Breezin

4/20 Prize must surely be coming to our Rocky Mountain High Colorado . Thank you John {Denver}. Oh and you too JB .

Next up is some gel super glue and rip stop repair tape. Yesterday doing launch recoveries I poked a small hole in the Leading edge of my Widow ng. I know better than to practice those on my bigger kites in the pasture but hey it was a good day. The smaller lighter kites pop in the air easier and I don't drag them near as much. So knowing this I did the same thing today on my Prism Zephyr at about the same time as yesterdays minor issue. About 1/8 inch tear in the Mylar by the nose. Easier repair and will be less noticeable. I have LE material so I cut 2 small patches for the hole and glued them in place. Back side you have to get real close to see it. On the front I put more glue and spread it around the edges and it's more noticeable. Over time it will blend in more and will be hard to see. Sigh the pains of learning. Quantum has a great reputation for being a tough kite. If you get to fly a lot though you will fix it. The damage to my kites these last 2 days cost about $500.00 to my ego and less then 15 cents to my wallet. If you fly the Quantum till the sail wears out you'll probably have less then $30.00 in maintaining it. Fly it, break it, fix it and repeat. Never flown a Quantum but have touched one. I think you got a great kite. Maybe we should start a pool trying to guess what your next kite will be . Have fun!!

2nd on the Wayne and Makatakam advice. Your'e lucky to have Rob nearby. Having a foil to learn control is an excellent choice. Ask Rob about the Premier Wolf ng. $100.00 at Kites and Fun things. I have a Nighthawk which was replaced by the Wolf or I'd have one. K&F designed the kites and will answer all your questions. I believe one of Robs favorite kites is the Widow Maker Pro [Wolfs big bro]. I haven't got to see one yet. If you get to see one of his and watch it fly I bet your whole family will be in awe. Please post your reactions. Signed a slightly envious rookie .

Winds gusting over 30 mph and will be like this till Tuesday. I would already be out there with a Enigma vented and that would not be good for the kite. Hope you get a video Esinger. It's really cool those kites went to good homes all over the world.

Your'e going to love that kite. For me it's a very deliberate flying kite. Always seems to be waiting for me. All my other kites at times seem to have a mind of their own. That's getting better as my skills improve. It's not my most exciting kite but is still the most rewarding.When I first got it I'd take out the upper spreader and tail weight for low winds. It was pretty frustrating below 5 for a good while. Getting a Zephyr and Pro Dancer has taught me how to keep the wind in the sail better. Don't do that anymore. 1 to 3 I can now control to the ground and pull off a trick or 2.Iv'e used 80, 90, 100 lb in 80 ' and 100' line sets. Didn't care for the feel much.I stick to 150# in 80' or 100' now. Got a 130# 100' set in the mail and hoping I'll like it on the Widow ng. When in doubt just yank it and spank it. That works best when nose is not pointing down though. The ensuing thud is very chilling .

I was on GWTW when Jon posted. Wanted one real bad but figured folks who knew him and fly better should have 1st dibs. Called Monday though hoping 1 was left. Nope but I figured it was a long shot. Rob re posted Steves tutorial on shape shifter stand offs. Going to do that to my Nighthawk. Maybe Devin will design a kite called Nimrod. I'd buy one. Only time I'm not free to fly is the 6th,14th and 23rd.

That's the site where I gained a wee bit of understanding in how you folks stack. Should have clarified myself better.For noobs like myself wanting to understand stacking pretty good place to start.The 1 thing that has remained pretty constant over the last few months is the more I learn the more I need to learn. Seeing the videos and pics of singles, dual lines and quads is pretty amazing. Winds over 15 again today. Spring winds are here. If I could watch someone put together a 3 stack of Fazers and fly in these winds for an hour I'd grill them whatever they wanted. I still have trouble putting one together in 15 plus . Fixing to do it again though .

Must resist must resist. Exodus is the only quad I've handled and was pretty impressed with the sewing. Flying it though seemed like it would be a fearful thing. Being all black it seemed fitting that it's the first quad I touched. Dark side thing and all. Must admit Iv'e thought about it quite a bit.

Distance between kites 3/4 the length of the leading edge from OSK site.

Back to the vented problem again. Went out Sunday with the Widow. Winds were between 8 and 12 mph. Gusts were hitting 15 to 16. Hour later 10 to 15 with gusts to 20 so I put it away. Later winds dropped between 6 and 10. Sometimes dropping to 2 and 3. Went up on the Zephyr with wind changing direction at times and gusts as much as 13. Hour later got to thinking about the reason the Zephyr has a new lower spreader and packed it in. Frustrating !! Should have flown the Addiction. Monday I did fly the Addiction for a few hours. Winds were pretty high. As much as 22, 23 mph. Obviously spent most of the time on the edge but had a lot of fun. Yesterday winds gusting well over 25 so a no fly day. Got Ideas from Jon T on how to vent the Addiction with the thought to then add the Addiction Pro. Put the Jewel and Addiction together and measured out the spots on both kites this morning. Trying to decide which one to vent I chose neither. Spent a couple hours on the Addiction in nice winds thinking on it more. Think I need to choose between the Silver Fox vented and OSKs Challenger Max. Leaning towards the Challenger. Can't justify any higher price point for now.

Must be all that black. Absorbs the sunlight ya know LOL.

I'm in the same boat as Sparkie which makes it even more important to understand the designs and their intent.

I thought the Kaiju would be lighter.John I remember reading a post on ULs where the weight was being a deciding factor as what to choose. Your advice was I believe understanding the sails shape and square inches of material were equally important if not more so. Once again I tried to understand designs from a weight perspective instead of the intent of the sail. Learning this stuff at times is like sucking a thick milkshake thru a straw. Ya gotta let it melt a bit and a spoon kinda defeats the purpose.

On page 3 of trick flying JoneZ posted a fantastic link. Don't know how I missed it all this time. Been trying to get pretty rotations since day 1. About a month ago on right window edge pulled off what I thought was a near perfect 540. Been able to repeat that on all but the PD. Moving to center of window just couldn't really get it on any kite. Thursday night I read about it in that link.On the edge what Iv'e been doing is a Flashback . Trying to do the same moves at center doesn't work well. Yesterday I made adjustments and was able to pull it off several time on the Zephyr and Addiction. Not very pretty at all and bailed or failed at 180 or 360 most of the time. Very pleased though. Watching a video then going to that link is going to help a lot.

Imagine you could watch that kite for 6 straight hours and not tire of it. Gorgeous !!!

Thursday I moved upper bridle connection to the top of LE connector on the Addiction. Winds didn't go over 6 and sometimes 0.Took awhile to get the feel of the kite in winds below 4. Slowed the kite down a bit and less flippy. Flew for 2 hours and liked it. Noticed my hand position shifted. Did not need to keep them so close together.Took some of the excitement out of the kite though. Yesterday morning flew the Zephyr in low winds. By noon winds were hitting 8 and going higher.Got the Addiction and left the adjustment in for about a 1/2 hour. Went back to stock. Winds were between 8 and 12. For me that's the sweet spot on my Widow. Over 12 the pull gets pretty rough on my back still and can only last about an hour. Debated and stayed on the Addiction. After 2 hours of whooping and hollering with much laughter I was done. I am going to move the Grand kids Addiction to the upper setting. Needs to be a little calmer for them for now. Mine stays stock. It takes soft hands and that will translate well in learning to fly the Hydra.

There you go Wayne . What I think I'm seeing is for a more even, controlled loading and dumping of the sail. Not so much a weight issue.

Not sure I do either .I think I'm asking if the billow on the Wren would be shallower and wider . Because of placement on Kaiju looks like the air flows from LE and spine towards the battens and fills the sail on either side more deeply and evenly. Tension looks pretty constant across the whole sail. The Wren looks more relaxed from spine to batten then from batten to LE. Would the weight of the Wrens batten design create the need for more surface area to billow. Hence the curve in the batten.There is a very high chance that I have just confused myself again.. My thought is coming from the Pro Dancer where it seems the filling of the sail is mostly from the stand off in. From stand off to batten more tension at the corners for control.The huge surface area that billows between the stand off and spine makes it harder to dump the wind and trick but gives amazing lift. In 0 to maybe 3 I can tilt the kite to one side. Rock it back and forth I can dump the wind out of the lower side and get it to go on it's back or belly easier.Being able to watch that billowing effect on such a large slow kite has made me fly better on the other kites. It's also making me think I need a crash course in aerodynamics.

Kitebuilders.com. I haven't used the sight much. Still learning to sew. There's a ton of info . Kiteplans will give your imagination a run too. Want to build a competitive speed kite and would be stoked to place 19th out of 20. Might as well dream big right. There are some really good posts on GWTW. Look long enough you'll start seeing folks on 2 or all 3 forums. At GWTW search for Steve Tapp. He had the ability to put into words the joy these kite makers share in their craft. Very fun, informative and inspirational reads. The last of his kites over this past week have gone to new homes all over the world. People were stoked to get them. Esinger put up a picture of one a few days ago. If I can get 1/2 as good as some of those folks over there I'd have a really good shot at 15th LOL. The only thing these forums haven't given me is the kick in the pants to make my 1st cuts in the rip stop. Must of spread out and measured the fabrics 50 times.

No sleeves less weight for the batons err dang it battens.Would the Wrens bend be to widen the pocket in a filled sale because it's heavier?

Ever have one of those days when the day before you broke a kite and that's the only one you want to fly.

At kbp the Wren plan is in French and sounds like baton to me. Old Kite Shoppe ad shows a Jeff Howard Wren. Nice looking kite. Both the plan and the ad show a different angle with a bend at the top. From looking at different kites in this style Kaiju is a bargain.

Would love to see that. It'd be great to see so many different people using the same kite.Transposing the tutorials to their own styles and abilities would teach me a lot.

I had assumed all batons were at the wingtips. Neat. I finally know what Dort Capicitors are LOL.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil . Very cool. Keep them coming.