Kansas Flier

As much as I like Prism products, I would avoid the Isotope, they had an issue with the bridle, I don't know when, or if, they fixed it. The Bora is a great kite. I would suggest taking a look at the Triad. It's a lot of fun to fly. You fly it like a fighter kite, with the winder on the ground, line in your hands. And speaking of fighter kites, you might want to check them out too. And there are gliders, for those days when there is no wind, or you can fly indoors. The Wala XL is a good glider that can fly in 20 MPH winds. Kites do have a tendency to multiply. You have been warned.

The "Dragonball" version's tail is two, one inch wide, thirty foot long, plastic streamers. I second makatakam's advice, 50-100 foot of surveyor's tape should make for some nice skywriting.

How much room do you have? I use extension cord reels, the kind with a frame, not the hand held winder. I haven't timed it, but I can wind up 150 foot of line fairly quickly- Definitely less than 2 minutes, probably closer to 1 minute. Of course, they take up more room than a hoop winder, but space is not an issue for me. I have never used them in the sand. The ones I have don't have ball bearings to get gummed up. I don't know what kind of issues sand would cause. You can put a lot of line on one. 500' of 500# is about a quarter full. The 300 feet of 6mm Paracord I have fits nicely on one. I do not fly kites off the reel. If I had a hold on the frame, I am sure a gust of wind would tear the reel right out/off.

In a wardrobe moving box marked "Wedding Dresses". You'll need a box big enough to hold your Mother's, Aunt's, Sister's, Cousin's, and any other relative or friend's dresses, if ya know what I mean. Cut a hole in the back for access. As a guy, I ain't touching that box with a ten foot pole, mess up "Mom's" wedding dress and I would never hear the end of it. If you need to expand, there is always Prom and Homecoming dress boxes.

Sleds? Yeah, I live with a family of sleds. There are some that live upstairs in a closet, the rest live in the basement. They are a reliable group, and can go from "in the bag" to "ready to fly" faster than Clark Kent could become Superman. I try to make sure they get plenty of exercise, and they seem happiest when lifting something. Since everyone can't fly at the same time, I have to rotate who gets to go to the park. If I don't, one of them might get disgruntled and start corrupting the deltas. And I don't need that to happen. ...again. For the record, I love all the sleds equally. And I'm not just saying that because there is one in the room with me now.

One thing I found helpful was to walk toward the kite when the nose was pointing down. When flying shapes, this slows the kite down. You'll be walking toward the kite a lot- slides, snap stalls, gaining ground in lighter winds, landings(planned and unplanned), and tricks(intentional and unintentional). I would suggest that you search Youtube for videos on ground recovery. Knowing how to cartwheel will add to your flying time.

I have never flown a tail with my Quantum, but I would use the reinforced piece that the bungee cord goes through on the back of the kite. It's about two inches from the bottom of the spine. What I would do is cut a piece 16 to 20 inch of 80#(or so) line and tie a double overhand (or knot of your choice) near the two ends to make a loop. I would push that loop through the webbing holding the bungee cord. You could pull one end of the loop through the other, making a pigtail to attach the tail's swivel or you could pull the ends of the loop even and attach the tail's swivel there. Once you are done, you can remove the string from the back of the kite, store it on the tail's swivel. I do not break down the leading edges on my Quantum, it just sticks out of the bag. If you do this, be careful not to turn it open side down, or a spreader might fall out.

It's worth a try. A new kite won't "fix" my skills, but there something to be said about getting to know a new kite. There are many more "hobbies" that are more expensive than kites. And remember it's for the grandkids, if all else fails.

The Premier Osprey is a 60" kite wind range is 5-25. I think the low wind range is closer to 7 MPH. In higher winds Ill put a 50' ribbon tail, nice tight turns. It's built tough. Less expensive than the other kites. I don't have any experience with the Little Wing, but I do have a 48" kite from their "Learn to Fly" series. It's a fast little kite. Not as tough as the Osprey. This kite came with plastic handles instead of straps. The Beetle 2100 (56"x33") is about the same size as the Jazz (55"x28"). The Beetle's wind range is 3-15, where as the Jazz's range is 5-25. Depends on the usual winds you fly in. I would say the Jazz is built tougher than the Beetle. I would say the Beetle is entering light wind category. I would add 2-3 MPH to the low wind range of smaller kites. If you are going for a kite that you don't mind who flies it and you don't mind it being lawn-darted, I would recommend the Osprey. That being said, my advice would be to save your cash on these smaller kites and buy another Quantum sized kite. Then buy yourself an even nicer kite, later. The Quantum took the new flier duty from the Osprey.

My two cents: You are going to want to anchor this kite. Anchor the kite before you launch it. You will need to choose an anchor that is appropriate for the location. The Gomberg website has a good article about anchors. There are several Youtube videos demonstrating different anchors. Walk the kite up, walk the kite back down. I would suggest your first launch be in lighter winds, 7-12 MPH. Wear gloves. Don't wrap the line around your hand. If the kite comes down, there is a chance the kite might self launch if the winds pick up or changes direction. The kite might have enough pull to lift some line laundry. Need to post some pics once you get it in the air.

I believe that is the best way to attach the swivel. You could also do a Prusik Knot/double fisherman's knot. I use a double overhand knot. I like it better than two overhand knots.

I have a couple different types of winders like this. I am going to assume you are holding it with your left hand and winding with your right. Even if you wind with your left hand, i think it's about the same. I fly with the guide (one style looks like a guide from a fishing rod, the other is a roller) on the bottom. The line from the kite goes through the guide, and toward the bottom of the reel. I "reel-in" in a clockwise rotation, like a fishing reel. Now you could have the guide on top, but then you would have to reel-in the line counter-clockwise, and that feels backwards to me. If you reeled clockwise with the line on top, the string would rub across the guide keeper that sits above the reel(It does on both styles of reels I own), and I don't think you want that. One reason I would suggest flying with the guide on the bottom is if you are reeling in a downed kite, the string feeds in easier that way. Flying with one of those reels feels like the same motions I would use while fishing. If you have a plastic guide keeper, be careful that the line doesn't wrap around it. If you reel in some line, it will burn through the plastic. Same thing for metal guide keepers, except it with cut at your line. I wouldn't suggest unwinding them all the way, unless the string is tied off to the winder, not a slip knotted loop of string around the winder(which it probably is) or the loop of string is tight enough around the winder to be wound up. (It probably isn't) If you put string on a blank winder, make sure you tie if off well. And lastly, I fly on grass. I wouldn't take them to the beach. I think sand would mess one up fairly fast.

I have never stacked eddies, so I don't know the answer. I would stack them far enough apart so they won't collide when launching them or taking them down. Basically, I would put them a kite length between them minimum. I think the maximum distance between kites is only limited by amount of line and FAA regulations. I don't know if there is a "sweet spot" distance for stacked eddies. Perhaps someone will chime in with better info for you.

What was wrong?

I this is the reason I have quit using the "stock" sets. I had one stretch 6-8". I get your frustration, and I can see how a new flier would frustrated with that quickly as they might not understand what just happened, and would have another line set. Flying a kite that sucks to fly, sucks. Hope all goes well with ITW.

Great meeting you. It was fun talking kites. I already got the wheels spinning on getting a frame. I just realized, it has no kite bag! Is it a symphony 2.1 that I have. Now I have to plan on a trip to the east coast sometime soon.

I really like the Shadow. I can fly it in lower winds than the Black Dog UL. When the Shadow won't fly, I take out the Wala.

The packaging says Carbon Fiber Frame and Ripstop Polyester. It is not listed on the Skydog site. I bought mine 2-3 years ago. It might not be made anymore, which is a shame, because if I lost it, I would want to buy another.

Nice list. The Skydog Black Dog- UL(77" x 28.5") is a nice low wind kite(2-10 MPH). It comes with removable tail weights. I think it has good precision and tracking, and is capable of doing more ticks than I know how to do. Under 4 MPH takes some work to keep it aloft. Seems like a durable kite, as I have had a few unexpected landings with no damage.

If you ever decide to get just one single line kite (Wallet Warning: You can't have just one, they multiply...fast.), you should take a good look at the Wala XL. It's probably one of the most versatile kites I own. You can fly it like a glider. You can fly it like a kite. You can fly it on a box with a fox. I have flown mine in gusts around 20MPH with the 90 foot tail.

You need to stop doing this, please. I read your post about breaking a lower spreader on your Widow NG. Last weekend I broke a lower spreader on my Widow NG. I have never broken a lower spreader on any kite before. Today I broke a standoff on my Black Dog, in flight. Another first. I was gonna blame it on the cold weather, although it was nice today, but I'm starting to see a pattern. So, I should expect a broken tee in the near future... Be very careful with your sails! We don't need any sail damage.

With music, once you know the rules, you can break them with impunity.- My guitar teacher, a long, long time ago. "You can't do that!" "What do you mean? I just did it... ...There, I did it again." Multi-line kiting, like guitars, relies on muscle memory built up by repetition. I've said that learning to fly with a cheap* kite is like learning to play on a cheap* guitar. (*cheap- poorly made, not necessarily inexpensive) Sure, you can do it, but progress will be painful. It sounds like you have chosen some good kites to start. I would suggest only buying "up" from the Widow NG. That said, some kites are better at some tricks than others, so I would discount all mass produced kites. For example, you were going to practice doing fades close to the ground. I might grab a less expensive kite, like my Swift, before I would grab a more expensive light wind kite. Let the Swift take all the inevitable lawn darts while I work on control. Learning the Fade on the Swift definitely helped me do Fades on my Widow NG and other kites. There are also kites that don't like to do certain tricks, like a back flip.

And the wind will suddenly change direction like 90 degrees? Or land at what was the edge of the wind window only to get your kite blown over by a change in wind direction? Other times, during those nice long lulls, the wind direction is best described as "Down"? Nope, never heard of it.

Can't wait till you ask about line sets... I find that some kites can do some tricks easier than other kites. A trick learnt on one kite can be translated to another kite. I don't think there is one kite that does everything great, but there are kites that will fit your flying style better than others. Lots of great info. Good job.

Between the four or five multi-line people that show up at our local kite festivals, if the kite is set up and no one is flying it, it's fair game. The trouble is, none of them own boutique trick kites. At least they don't break them out at kite festivals. ...or around me... I suspect we are all waiting for someone else to get one so we can all descend on it like vultures.