also takes place (for example, the feel of the kite in a stall. The feeling of the kite in a fade.) Pitch tricks. Axel to fade, yo-yos (from fade and from front flip), pancake to fade. More intangible stuff is learned here as well. (example, knowing how much air to dump before making a 2 point landing, or knowing what the kite is capable of doing in any position without conscious thought) Combo’s (detailed knowledge of kite position, angle, pressure, etc...) Piecing the combinations together…

one other thing... Someone once mentioned (maybe as a joke) that a video showing the wrong 'things' might be as valuable as videos that show the right way to fly. I think that there might be something in this. They guy that suggest this said that it could be the opposite of Prism's "Way to fly". We could call it the 'wrong way to fly'. In reference to my last post, an agreed upon skills ladder needs to be discussed.

Hi All, I'd like to help with this endeavor. I started some articles on trick flying, the HKS (Hoosier Kitefliers Society) has copies for posting on their newsletter. If you want to start from the absolute begining and work up an 'agreed upon' skills ladder, then let me know. Also, are we allowed to suggest equipment and make references?

You're competing? Are you going to be at WIldwood?

Dude, You can swap bridles from one kite to another, but there are a lot of variables that that go into making a bridle of a particular kite. You can try it, but I doubt that you would like the change.

Hey Street, Can you take the kite to the top of the window and then walk it down to the ground with the wing tips even with the ground? If you're having trouble with the kite tilting when you're doing a side-slide, then just try to walk it down from the edge of the window. When you fly your kite to the edge of the window, it'll just hover there when the different forces balance out. That's the "feel" of the kite when it's stalled. You're going to have to remember that feel. When you enter a side-slide or stall, you will have to keep the kite close to feel. Walk forward, backward, or whatever you need to do in order to keep that pressure/feel on the kite. It takes a while to get used to the kite hovering in wind. It is also really important to have steady winds. One little bit of variance can make the kite tilt and power up the sail for flight.

Hi Street, If you have a question or two about bridles, you might want to read some of this stuff. http://www.andywardley.com/kites/bridle/index.html This bridle information that Andy put together is incredible. He gives some theories on what they do and how they do it. Great reading if you're a kite nut.

Hi Street, First thing that you should try is to take some steering out of the Elixir. This will make you walk more (and faster) when doing the sideslide, but it'll make tending the kite much easier. What I mean by taking some of the steering out of the Elixir is that you'll need to set it to lower winds. You'll have to teach yourself to give the kite pushes instead of pulling the kite to correct the tilting. If you pull the kite, you'll give just a little more power to that side of the kite and it won't correct the tilt until the wind pressure overcomes the weight on the other side of the kite. Timing the release if very important for the sideslide. Once you can enter a side slide the fun begins with you learning a bunch of new things that will help you much later. *** Remember to feel the tension on the lines as the kite slides. This the amount of tension that the kite will need to be perfectly stalled. This may seem as a no-brainer, but lots of people overlook this information. If you know how much tension is need to stall the kite, you can feel when the kite is about to stall and then pop it straight into an impressive variety of tricks. *** Practice on both sides. Not very crucial at first, but it'll stop you from favoring a hand for your tricks. Plus you have to learn to give pushes with both hands. When tending a fade in medium to high(er) winds, you'll have to give pushes to the kite or the sail will power up and put you back in normal flight. *** Move your feet. Move forward when the kite is sliding toward the center and backward when the kite is past the middle of the wind window. The transititon from forward to backward isn't a simple reversal of movement. You'll have to walk in a U type path to keep the kite happy. IF and ONLY IF you want to maintain the slide, walk at an angle and it'll seem like you're sliding the length of a football field. *** One of the things that I used to do was use ONLY ONE HAND. After a while you'll get the hang of it and use both. But to start, just use one hand to control the tilting/listing of the kite. Try to use the hand that turned the kite inward. The Elixir is a great kite to sideslide, although I agree with Debbie that the Mamba is easier. The Mamba feels heavier on the lines, read as more feedback, and any extra pressure can be felt easily. The Elixir feels very light on the lines, IMHO. This isn't a bad thing, because a lighter feeling kite just feels more spankable. If you can, come out to the Indiana Trick Clinic. I'll make sure that Mark spends some time teaching you anything you want.