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Exult

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  1. A good example and an inspiring story about sharing kite knowledge! It makes me think of the following quote I got from the quote of the day server ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QOTD ) on alpha.mike-r.com: "Linux - because Mommy taught me to share" -- miracle69 on slashdot (Disclaimer: no, I'm not a guru hacker nor exceptionally good in this area, but QOTD-servers offers a moment of distraction when needing a short break). The mentality of sharing is the same. This adds a dimension to kiting and generates memorable moments when it happens. Perhaps a more suitable quote for this forum would be: "Kiting - because Mommy taught me to share!" But then, a SKD Seven, really, how could you?! Weren't you terribly nervous? Perhaps choosing some other good kite with less of an impact on your kiting if it broke would have been safer (and cheaper) to hand over in this case? I've given it some thought (loosely) if a Seven could fill the wind range gap between my HQ Shadow and my HQ Infinity, but also feel that I need more time with my current kite armada, to make tools of them rather than discovering new features and to keep the flight time to kite purchase ratio high enough. But it is kind of tempting. I wonder if my wife wouldn't agree on that as a Swede I really ought to get a Swedish kite (yes, now I know, the expected low shipping costs would make it a bargain!)...
  2. Background: My experience with tails is limited to a HQ Tramontana (black and white precision kite) connected to 22m (75') black and white Prism tube tail. An ,in my opinion, striking combo/presence that results in nice conversations with bystanders and positive remarks. Favorite being (conveyed in a dramatic tone): "Thank you, thank you, ...(minor pause)... thank you for visualizing the wind!". The youngest daughter also, on the few occasions she decides to join, now has shifted from Alien to the Tramontana/tail combo as her favorite kite (she is piloting, while I took the picture). Problem/solution?: However, I also notice that the finer details of the path of the kite gets lost before "kite-path-wave" reaches the end of the tail. E.g. skywriting a small box as possible results in a tail tip that is hardly moving. Therefore I wonder if there are any tails with an X-like cross section that could help the kite to follow the track of the kite. Another way could be to have short X-winglets (no Star Wars references intended ... b.t.w. I'm more into Star Trek anyway) every meter or so going through the surface of a tube tail. Someone tested something similar?
  3. Below is my to-do list for things to practice during windy days (expect it to last for several occasions when ever the opportunities actually do show up): * The 2-line foil. Bought a department stores own brand (Biltema) foil kite (dimensions: 183cm by 71cm)) several years ago, partly because I hadn't tried this type of kite. Unfortunately that kite/me got a problem with foil folding. Therefore try out the suggested hints in a bit harder winds as kindly suggested in the Home > Site Topics > New Member Introductions > Newbie topic: http://kitelife.com/forum/topic/7102-newbie/ * The Fazer XL (marketed as a maneuverable speed and power kite). Do slack line tricks by aggressively running and flinging arms forward or by performing them at the edge of the wind window. Be prepared to pull seriously at the exit of the trick. No this kite doesn't magically provide any slack in heavy wind, but I'm absolutely convinced that it can take more wind than I can and therefore I'm free to attempt to do tricks also in heavier winds. Perfect the square turns, do push turns and at the exit pull both lines. If there is a trailing wing side due to oversteer, pull that to get it back in action. Really figure out what happens when turning this kite. Try returning the bridles upper outhaul to its original position now that I have got used to the kite to some degree. I keep the upper outhaul a bit shorter than original setting to reduce pull, but haven't experienced any (adverse/large?) effects on turning radius or (in lighter wind) stalling. At the end of the session try out the strength of the reinforced LE by tip stabbing the left wing. The lower leading edge has been reinforced by glueing a 1dm long carbon fibre rod in the inside of the 8mm tube just where the lower spreader connects. Also it is advisable here to soft cover the wing nocks. Practice the hard wind parking/start where the kite is on its belly with the lines going up and around the trailing edge and then slowly rolled in launch position (is there a term for this launch?). This is not really practice in the success or fail manner, since it is hard to fail with this launch. However there are few things that with practice can't be made to look fluent/easy/efficient. * The Atrax (small speed kite). The pure speed kite was another kite type that I was curious about. Although the Fazer XL is large and robust and will not break from high wind alone, as speed kite it is not that extreme. Got any warning from the kite store's text about the Atrax: "Schnell und giftig im Flugverhalten sucht er einen erfahrenen Piloten, der ihn bändigen kann"? No, the words "fast", "poisonous", "experienced" and "tame-it" did not seem to be words suggesting that perhaps one should start out with another speed kite model (In the manufacturers site you can now also read "the Atrax is still difficult to launch and extremely touchy. It is only recommended for experts". I really thought this kite must be calling my name. Besides this is a kite by Christoph Fokken and I like other kites he designed. My main issue here with this kite is to get the flights to last (and to get some time for training sessions here at all). It kind of falls out of the sky - probably should try out gentler inputs and keep out of the wind window edge? Also going to a field where I could use longer lines than 25m could perhaps help? Yes feeling like a beginner again. Even more so after seeing (two Atrax kites being flown at the same time by one person): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUZZBsk7eo In a way I probably deserve it, previously I've never thought about speed kites or at most thought it must be for those that are easily amused and can't do any tricks (pardon, to anyone offended). In a way I suppose it is somewhat similar to when informing a non-kiter what my hobby is - they are likely to silently think that I'm easily amused to and should use the time in a wiser way. The start of this kite is another issue. The way I have done it is to bring a sharpened stick that is driven into the ground so that it is slightly angled towards me. At the top of the stick there is a strip of gaffer tape wound so that most of the sticky side is pointing outwards (when finished for the day - rewind with the sticky side in). Now attach the back side of the spine close to the nose to the tape and mount the kite somewhat tilted towards you. When you start the kite the pull the lines will release it from the tape. I guess this (the sticky "start stick" i.e.) shouldn't be needed - this is something to learn to do without by using the method where you let the kite fall/tip towards you and pull in just the right moment.
  4. Or perhaps fly in a sea of mercury? The kite would like to float towards the surface, but it would be a bit difficult to see the kite under the mercury surface.
  5. I remember in about 1998 about the time I started out, that I broke some lower spreaders around the centre-T. The spreaders were all standard 6mm pultruded carbon fibre tubes. The two kites I had (HQ Jam Session and Maestrale) lacked the inner reinforcement plugs by design. So when practicing/testing really hard snap stalls, both the type where the two left/right pulls come really close and the type where they are spaced almost a second (which can make a cracking sound with a wet sail b.t.w.), one lower spreader snapped. That is what I call a snap stall (no, not really). Well, after I got the advice to glue a 5cm long 4mm carbon tube inside the lower spreader closest to the centre-T. I never had the problem again. Another related observation: all kites with pultruded carbon fibre lower spreaders I bought during this millennium have had a lower spreader centre-T inner reinforcement, even the two new retro kites, HQ Tramontana and Obsession, whose corresponding original versions were from the nineties. Recommendation: if the reinforcement isn't there for some reason (when replacing a spar e.g.) add it! What if you sometimes want to give the flight a rapid flickering stroboscopic appearance in non-low wind conditions (kite spanking some would call it), e.g. to make a sequence from components like rapidly skywriting a small square as possible, heavy snap stall, an aggressive landing where the kite bonces...? OK, I might achieve somewhat similar result with less input, but then the feeling differs. Another reason for being heavier on the lines is that it is one way to see what you can provoke the kite into. But OK, I agree normally you fly ... normal, but my opinion is that you sometimes can vary it with a more "heavy stroboscopic" flight. However, habits from kite spanking can have its drawbacks, for about a year ago I broke two lower leading edges on my brand new (yes really) Prism Illusion when doing what felt like not too rough landings on one of it's wingtips. Yes I know this is a major offense and that I'll probably never will never forgiven in this forum :-) , but I got my punishment, now I only got one spare lower leading edge left. This spare part is a non standard part and the kite is discontinued...
  6. Two suggestions for handling this: 1. Seal the seams with some rubber like goo (as little as possible not to increase mass). 2. Inside the double sail use a thin plastic film (like the reflective type in toy-balloons) as a wing shaped balloon for containing the gas. This would relax the requirements on the sail as well.
  7. Sorry, no intention of being difficult. I merely wanted to state that the lift from a helium filled carbon fibre tube is not enough to lift a standard dual line kite and also show why I think so. The latter part is just a brief speculation on what a helium filled sail kite's properties could be and also how such a kite could be implemented.
  8. Wayne, I'm convinced that kite flying advice coming from you is excellent. However I must be on the wrong path of thought since I can't catch the hand positioning advice of yours. For me the clock analogy would mean that 1:50 suggests arm pointing 55 deg from straight upwards, if using a convention where raising your arm vertically (0deg) is 12:00, extending your arm in front of you (90deg) is 03:00 and keeping your arms by the side (180deg) is 06:00. That was a good one. It will be added to my kite vocabulary. The problem is that I'm not likely to have any use for this abbreviation. The closest I've been to fly an interesting OPK during this millennium is a HQ Salsa 3 kite that I bought as a marriage gift. Later when helping out to instruct the beginner man I realised that the kite flew OK but I could not really figure out the purpose of this beginner kite design (had also threwn in a 10m tube tail to increase the chance that his wife one day would join him - am I being prejudiced here?).
  9. Sounds efficient and nice. You are very fortunate to have a kite interested better half (for a while I considered to write "lucky bas...d", but there is a slight risk that it would have been considered inappropriate). My wife is unfortunately kite indifferent (are there any modern medicines for this?), but on the other hand quite understanding/accepting. A thought/suggestion of a training method (though I haven't actually tested it): However nice the hugging method of training must be, you would need to be very synchronized to run down-wind/up-wind. Do you think it could be an idea to use something like two broomsticks? Your hands would be joined by holding the ends of the sticks, left hand to left hand, right hand to right hand. The one closest to the kite holds both the two ends of the sticks and the handles. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not. Talking about Dodd Gross videos there are two things I'd like to say, first I've seen the the ones that was available by the end of the nineties (bought them on VHS cassettes at the time). Second we (you, Dodd Gross and me) have a thing in common - as of today (17th of June 2016) we all have the same Kite Life rank: NEWBIE!! Imagine having the same rank as Dodd Gross! I'm honored! Another similarity we seem to have is a tendency for somewhat lengthy but content rich posts far from 1-line posts like "Way to go", "Looks coool" or "I like that". Do not misunderstand me, posts can be short and condensed as long they convey a message of some importance or interest (IMHO). Also muscle soreness from extensive kite flying is better than soreness from extensive kite writing. Walk of shame some call it, others more optimistically call it "walk of contemplation". I call it "a break" (is good for your neck). Mostly I try to remember what I did just a few tenths of seconds ago. Yes I know the video. However this is something that some would advice against. In high wind a kite collision is not healthy at all and can cause injuries and also can cause problems for the sport (like a kite ban on the local beach (when interacting with other people when doing kiting - always be very polite b.t.w.)). And on the other hand, in very light wind and the pilot is *very* experienced, like 10 years or so, I have difficulties in seeing a major danger (could be "inspiring" other kiters to take risks though). Remember if a child is involved also the parents must think this is a good idea. No, this is not anything I would actively recommend. From the same shop that I bought discontinued Prism kites at a discount I later bought an old (?) Prism DVD: "Freestyle Pilot". Calm tempo and detailed advice I'd say. Also any trick tutorial from DPmama74 I've seen is good.
  10. So far, I think this is the only helium kite suggestion with enough buoyancy that could affect the behavior of the kite to any extent. When considering how much a litre (1dm^3) of helium at sea level can lift, i.e. 1.02g, one can see that it hardly would make any difference for a framed kite with helium filled carbon fibre rods (tubes/pipes rather), for example a full size dual line kite with 6mm carbon tubes. The total length of all carbon tubes could be about 5m and the mass 300g. The radius of the void inside the carbon tube would typically be 2mm. The volume that can be filled with helium is then: pi*r^2*L = 3.14*2^2*5000 [mm^3] = 62800 [mm^3] = 0.063 [litre] Then the helium generated lift would be: 1.02 [g/litre] * 0.063 [litre] = 0.065 [g] So the contribution in lift from helium for the framed kite would be less than a tenth of a gram, while the total mass is about 300g. To instead lift a 300g kite you would need the below volume of helium: 300 [g] / 1.02 [g/litre] = 294 [litre] = 0.29 [m^3] I.e. a kite would need to be quite thick to completely float by the helium content alone. I wonder (along with the rest of you it looks like) if a light wind kite based on the double helium filled sail, that partially floats on the helium but still needs some wind to fly, would be harder or easier to fly. You could preserve a medium wind kite's mass and moment of inertia and structure's strength. Imagine doing tricks much dependent on the mass in the frame, in light wind or do rough ground work tricks. Guess many battens in the sail or dense connections between the front and rear sail would be required for the sail to preserve its shape (or should it perhaps be a front and rear spine for the front and rear sail?).
  11. Regarding arm position in the video - lower your arms. You will gain more control with your arms by your side. Precision flying: arms slightly in front of you - trick flying: arms by your side. It also feels/looks more relaxed and you can go on for a longer time with lowered arms. Good luck!
  12. Hello Koobecaf Uoykcuf, I see you are way beyond the stage of unscheduled landings from the videos. And the tail looks good to. Have you gotten any info on what the two older kites are designed for, what their purposes are or found any old reviews about them? Does it seam like the Prism Jazz would be a complement to the two dualies you already got, e.g. in wind ranges? You have rapidly (?) acquired three kites to explore, each a different personality. Learn a slack line trick or some other form of kite control on one of the kites and then "transfer" the trick to the others. In my, very personal, opinion I don't see much hurry in getting a quad, since there is so incredibly much to learn about dual lines. On the other side it may be so that I've not seen the light yet - or the darkness/dark side since I've never tested a Rev-like quad. Although I represent no-one but myself, I wish you welcome.
  13. Exult

    Exult

  14. Exult

    Hobbies

    I once saw a documentary about lightning where a group of researchers created a stroke of lightning on demand. They didn't use kites but model rockets (looked like the type that you build yourself and fit with Estes 18mm engines (possibly their 24mm types but not more). This rocked pulled a really thin (piano?) wire with one side of the wire connected to the ground. Before launching the rocket they waited for the electrical field strength in the air to reach a high enough value. The group was protected in something looking like an old entrenchment. They could remotely launch the rockets by blowing (with their mouths) in long (non-conducting) thin hose that went between the rockets and the entrenchment. How the launch device for mildly pressurized air worked was unfortunately never shown. At least from what was shown, the success ratio was 100%. They said in the youtube clip you linked to, that as soon the lightning hits the sand you get lightning glass. I *think* I remember something about that there should be some requirements on the humidity of the sand? I wonder if the glass formation could be helped (get larger?), as in more normal glass manufacturing, by mixing washing soda (sodium carbonate) or potash (~potassium carbonate) in the sand in the place in the ground that you attempt to guide the rocket. Some thoughts of others that have discussed the matter: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480414 And finally, needless to say, take care - don't get yourself zapped!
  15. Thank you SHBKF and John Barresi for the 2-line foil hints. Perhaps I should give this old cheepo foil a third chance, at least for educational purposes. Considering my previous experience at the time, i.e. mainly two freestyle/trick kites (and to some extent a 5m^2 Peter Lynn quad foil (Paw was it?) which gave me no problems of this kind), I most likely considered wind suitable for slack line tricks as the optimal wind for the 2-line foil. Also my (framed) dual line kites at the time respond well when doing square turns, which is perhaps not what the 2-line foil asked for? Yes, this could be something - have a high wind kite session the next time it is a bit windy (and the wind comes in the direction that works for the field and that it is not too crowded...) instead of staying at home. Bring the 2-line foil, the Atrax (small speed kite for experts whose flights unfortunately tend to be short for me) and Fazer XL (perfect the square turns and more tricks). Instead of hi-jacking fufanus thread by being more detailed here perhaps one could find a thread for what to do on reasonably hi-wind days ... wait ... there is already such a thread: "What do do in high wind?". (Off topic: So this morning, looking for the 2-line foil kite, I went down to the wardrobe where I put it when using it last like about seven years ago. There is was - it had moved about 4dm from the hanger. This means two things, I should organize/clean out/make inventories more often and that my wife is very (kite-)understanding)
  16. Two reasons why this (I assume) would be a good kite to start with (obvious perhaps) are: hitting the ground with a frame-less kite as the Synapse and hitting (with the kite and by accident of course) other people (especially if the fly in would be crowded) should be less destructive then using a framed kite, especially in the hands of beginners/children (exception, if the kite gets snagged around something and then pulled along the ground so that it would get ripped). One of the few times I flew when my children were quite young (about 2-years younger then yours at current time) I'd bought a cheap slightly larger foil of no-brand, unknown brand or the departments store own brand (can't remember which). Reasons for purchase: my curiosity of the type of kite and that it shouldn't break in the hands of the children. The problem with this one was that it easily almost constantly collapsed when turning. We used this kite about two times. Is this instability a thing that is common with 2-line foils and we should have learnt to deal with it or should we have left it where it was (in the department store i.e.)?
  17. Thank you very much for that, I'm certainly not spoilt by the number of skilled sport kiters (foils excluded) in the places I fly in. However flying in the same field would require some travelling though. Sorry, it is my fault I should have updated the account settings better to show where I live ... but now it is done ... Country: Sweden. Hmm ... (checking your account profile) ... quads seem to be your fashion, personally I've got quite little experience with them. Got a 5 square meter Peter Lynn 4-line foil from 1999 that I've used for traction when skiing a couple of times. Though I've been checking them out (in the sense of reading on various web sites) Revs, Korvokites, HQ... But for the day (and several months ahead), I would have it difficult to explain another kite purchase for the beloved wife.
  18. Hello John Barresi and the rest of the forum, Thank you for your welcoming message, well maintained site and friendly forum! Well, how I started out... had a dual line that I eventually could make square turns with as a child (got it from my father), but it wasn't until I visited a kite festival more or less by a coincidence and then saw a Tramontana pair team flying routine ... I was totally unprepared, hadn't seen anything like it - the kite bug struck hard and mercilessly. I've never fully recovered. First proper kite: Jam Session - Loved, crashed, repaired, loved crashed, repaired, reinforced, videos bought, worn, repaired,... Then entered the Maestrale, oh what a happy kite, It really turns on a dime and turtles rapidly. If you pull it out of the turtle just above the ground it bounces back into the air (its battens acting like springs) like it would jump for joy. Jam Session was still the sensible well controlled kite (actually this kite has something like a coming home feeling still). Then there came an kite-intermission called getting a family/small children. Almost no kiting in 10 years! The kite celibacy came to an abrupt end when a circus/jojo/kite-store offered old models of Prism kites at a(/close to) 50% percent discount. Suddenly there were the kites I've been drooling for when I started out. Effectively, they offered "the sh*t" to a former, dormant and now defenseless kite-junkie! I bought four Prism kites in a couple of months. Another reason of the kite relapse was videos on Youtube and Vimeo. Watching them I noticed that trick-flying did not appear to be the same as before: backspin, backspin, backspin... One of the first videos I found comfort in (by showing something different" was the "Freestyle Session with the Hydra" (this is very impressing IMHO). Currently I'm more trying to learn new school, like backspin, reliable lazy suzans (certainly no comets yet) - I'm more into axels, groundwork, 540, flying figures... After reading a thread on GWTW forum about (to some extent) tricking "Fazer XXL by HQ" (literal name of the thread), I got curious on whether the (relatively) smaller Fazer XL could offer "the best of two worlds" both be something that you could get a real work out from and at the same time do tricks. Also, to see if due to its large size and therefore expected slower movements, could help out in breaking down tricks in their parts (to learn them of course). How is the kite then? Well, powerful but yet agile, a bit like a calf that have just been let out from the barn in spring, now bouncing around in the pasture or a like a pat of butter in a frying pan. When attempting square turns after the turn the kite will over-steer continue with a wing tip first (the way to the square turns for the Fazer XL is to do push turns). You need to pull on the wrong wing (now trailing) to get it back in action. The pat-of-butter characteristic and the fact that some times you suddenly suddenly end up like 3m (10') downstreams makes it the only kite that actually makes me laugh at occasions. It can also be made to do stalls, axle, fades... Another hint, when doing ground work, for a kite this size/rod-diameter the wing nocks breaks easily - cover them with a soft cap. Also before tipstabbing in a bit harder wind reinforce the inside of the leading edges where they meat the lower spreaders with a 6mm carbon rod (difficult with the original LEs since they are plugged). Naah, I'm getting too detailed here. Can't go on kite by kite. Fast-forward to now - have gotten an Infinity and a Shadow recently, since there are a lot of moves I'd like to learn. The name "Exult" I've chosen here is supposed to reflect the feeling of expectation and eagerness when approaching a field when conditions are really good. The problem being in my area there are not too many of those places... It also seem to affect then number of Kiters here. I've not seen any dual line kiter past the lawn dart stage during this millennium (not counting powerkiters with a foil kite)! In the end of the nineties I could go to the largest field in Stockholm and meet a few kiters almost every weekend. Now ... I guess they are at home watching Netflix, playing computer games or flying quadrocopters in their backyards or something.
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