Jump to content
KiteLife Forum

mwp

Kitelife Subscriber
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    70

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by mwp

  4. Wind up or down

    in General Sport Kite

    Posted

    So you get to your flying spot and its 15mph... You set up and get flying your biggest, slowest, heaviest kite and suddenly the wind is completely dead. Does this happen to others or is it just me, what do you do? For the most part there is no in between: just 0-15 at 11am and 15-0 at 7pm.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app

    • Like 1

  13. General publics reaction to kites

    in General Sport Kite

    Posted

    Recently I have been kiting in a beautiful area of Socal. 

    Here is an example of one of my spots(either the park on right or between the 2 lamp posts) along the beach but I have a few areas within a mile radius. There is a substantial amount of foot traffic, if I had to guess;  roughly 200 - 500 people in a few hour session. I am by no means pro but I do have a good amount of tricks in my book, so I ask you guys what is the general reaction you get flying in public?

    Here are my thoughts: 

    You can do a perfect flapjack, flic flac, yo yo,... you name it and 1 out of 100 people will turn their head and watch for 10 - 45 seconds. I used to fly revs with a guy here and he would literally stall on the top of the lamp posts and use them as obstacle courses, it was very impressive but no one cared. Children under 10 on the other hand love to chase revs and then parents suddenly think they are cool..

    Some people just hate kites and the people that fly them, when there is the whole beach available they will decide to specifically walk in the flight path forcing you to land and then just step over lines, I have noticed this is particularly true of foreigners that are visiting the area although some foreigners are incredibly interested and careful. Ill be flying perfectly on short lines on an empty beach and a few people have even told me to go home because there was no wind. My favorite was a guy throwing a football directly at me while I was flying and another putting cones around me to create a soccer field when the WHOLE entire beach is empty at 8am. 

    Kites are immediately associated with childhood no matter what you are doing. I.e. ("I haven't flown a kite since I was 14.")

    Some people will assume you do not contribute to society and you are unemployed even though they are also at the beach in the middle of the day. 

    Now for the positives: 

    When you receive compliments it is always:  "Nice kite, where did you get it?", "Thats cool, what is it called?" , only three times in the past 3 months has someone complimented me on my flying.

    If just one of these 10 people that asks you about what it is buys a kite the hobby potentially grows. 

    Occasionally you will really interest someone and they will take videos on their phones for a few minutes; I have noticed women tend to try and discreetly snap a photo and keep moving.

     

    All in all I think we have a lot of work to do in order to make kiting a more generally accepted hobby and peak public interest; some of the things you guys are doing are really incredible. I am curious to hear what you guys have to say about the response in your community.

     

     

    PS. Please ping me if you know of anyone flying in Los Angeles area (I feel like I'm the only one)

     

     

     

     

  15. FS: 4 revs, bag, linesets and extras

    in Kites for Sale, Swap or Trade

    Posted

    Hey guys posting this for Tommy Chidester who used to frequent the San Diego area but now is in Venice/Santa Monica. I have had the pleasure of flying with Tommy daily for the past month, unfortunately due to some health issues and his living situation Tommy needs to sell these kites.  All are in good condition, although I think a small piece of the venting is tearing on the leading edge of one of the vented kites. For the price of  $1000 + shipping you will receive: 

     

    1 exp (this is a special one with only 3 icarex panels, this was given to him by Joe Hadzicki  himself)

    b series mid vent 

    b series full vent

    super blast 2.4

    Various assorted line sets (at least 6, most laserpro), awesome fat carbon handles, kite stakes, a kite bag (zipper works) 

    More complete album here: http://imgur.com/a/SKHUK

    IMG_5980.JPG

  24. FAA Kite regulations

    in General Sport Kite

    Posted

    Thanks guys, will get written permission.

    It seems like the 5 mile rule applies to kites with a line length over 150 feet OR over 5 pounds so in most cases a stunt kite would not apply.

    (2) Except as provided for in §101.7, any kite that weighs more than 5 pounds and is intended to be flown at the end of a rope or cable.

    No person may operate an unshielded moored balloon or kite more than 150 feet above the surface of the earth unless, at least 24 hours before beginning the operation, he gives the following information to the FAA ATC facility that is nearest to the place of intended operation:

     

  25. FAA Kite regulations

    in General Sport Kite

    Posted

     Thanks for the great reply. Here is a map of the location for reference, the red box was where I was flying with 40 foot lines below even the tree level. The white boxes are where the police officer told me I could fly. I will try to reach out to the control tower and see what their thoughts are.

     

×
×
  • Create New...