Happyspoon

I went out this morning and worked on my slides for awhile. I recorded some of it in slo motion and collected it in the first 3min of this video. You can see a lot of the ways I go wrong in detail, as well as some successes. I try to diagnose my failures too! Sent from my SM-G935W8 using KiteLife mobile app

Work and life can be too good at keeping me from kiting! I've gotten out a bit but the wind hasn't been obliging when I do. I finally got a chance today to practice in good wind with my BF (Cyberc0ms, Brennen). First I worked on slides as there had been some great chat about them here on the forum and I wanted to think hard about what I'm doing while on the field. The first 3min of this video are slides done all the ways I can currently figure out how to. After that I got into some axle practice! Last time I went out we all agreed I wasn't giving enough slick after the tug. This time things really started to click! Not quite totally there but wow is it fun to feel that little bounce before the kite starts to spin! Here is a slow-mo video of both. Axle practice starts at 3:15ish. Edit: Here is the real-time footage of this session, edited to maximize flight time but nothing else. it is long and more for me to review my progress than for anyone else but why not include it Finally, I got to take out the unknown black Shanti kite that my parents grabbed off Craigslist (along with an Allegro). I have some footage of flying it that I'll post here tonight or tomorrow! Edit: I took it up! The wind was 8-10 knots(ish) and the kite buzzed like mad. I didn't play much with it as I don't want to break it in too much wind, I'll take it out again in something lighter. It looks great up there though and I like the way it handles

Cool! It's fun to think about flying a bit of history while making up for lost time Sent from my SM-G935W8 using KiteLife mobile app

Hi all! I've been out of town for work and haven't gotten to fly for a bit. I did however make it to my parents place where 2 used kites were waiting for me. They got them (plus a large single line delta) off Craigslist. There person they bought them from got these kits for his kids in the 90s but never flew the dual lines. Thanks to the instructions I know the large one is a Shanti allegro, framed in high modulus carbon. One part of the bridle came untied but I think I can fix that. The kite has these wing battens which are new to me too. The other is also a Shanti, and looks real nice, but I can't for the life of me find the model. There kites came with lines, one set of Shanti Zip #150 lines and one set labled 90' #150 "comp" which I'm pretty sure is their speed line? Anywho, I'm just looking for info and maybe tips on these kites before I take them up I've included some pics and can take more when I get back from work today. Thanks!

Thanks Rob that is great to know! I do have Spoilerz here but didn't have instructions for using them This is great, can't wait to try them out!

Most of the turn doesn't really matter in my experience, but the last 25% going from noise pointed into the window to nose up has to be 'snappy', so the kite spins on its axis instead of just turning. This lets you maintain the direction the kite was going in before the snap. The longer the nose is pointing towards the window the faster the kite will be going and the harder it might be to snap. Another thought is trying to turn your nose up at the edge of the window so you stall and fall into the window in a slide. It won't look super pretty but is a good way to start! Keep at it, you'll get it! Sent from my SM-G935W8 using KiteLife mobile app

Hey that's great to hear! The spars seem much lighter than those on the Quantum!! I took the I2K out briefly the other day so my BF could fly the quantum. It was totally unfly-able (lagged, then sorta 'floated', almost completely uncontrollable) until I adjusted the bridle from high wind to stock. The standoffs were furthest to the outside. I'm going to sit with it for awhile and go through all the standoff/bridle combinations if the wind is nice next weekend It seems like an interesting kite! I'd rather play with the quantum until I'm competent with some slack line tricks though. I'd also like to find a better way of tensioning the leading edge, I think I saw a guide on this forum when I was deciding if I should buy it.

Wow I'm glad it survived! I popped the lower spreader out of one of the APCs once and it was quite startling. Kudos on pulling out the crazy glue and just fixing the problem! I'm not sure I'd be so confidant I know who I'm talking to when I inevitably need to repair this thing Hope to see you on the field this weekend!

OK! I think I've summarized some of the best advice I've gotten recently in this post but here are the tips I'd have for first time flyers, my realizations as I got a a little more control of the kite, and some of my greatest challenges! Here goes, and I'd love advice on where I'm off the mark in all of this. I'm not above editing anything (and will note edits) for clarity. edited to add Thanks Exult for the advice! I've spattered in a few edits. Some tips for starting out: When you first get your kite set up get someone to hold the kite above their head for launches. This lets you evenly and gently pull both lines and (if the wind is decent) the kite will just lift out of their hands. Keep the tension even on both lines and the kite will climb up straight. Don’t try and “steer” the lines like a car. It is absolutely the first impulse but it just doesn’t help. I found just bending my elbows and trying to keep the tension on the lines even was a good place to start. The kite will kind of lead you but as long as you only make small, gentle changes to tension you will ‘damp’ any oscillations and more or less keep the kite at 12:00 in the window. I found thinking of the lines like tank joysticks helped a lot. If I kept one hand still I could gently “push” and “pull” the other hand much like a joystick to turn. Switch hands after that and practice moving the other hand. Once I got that I started to feel better using both hands at the same time for ‘combo turns’. Find the Prism Way to fly (Fade, side slide, axle) Link Dodd Gross' stuff, and dpMama74's stuff on youtube. John's article "flying with Intent" is one of the best things recommended to me for getting in to a learner's mindset while flying. Edit: I'd suggest getting an ultra light kite such as the Prism 4D (I'd recommend the Ozone but they don't make it anymore and I had a great time flying another kiter's 4D recently) in addition to a standard kite. I've found it hard to judge what the wind where I fly will be like even with forecasts. It isn't fun to get out there and not be able to fly. I found lower wind (within a kite's range) is much more interesting to fly in than high wind. I'd love to get a vented now so that I don't have to fight the wind ever again (lol)! Realizations: I noticed there was a difference in how a turn felt depending on how quick I made the pushes/pulls. If I keep them gentle the kite kinda ‘springs’ back when I returned to the middle. If I made quick motions I would feel some ‘slack’ on the line I pulled when I released the pull. This was where my flying first split I think into “figure” and “trick” flying. I’ve noticed now that if I’m flying squares I try to avoid tugging hard enough to create that slack, as it slows the kite (sometimes too much). (edited to add) Instead, I'm now working on finding the hardest combo turn I can make without losing 'contact' with the kite. Of course snap stalls are all about creating that ‘slack’. Before I tried any actual tricks I wanted to get good at stalling the kite and at controlling the kite in a stall. I’ve learned 3 easy ways to get the kite into a stall, from Kite Life and from the r/kites subreddit. 1. Fly over to the edge of the wind window then turn my nose up. The kite will stall but the edge of the window is weird for learning stall control (edited to add) because I'm turning out of the wind window and sometimes the outside wing loses all wind. 2. Spin the kite by throwing one hand forward (a biiig push) while keeping tension on the other line then pull hard enough with the same hand to counter the spin with the nose pointed up, all while walking forward. This works pretty well but is tricky to do. 3. Stall Launches (as called by a helpful reddit user here). Basically I launch the kite then immediately throw both hands forward enough to stall the kite. I feel like I get way better at stall control from just a little of this practice. Now I stall launch almost every time. I wish I had known this a long time ago! I also practiced getting into and holding side-slides (or floats) across as much of the wind window as possible. A side slide is pretty much ¾ of a turn followed by a very gentle snap stall to point the nose up. Do the turn slowly enough that you are heading in the direction you want to slide in at a half decent speed before you snap. The snap is very gentle so it was a great way for me to practice and get the feel of the lines as the kite stalls. This was the first snap stall motion I learned and it is one you can practice in almost any wind because you are at the edge of the window. Speaking of snap stalls here are my thoughts. A snap stall is effectively tugging one hand to dump the air from that side, then tugging the other hand both to dump air from that side and to compensate for the turning started by the first snap. I got a lot of insight on this flying the ozone in low wind and watching the frame/sail deform in a wave across the kite when I snapped. Snapping the other hand before that first wave made it through the kite would stall it beautifully. Does this make any sense?? Edited to add: Another thing that helped me was coming to terms with the fact that I'm not going to improve much over the course of an actual session. Sleeping on things seems to make a big difference though. That's why I'm glad I can get out decently often, even if not for very long each time. Even if I can run out to practice stalls for 20min it is probably worth it Challenges One big challenge is sorting out how much of my success and failure on a given day was due to the wind, the kite, or my skills. The difference between the ‘low wind’ (nose towards you) and ‘high wind’ (nose away from you) bridle settings can be significant. I’m still not totally sure which settings I like, and I feel like it isn’t easy to understand how the settings change flight characteristics. As for the wind, low wind is challenging but very good for learning stall control, energy efficiency, and landings even if it isn’t good for learning how to stall or for practicing sharp turns. High wind means no snap stall practice in the middle of the window, but doesn’t rule out side-slides or even things like dives and snap stalls nearer to the edge of the window. If you try this I noticed that the closer the kite is to the edge of the window the less even the tension in the lines is when the kite is perfectly stalled. (edit: added) If I turn to face the kite head on it helps a bit with evening the required tension. Another challenge has been the footwork required for stall control and certain tricks. I have started flying big circles while walking forward during the down and backward during the up parts to keep the kite at the same speed and it is helping. It has taken me awhile to get over the fear of breaking my kite and push my limits more often. If you also have that fear here is a compilation of some slow motion crashes my quantum has taken with no issues. Right this second I’m focused on “flying with intent (link)” including flying better figures, and at axles and turtles. I’m also hoping to learn fade control before I learn to enter a fade. I haven’t had the chance to try this, but I saw online that you can just get a friend to hold the kite in fade position until you have it under control then get them to let go! Stuff I’m not at all sure about. Different “modes” of kite control 1. “full sail” (There is probably a better word for this)- Lines under at least some tension. Kite goes in the direction the nose is pointed. Pulling dumps air from that side of the kite, slowing it, and causing the nose to rotate toward that side. Pushing opens up the side of the sail pushed, speeding it up as it gets more wind (?? I think??), causing the nose to rotate away from it. 2. Stall- lines are ‘in contact’ with the kite (as in, there is a very slight amount of tension). Pulling on a line pulls that side of the sail over the air, causing that side to rise. A quick push can slow that side of the sail down enough to drop it. This is how you keep the nose pointed up during a stall’ 3. Fade- Tugging a line pulls that side of the kite toward you, which increases air speed under it and raises that side. Keeping the nose pointed up by tugging on each side lets the wind lift the kite while it is upside down. 4. Slack (?) I’ve been told it is all about making sure there is enough line available to the kite to complete the trick, and not so much that loops get caught on the kite (and so you can take up all that slack easily enough)

Thanks Exult! I'm so glad these videos have a bit of value beyond just for my learning process! I'm starting to remember what the cameras are seeing which adds an interesting layer to kiting sessions. I like the flight plan idea and it would go well with my figure flying. Plus I can look at it after the session and see how much of the plan I was able to follow through on. Yeah it would be great to be able to dive straight down and snap stall/land right where I want to. I guess more practice I'm glad I'm not the only one to do a little simulation I couldn't fly for the past two days so I've been brushing up on tutorials and practicing inputs.

In the short time since I started this blog I've gotten tonnes of informative feedback on my flying! My key takeaways were: Learn figure flying/develop a bit of a warm-up routine. With this I can learn to fly the same way in different winds, monitor my progress more easily, and 'tune in' to the session. Learn how to slide, stall, and control the kite holding on to the straps as well as with my fingers on the line leaders. I'd like to feel out all the different ways people hold their lines and see which ways work best for me in different winds. Learn some of the gentler ground recoveries. This will of course mean less time doing the 'walk of shame'. Reminder to myself here to go check out the kite if my landing was at all rough so as to not damage things. Give more slack when trying tricks. In the same vein learn how to comfortably walk forward and backwards to moderate the kite's speed. Spend time both "provoking" the kite with various inputs and feeling how it responds/how to recover from it. This should help me get a feel for the feedback the kite can give through the lines (and visually) so I can modulate my inputs. Conversely, spend a little time just practicing the inputs kite-less while watching some tutorial videos. This should help me remember the "order of operations" for different tricks. I'm thinking I should do this standing up and move a little forward when the kite is supposed to have slack, and backward when I'm supposed to be coming out of the trick. Be patient. I can do this Have fun. Not a problem at all for me with a kite in the air! I got out briefly in high winds over the weekend but packed it up pretty quickly then got to fly a micron with a big tail owned by a fellow kilter (Thanks Martin, it was amazing)! I brought my kite when our house was going to got to the Fair on Sunday and it paid off as we bailed and went to the beach instead. The wind was pretty good but there wasn't much safe ground space so I practiced landings. Here is a cut of some landing attempts in slow-motion.

Aww you folk are too much fun! Thanks for all the pointers. I love leaving this site feeling like I've had a lesson or two poured into my head I think patience is super important while learning like I am. I'm thrilled to feel a little improvement each time I get out there but I'm in no rush! Mostly just excited.

Wow Exult, thanks for such thoughtful feedback! I'm glad you are enjoying watching as I learn, I'm super happy to share the process with both current and future flyers. I know I spent awhile before getting the Quantum looking for videos of beginners learning the basics! I think I know what you mean about "provoking" the kite. I noticed that I could really 'wobble' the kite going across the window with subtle movements. I saw some people talking about the "less is more" school of flying and I can see how awesome developing a real solid sense of how the kite is going to respond while 'unstable' would be! I heard the phrase flying with intent on the forum (and thought about it a lot out on the field) but didn't realize there was such a great article linked to it! I'm going to try some of that figure flying and build a couple of multi-component routines into my next session. It would be cool to have a 10min warm-up routine that I could try each time I come out. ReedDesigns has some cool stuff too! I've seen some of the trick animations on YouTube but didn't realize how many there were Thanks for the link and comments on trick difficulty! I think I should plan on trying a routine a few times then working on ground recoveries like the cart wheel next time. If I'm ambitious or if the wind isn't right for groundworks I might try an axle or two and turtles (think you are right about the fade by the way, I'm still not 100% on trick terminology)! I'd love to see these at some point! I'm flattered that some of my flying was a bit inspirational Finally, I couldn't imagine being out flying without a big grin on my face, it is too much fun. There aren't a lot of areas where repetitive practice itself is so rewarding!

Hi Will! This is Chris, we talked at clover point last week! Glad to see you on KiteLife. John and really everyone here are great people! Maybe I'll see you at the point this weekend! Sent from my SM-G935W8 using KiteLife mobile app

I am starting to realize that crashing (or at least losing control a bit) might be needed to actually get better! But yeah I spent half that last session on the ground too so fear not Can't wait to hear how it goes for you next time! I think the Quantum must be built with stalls and beginner tricks in mind as it seems very forgiving. More so I'm sure than your Hawaiian must be! I don't have a ton of experience in different kites to compare it to yet. Smaller kites are great too so if the Quantum on eBay doesn't work out a Nexus might be a good choice! I flew one recently and liked it. Can't speak to any other manufacturers! Sent from my SM-G935W8 using KiteLife mobile app

Great that he is past the "completely random" crashing phase! I second the Quantum. It is what I'm learning on now. It took a decent amount of punishment yesterday when I was trying half axles and had no problem. Sent from my SM-G935W8 using KiteLife mobile app

I ran out to fly for my lunch break yesterday The wind was pretty ideal so I finally started working on half axles! I got 50min of "kite assembled" time in but only about 20min of flying because of all the walking and relaunching. I should probably figure out all the ground recovery tricks sooner rather than later! I edited out all the walking an have this 20min video. I've managed to borrow two action cams and I thought Id set one up on the kite and one on me this time. Unfortunately I forgot to check the camera pointed at the kite and it recorded a time lapse the whole time. I still got good footage from the gopro but I'm in frame for a lot of it! I'd love feedback on my form as I'm not usually so visible. I'm trying to keep my hands at the side but have flown a lot in low wind and keep forgetting. The first 8min is mostly stalls and slides. I need to work on snapping my left hand better but I'm starting to get it with the right. Lots of half axle practice after that especially 10-14min. I think I'm usually not giving enough slack on the lower line/not pulling on the lower line after giving slack but it is hard to tell yet. I can't wait to get better at them cause this was the most fun I've had since my first time out!!

Thanks Exult! I'm hoping to film myself to force me to think harder about my actions as well as to communicate my progression to whomever is interested! It has worked well in other areas of my life and been lots of fun at the same time. I'm not much of a videographer yet so that's also going to be a constantly improving process. I'm loving the hunt for used kites too! I have all the time in the world to get into brand new ones We are a pretty industrious household so I'm hoping to get into kite repair and building in the future. That's the most abuse I've ever given the ozone by far and mostly because the line slipped off my finger... whoops! I'm pretty happy with the range I can fly in, but I haven't pushed the upper limit of the quantum much as I'm still not good at handling the pull after a failed snap stall in the middle of the window.

September first seemed like as good a time as any for a first post. I'm going to fill in my story up till today, and hopefully make mroe regular postings in the future. I flew my first dual-line kite on April 20th and have been hooked ever since! It was a $20 In the Breeze Colorwave kite with a 48" wingspan. The wind was strong but the group of us were all still able to get the basics of kite control down I flew that kite at least a couple times a week every week. After we replaced the standoffs with coat hangers it could even be stalled and could kindasorta do a side-slide. The leading edges of that kite only just broke last weekend teaching a few new people the ropes. Here are 30 sec of me flying that kite a month ago. I won a Prism Quantum in the karma drawing which I have been flying since mid/late July. It is a totally different kite and a joy to fly. It wasn't until last week that I started to get the hang of snap stalls (still lots of work to do). For the next little while I'm all about getting stalls and slides down, and possibly trying the axle a bunch. Here is a 5min shot of playing with the quantum last week (winds are a little low) There is also a 15min video from a couple days earlier on my channel. It has better wind, but I clearly hadn't cracked snap stalls yet. My wonderful boyfriend found me a couple used kites on Craigslist so I am also the owner of a Prism Ozone and an Illusion 2k. I've taken the ozone out a handful of times now that I'm not terrified of breaking it and it is an amazing kite. Here is me flying it in very low wind. I have a lot of learning to do but am hugely excited to have found something that captivates me. I'd love feedback on my flying anytime! I'm only just starting to connect with local flyers as they come back from vacation so I've relied on reading these forums and on youtube for most of my education. Thanks for reading, and thanks to this vibrant community! Chris

Thanks again Mike! I got some work on the project done and can't wait to finish it! Sent from my SM-N920W8 using KiteLife mobile app

Hi All, Firstly I wanted to apologize for my absence here! Without going into details it has been a super cruddy month. Kites and especially the karma drawing were a rare positive for me and I still want to pay things forward. I just logged in and realized things have moved on without me so I reached out to John, who suggested I sweeten the pot that Mike has generously offered! I was planning on making a specific project for the winner but with things going the way they are I'm not sure if I can get it finished by the 12th. I wish I could match the generosity of drdemonx and Mike but I just can't commit to that right now. So minimally I want to immediately buy the winner this (inexpensive sorry but surprisingly robust) parafoil you can see my friend using in this youtube video. The only thing I don't love about this parafoil are the lines but I'm guessing most of you have several sets? I still want to finish the project I was originally going to put up for the draw and send that out before the end of August. And Mike, I'd also like to send you something in thanks for hosting the restart. Thanks for hosting such a vibrant and resilient community. I'm super sorry that my absence caused the need for this drawing to restart! I hope to be a more active participant in the future! P.S I had the best time with the quantum a couple days ago. I have all day today to myself and am really hoping the wind will oblige! It is amazing to fly!!

Yay thanks Drdemonx! Will pm you now! Thanks all for the congrats! Will be finding some stuff to put up for the next draw asap! Eee no more 20$ Amazon kite!

Hi all! Just wondering what the smallest kite you've flown (with success) for trick flying was? I don't think I've found videos of anyone tricking anything as small as a micron but they have to be somewhere right? I'd love to hear your stories!

Thanks dr demonix! Entered would be fun to get my first real kite as part of a karma draw. Would probably keep me hooked for a long time! 0wind and rain all day today boo.

I'm in! Sounds like a fun draw idea hope I get the chance to pay it forward!