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Breezin

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Everything posted by Breezin

  1. My 1st kite was a Widow ng. Could be the kite or maybe I'm just special but I learned 3 tricks on it the very 1st day . Nose dive left, nose dive center and nose dive right. 2nd day I learned how to repair a broken LS.
  2. What would you name a kite with that fabric? Bubbles Galore (OO7 reference) perhaps?
  3. Breezin

    Line sets

    OOPS. 8 feet 4 inches might be a little long for a I Flight and a bit short for a Kaiju. Been snivelling about how abrupt my Nitro framed kites power up in 15 to 20 mph bumpy winds for as long as I've had them. Today winds were cycling 3 or 4 to a bit over 15. Used my LP 100' x 150# set. Instead of the unsettling yanks on my Widow Maker at times the 15+ hits were a blast with fast smooth contolled whooshes. Issue hasn't been the Nitros it's been the crappy lines. Ya think I would've figured that out long before now. Hate to admit it but sometimes I'm just a complete dumbass.
  4. Breezin

    Line sets

    Wasn't long into flying before I had sets of 50# and 90# LPG. Couldn't really tell the difference from Dyneema for quite awhile. Especially in 20+ winds. For the last year and a half 90# x 100" LPG has been my go to set. Wed measuered 8 to 16 mph pretty fast cycling winds. Big gust hit breaking 1 line and fraying the other pert near in the middle. Set was getting pretty used but dang. Don't remember the last time I flew my 80# x 100" Dyneema set. SHOCKED at how much they sucked. They felt heavy with an awful rubberband effect. Danged if they didn't stretch out about an inch again too. Good thing is I must have gotten a lot better since the last time I used them. Prestretched my LPG and never had to adjust that set it's whole life. Doubt I'll have to on the new set either. Maybe once. Yup buying by the spool is the way to go. When high wind flying I've been using 130# and 150# Dyneema mainly to get the use out of them. 150# LPG has been hanging on the rack. Not anymore!!
  5. Tues. morning wind forecast was up to 50 mph gust in the afternoon. Figured I'd be fine and headed for town. Went over a slight rise about 4 miles from my house and a wall of dirt was headed right at me. Lasted about 3 minutes blasting the front of my car. No paint left on the license plate, pitted and broke the windshield in 4 places (replaced) and broke left headlight lense. Off to the body shop this week. Don't know how high that straightline hit was but guessing 70+. Sure glad I was sheltered. If I'd hung my ear out there it'd come back a nub. Still be digging dirt out of the hole LOL.
  6. Man that looks nice. Still need better skills to really justify my Lams. Hoping it doesn't happen to you but on any given day I'm absolute crap on mine. Friday was SUL time and flew both my AC and Tekken. Stayed at it for several hours but blah for the most part. Next day Mind Trick vented and same oh hum. Just couldn't quite connect. I like to think if I lived where winds were smoother more often I'd have less days like that. Balarky though cause the best flying I've done is on those kites. I was told before I got a Lam that on a bad day you'll look really bad. Good thing is on a good day ya look really, really good. Thats a frustrating fact for me but I'm getting better. Seen some folks give up on Lams IMO to soon. If you don't connect right away give it some time. I've had to call Lam a couple times for a bit of schooling. My Benson Superfly is very tricky and built really well. Kite has a slight backwards bow in the spine. Having some difficulty doing flic flaks because (I think) that bow makes the nose tilt higher in the flare. Once I get that figured out think I'll be better at the trick on all my kites. So impressed with it I'll be getting a Supernova too.
  7. No help here. Forums full of a bunch of enablers. My guess is anyone who joins KL to help people overcome their kite addiction thankfully gets run off 😇.
  8. I've had my Mind Trick vented for close to 2 years now. Most technical kite I have and on any given day Taz and Rollups are hard to come by. In a stall the Hydra and Nighthawk back flip almost without thought. Pretty easy to front flip too. MT needs the nose to be canted abit to one side or the other. Still difficult when stalled and works best when kite is moving. Sometimes I can hit when fully powered in 15. It's more by feel and I still don't get how I'm doing it. Kite sits very deep in the turtle making it's release points unlike any of my others. Doubt it and the Tica have much in common but try the back flips with some movement and tilt in the nose. Might also be a 2 popper kite. Another way I try to catch the groove on the MT is throw slack from horizontal. As nose tilts up there is enough momentum to keep the kite moving thru the turtle. Catch lots of tip wraps though. Crank the kite back the other way and you'll get out of them. 2 wraps suck but 1 leads to some pretty fun stuff. DO NOT let the kite spin to the ground. Drop a line if you have to cause LE repairs suck. Got cocky a few weeks ago doing that on my Psycho in 20+ mph and the sudden sag to the left kinda broke my heart. Cool that you've had the Tica in it's max range. How a kite handles the gusties always grabs my attention. Anyone else been flying a Tica in fast cycling winds?
  9. Doesn't need to anymore. He's flown so much a organic one grew inside his left ear that actually TALKS to him . Using my meter has become a headology thing(Granny Weatherwax). I'm not as bold as JB though. Something starts growing in my ear it's getting cut out.
  10. Thought I was pretty good at judging wind until I started flying kites. My wind meter is always in my pocket. Forecast gives me a general idea on preparing for the days flying. I've got a tendancy when in the groove to just go with the flow and take some of my kites to they're limits. Not good. More often in the spring/summer but winds at 10:30 can be between 5 and 10 mph. By 2:00 pm hitting 15 to 20. Deal with a lot of gusty winds. Measuring those peaks and how rapidly they cycle determines how I'll attempt to fly. Last Sat. winds would cycle from 5 to a bit over 20 at times within 10 or 15 seconds. They'd change direction by about 20 degrees too. Really difficult stuff. I wandered around for an hour with my meter getting the moxy to fly. Excellent day and didn't break my kite. Wednesday same type of winds but somewhat lower and a tad smoother. 3 times I went out to fly. Nope no moxy. 2 years ago I would have bulled my way thru and probably broke something. For whatever reason when winds are nasty I depend on watching my meter to focus. Envisioning moves as I watch the ebb and flow of the wind. Somedays though I just go back to the house and pout a bit.
  11. Careful in dealing with those fickle gods. Yesterday winds would be around 6 or 7 mph then jump to 15/20 in a matter of seconds. Spent close to an hour wandering around getting the moxy to fly in that bumpy stuff. Swear the wind gods were snickering at me the whole time. Nothing broke though so HAH I got the last laugh.
  12. 30" lines . Are you KIDDING ME!! Last week after 2 years I finally had 2 good days on 50' lines with a sul. Dang it, dang it, dang it now I gotta go short line my Widowmaker.
  13. Nope I wait for it to rain LOL. Mongoose and Widowmaker Pro fill pretty specific spots. If I didn't have those 90% sure I'd have a Supernova and Nirvana. Spending wisely is hard to do because there are so many cool kites. SKD kites are pretty stunning but cost an arm and a Lam. If I ever post a 300 word rant complaining about a bad day in awful 7 mph smooth winds ignore it. I'll have lost my freaking mind. When first starting I kept a diary but it didn't last long. Interfered with the fun and got boring. EVERY time I fly I try to perfect my axles and slides no matter the wind. When struggling with something returning to those 2 moves helps ease the frustration and think. Doing that is how I accidently learned to Taz and Slot before I could Cascade. Superfly and AC sul Taz almost at will. Nose at 10:30/11:00 around they go. Mind Trick starting at 9:00 needs a LOT more precise inputs. It's a kapow marching forward kinda thing. The other 2 are rather floaty and elegant. I'd read early on that the slide is one of the easiest tricks to learn taking a lifetime to perfect. I agree. Took me awhile to grasp that you can slide anywhere in the window. Transitioning from trick to trick catching a slide in between for me aids in setup and adds some pinoche. In higher winds it might only last 2' or 3' but it signals a fairly proper controlled dumping of the wind. You can see it but it's more of a feel then visual. Thinking of it as a moving stall has helped. Superfly slides really, really well in the higher winds. On my 1st slide I knew I could learn to fly the dickens out of it with a fairly short learning curve. It hasn't replaced my Hydra at all. Well except for the way it's going to be banged around.
  14. Keep in mind that I'm still a intermediate flyer. Like when first learning my Mongoose and Widow I've tried to keep the go for it somewhat at bay. That's not going to plan. Kites to much fun and capable. The steady firm feedback is the most impressive thing so far. Had it in it's upper range couple days ago. Only got about 45 minutes in before winds started bumping a bit over 30 mph at times. From 20 to 25 it's FAST. From 4 to 25 it stays pretty much the same. Very smooth and stable with very little twitch even in the bumpies. Wasn't quite as good at the edge in the upper range as I thought it would be. Still really good and it's yet to be knocked out of the sky. Power hits quick but easy to control and predictable. Comparatively the Mongoose and Widow in 15 to 20 mph can in the blink of an eye give me a OMG moment.Switched to the Psycho once again . It got blown out at least 5 times before a LLE decided it had had enough. I've learned to fly all my kites a little lower than stated except the Psycho. This one probably not. It'll still trick in 4 or 5 really well but below that it glides to the ground. Made the effort on my others because of the way the wind cycles here at times. Doesn't seem worth it with this one. Kite has a deep pocket with a backward bow in the LLE and a forward bow in the spine. For me that makes pumping air into the sail kinda futile. Not much billow in the sail making it feel powered up all the time. Think that's also why the feedback is so good keeping the kite smooth and stable. Not enough bow to dead launch but makes ground recoveries pretty easy. It does sit deep in the turtle but more similar to my Widow than the Lams. My Lams can lock in and it takes a little flick of a wing tip to release them. More so on the Mind Trick. No I didn't figure that out. Had to call Lam. Hard to describe but once ya get it it's just a thing. That little flick with the right angle has made dumping wind faster and easier on all my kites. The Lams need precise inputs. Skyburner/Premiers respond well to snap and pop. Hydra too. Mongoose /Black Dog up to 12/13 is more of a guiding the kite around with longer smoother inputs. Superfly is different. Responds well to any of the inputs I've learned so far but with time I know I can do it better. Kite doesn't seem sensitive to me. Responsive and firm is what comes to my mind. Then again I fly a Nighthawk, Addiction and Psycho a lot. Spent some hours early on flying a Micron too. Axle based tricks have the most familiar feel. The flip and rollup stuff is where I'll have to adjust the most. Popping the kite into a roll up hasn't worked to well yet. Keep popping in the wrong spot. Climbing to the top of the window just before stall throw some slack with a step forward it rolls up easy. Can catch 2 or 3 with the 1 move. Studying that I think will give me a big clue on the different inputs I need to learn. Another is the kite will spin inside it's wingtip. Pretty good at front roll ups on the Hydra and Nighthawk, It's going to take different inputs but I think this one will do the trick pretty readily too.Hardest hit so far came from a failed flick flack. Knew I'd lost it as soon as I'd flared. Kite pancakes really well so I tried to turn it into a flat spin. Lost that too and tried to recover like on my other kites. Nope. One of my main goals in flying is to launch a kite and understand how IT wants to fly instead of MY way. Not very good at that yet so it's going to take some time to learn this kite. Oddly the better I'm getting it's taking a little longer to refocus when changing kites. Pretty dramatic change when switching from the Tekken SUL to the Addiction. Trying OPK before buying is sound advice if you can. I can't and boy was I wrong in guessing what this kite is like. Happily I'm not disappointed at all. IMO for a high end kite the Superfly is a bargain. Cost was what the website says with no surprises. The build quality is A+. Roll up stops on the Hydra are the worst I have. Don't care for Lams that much either. I like the Superflys the best. A newbie could learn on it but the abuse would border on stupid. Once solid basics are second nature compared to kites I've had or have this kite will get someone to the tricks quick. Kite kinda tells me what it wants. Just don't quite get that British accent yet LOL. If I would have got this in the summer of 2018 I really believe I'd be a bit further along. Not a lot but still. Mainly because the kite instilled an almost instant confidence and it's tough. Could very well be I'm looking back with rose colored glasses on though. In 15 mph winds my Widow gets real exciting. Start flying it like the Nighthawk and Addiction. BONKERS!! To preserve the kite I need better skills to really enjoy it above 13. Superfly is smaller so less pull and easier to trick in those winds. Frame has a little more flex so power is a bit smoother making the bumps easier to deal with. Widow tops out at 22 flying my butt off. Superfly to 25 with more predictability and less adrenaline The Mind Trick is still the best in 15 to 25 gusty stuff and 25% or more slower Had it for more than a year and a 1/2..Some days though it is still hard to Taz, Slot or do roll up stuff. It's a kite that challenges the heck out of me. Kites still quite a bit above my skill set. That's a good thing but man some days on it just suck. Superfly is fitting in perfectly between the Widow and Mind Trick. Learning it will make me better on the other 2 for sure.3 very different kites.
  15. Only been at this a couple years but it didn't take long before I wanted the best. My skills are at a solid 5 pushing into the 6 realm quite often now. I'll third the Lam kites. I've got 3 for winds .5 to 30 mph plus. Not my most forgiving kites but when I'm on man it's ON. Living on the Colorado high plains I deal with some pretty bumpy winds. The Lams handle gusty winds the best. Although I have some high end kites including a Benson Superfly, Skyburner Widowmaker Pro, Blue Moon Mongoose my Premier Nighthawk gets flown a lot. Not a sedate kite at all. Tough, capable and tons of fun. No longer in production it has since evolved into the Wolf ng. At times I get really focused on one of my standards and not touch a different one for a week or more. Except the Nighthawk. If I start struggling, get to excited or heavy handed I'll go to it. Kite helps me refocus. Lots of days it's the kite I fly first. Jorge has some excellent YouTube videos of both the Nighthawk and Wolf. For pure whooping fun nothing beats my Premier Addiction. No roll ups but it doesn't really need them. I've got the kites now to take me as far as I can go. Money IS a issue for me. If not I'd have another Lam, Skyburner, Benson and Blue Moon. Air One, Level One, R Sky, Sport Kite Design and L'Atelier kites are on the dang I want one of those too list. The Into the Wind Hydra is a fun tricky beast. On sale I think it's still one of the best deals out there. Mines beat to snot now but I learned a ton on it. IMO with your background call Lam first.
  16. Wind range mostly. For me smaller kites are easier to control when winds are bumpy. Superfly surprised me there. It's really good in the gusts. Plus Goff looks like he's having more fun on the Superfly in the videos LOL.
  17. 9 of my grandkids started on a Prism Snapshot 1.4. One boy loves the whump so much it was hard to get him to stop whumping framed kites. Self launching foils for 8 year olds NEED adult supervision. 150# lines in 15 mph winds is dangerous. Out in 20 to 25 mph on the Snapshot I staked the kite. Gust launched it and lucky for me I dodged the lines. Live on a open prairie so kite didn't get caught on anything. 1/2 mile walk I finally caught up with it. Put a old dog toy on top of it now instead of staking. If needing to stake it's with 1 line. When winds go 15+ I angle my kites close to the windows edge so if they launch they'll head away from center. Let go while leaning over a kite in high winds 1 time. ONE TIME!!! Jaw hurt for 3 days. Lessons learned 😡.
  18. You tube the Rock On by Flying Wings. Cheaper than both Prisms and one of the few kites that can relaunch without walking to the kite. Constant walking to reset the kite leads to major frustration at times. Even for us so called grownups. Fun With Wind has them pretty cheap. You'll find a video of a woman and her 2 daughters about that age doing some great flying. Daddy is Bell Chu designer, builder and excellent flier. HQ Bebop would probably take them a bit farther in tricking than the Prisms too. I've got grandchildren in that age group and they learn this stuff fast. Pull is in relation to how hard the kite is to hold onto in wind conditions. The hardest pulling kite I have is a 5' speed kite that will drag a 200# person around in 30 mph if you're not careful.
  19. Finally got one of these Tuesday. In hindsight this should have come before my Lams. Thought it would similar to my Hydra but more durable. More durable for sure but doesn't fly much like anything I've flown. First flights were in 10 to 15 mph pretty smooth winds. Hour in winds were dropping and got to the sul winds point. Like my Mongoose and Black Dog the kite flew pretty much the same as the winds varied. Yesterday went up in 15 to a bit over 20. WOW!! Moderate pull, really smooth loading with no yanking around. Thought the kite would be wilder and faster. Happy that it's not. Got other kites for that. Kite can dump wind really fast which led me to higher risk moves too soon. Need to learn the kite more before attempting much more than basic axle, turtle stuff in the higher winds. I've no doubt it's capable of flic flacs in 20 to 25 mph center window. I'd better be on a good day though. Kite doesn't feel very forgiving. It seems very deliberate without being methodical. Not a zany kite but still plenty of on the edge sensation. Really bumpy nasty stuff yesterday. Only kite that handles that stuff better is the Mind Trick vented. Bonded to my Tekken instantly and this kite just about as fast. Afternoon winds were getting close to 30. PSYCHO time. Now that kites zany!!! Imagine one 25% bigger with vents on 150# x 120' lines in 30 to 35 mph. OH MY!! Working on it cause the Superfly is the last kite I'll be buying for along time. Yeah I've thought that before but with a lot of help I've acquired a definite nirvana bag the last couple years. As kites wear out they'll be replaced but additions aren't needed. OH SNAP!! Speaking of Nirvana DAMN IT R-Sky. Really, really should have gotten a Superfly way sooner.
  20. Yup that's been me for a couple years now. I could axle the PD but I'm not agile enough to get it out of a fade or turtle. Kite would float away on me. Did teach me a lot on how to keep a sail loaded though. Tom P is a grade A pilot. One of those folks that if he were somewhere without a kite and the wind was perfect he could improvise. Probably cut up some cardboard. Find some knitting yarn and do 20 flic flacs in a row. Not sure how well that kite does in 5 to 7 mph. Most reviews I've read say it gets fast and twitchy. Then again it is how one adjusts to a kite instead of making a kite adjust to you. Some of us want to fly what we know. Some of us want to explore more. Some for a thrill. Some to relax and enjoy. 4D could satisfy more than 1 mindset. Not in a very wide wind window though IMO. Pretty good looking thing to boot.
  21. The mirror effect makes them different at 1st glance. Someone who doesn't know anything about kites could see the difference. Maybe leading to a why. Maybe leading to another flier. My votes for the mirror.
  22. Not flown either but I think the Shadow is the better choice. Maybe a 2pt or zero Sky Shark LS instead of the Dynamic T12 could get you up in 1 mph. Kite Guys in Alberta still have the Sky Dog Black Dog ul just under $150.00 U.S. Like my Black Dog standard a lot. Tough kite that'll go up in 3 mph. Read reviews that thought the ul was the better of the 2. Some liked it more then the Shadow. $150.00 seems like a lot for that kite though. In hindsight due to most days being bumpy I'd probably have been happier with a Shadow vs Zephyr or Pro Dancer. Last winter got a AC sul. More fragile than a Shadow and I have been overly cautious with it.Took till this fall to bond with the kite and fly without hesitation. I can finally go up in 1 mph on 75' x 50# without much footwork at all. Only broken 1 spreader so far and for me that's pretty freaking(freaking - translated from the French ***** ) good. Still think 20/25 mph is the hardest to trick in but dang the low winds are frustrating to learn. Lately I've become a convert. That low wind stuff is sweet,sweet, sweet. Eventually 😡!!!
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