Breezin

Made 3 different bags for the Pro Dancer whiskers. The last one turned out so so and I'm using it for now. Got pretty irked and have taken 2 days off the machine. Left everything out on the dining room table so I have to look at it all the time. Makes me think. Will tackle it again in the morning. Have to remember to sip the coffee instead of gulp it or threading the needle might be all I do .

Pretty amazed how much this kite has taught me so far. Trying to keep it airborne in o to 1 mph on 90 lb 100' lines is no easy feat but can definitely be done. Learning how to keep wind in the sail is slowly changing my flying for the better. Winds have been to high for it since yesterday afternoon. It's been Zephyr winds but lower spreader won't make it till next week. Before the Z and PD in light winds I'd fly the Addiction. Yesterday afternoon flew it for a little bit and then got the Widow ng up. 3 weeks ago below 5 I'd be struggling to maintain control trying to stay aloft or crash as easy as possible. Way to much yanking and pumping when a lot easier smoother movement is needed.Can stay in pretty good control now and guide the kite to the ground instead of semi controlled crashes when winds drop below 3. Quite a few nice gentle turtle landings. Very pleased.3 to 4 beginning to be able to fan the kite and search the window for some lift. Succeeding more often than not. A lot less frustrating than it used to be.Was using 80' x 150 #. Next low wind day I'll try 100' x 90#. Finally got confident enough to put 50 # x 50' on the PD and prefer the longer line set. Next 2 days will be Jet Speed winds with much cussing and swearing as I try to learn that wicked thing. Maybe I can transfer some of the PD stuff but I doubt it. Common theme that the low wind range of your kite teaches you the most is sure ringing true for me. Tomorrow will be a mosh pit on the Jet. Looking forward to next week when I can Waltz with the Pro Dancer again. Starting to refer to her as Matilda .

You sure could be right about the lines. Iv'e not used high grade lines such as Laser Pro yet. I usually fly my Pro Dancer on 90 # 100' lines that came with the Zephyr. Couple days ago flew for a bit on 50 # 50' and didn't care for the feel or distance to kite at all. This morning used 80' by 80 # and didn't care for that either. Seem to be gravitating towards longer sets. Really like my Widow on 150' x 100' when the winds plus 10 mph. That set came with a Prism Snapshot. Number of panels explains different feel also. How I can't really explain. Still to new at this. I would not want to replace my Widow ng with any variation because I do not think they'd be the same. Unless of course it's a Widow Maker Pro when that is again available.

At my skill level I would chose the Jewel over the Addiction if I could only have one. The price difference is pretty minimal unless your really on a tight budget. My opinion would be get the Addiction because it is so different than the Widow ng. More enjoyable than the Jewel? Nope but more exciting yup. On some days that's not always a good thing

Didn't mean 3 colors. Meant 3 different builds with 100 panels. Drive you right over the cliff LOL. Agree with Sparkie and Maka. It might not be all those panels making you a little crazy though. Might be us .

Spent couple hours on the Jet this morning. Winds mostly between 15 and 20 mph. A few gusts over 20 with with more dips to 10. Didn't get a launch until 9th attempt. Seems I have more success launching with belly down nose away. Flip the kite up do a spin and kite seems to stay more stable finding it's stride. Wore me out. Closer to 60 than 50 and still thinking I'm 20 at times. Winds kept swirling on me and had a difficult time. Can't say it was fun but did enjoy myself. Did a couple spins to gain momentum on the upper right window edge with the winds pushing 20. Came screaming down towards center lost control and had the hardest crash ever !! Spine popped out, c clips broke loose, upper and right lower spreader landed about 5 feet from the kite.Left spreader popped out of tee but stayed connected to the LE. Win was buffeting kite pretty good and got to the wreck as fast as I could hobble hoping to minimize the destruction. Other than having to re glue clips nothing wrong. Freaking amazing. Didn't do anymore power dives though. They say the kite is on the radical side of things. That might be a understatement.

Love my Widow ng and glad it was my first stunt kite Only regret is now I want the Widow Maker Pro. Bad !! Like really BAD !!!

Sorry took so long. Spent to much time flying and was late cooking for the Super Bowl. Pulled it off though . Winds were above 15 mph early morning and didn't die down till 1000. Split 1 1/2 hour between the 2. Had to go back in warm up a bit and dress warmer. The next 2 1/2 hours I stayed on the Jewel. Limited in my skills but I try most everything and sometimes get lucky. When just zooming around doing figures, turns, dirt glides and such the feel is very similar. Both are quick but control is easier lost on the Addiction. I do best on it with my hands close together with smaller smoother inputs. The Jewel allows for a more looser approach. Coming out of a tight spin it's pretty forgiving and tracks off really well when your hands are anywhere from your hips into center. For the Addiction to not wobble out of the spin I need my arms extended about 3/4's out and my hands just about touching. Difference is pulling the spin out a foot off the ground on the Jewel makes me grin. Addiction makes me laugh. Even though it's smaller the Jewel is slower and in 10 + has a little growl. The Addiction is quiet. If you look at the LE shape you start to get an idea why they respond differently and why 1 is loud and 1 not. The Addiction has bridle adjustments . The Jewel doesn't. Doesn't need them. Addiction has 3 settings. I use middle for 3 to 10 and tilt back for higher. I'll never fly them over 15. Got a Jet Speed, foil and micron for that.Jewel has a spine weight and the Addiction doesn't. Jewel flips easier but not by much. Both are good at yank and spank to get out of a mistake but the flippy nature of the Jewel can get me right back in trouble pretty quick. More time on the kite needed. Neither has roll ups but I haven't learned to catch them very well yet so don't care yet. Both kites are easy to stall.Jewel is more forgiving on inputs so 1/2 and full axles seem a little easier. Back to the difference in shape and spine weight. But when you hit the groove on the Addiction things just start going bang,bang,bang. Where I sit back a bit and grin with satisfaction on the Jewel the Addiction just drags me to the next move and pretty soon I'm laughing my ass off even when I fail. The Jewel is much more like the Widow ng in that it has a deliberate, solid stately feel. Much lighter feeling but familiar and behaves much the same way. It will wait for inputs and you can fly it with a little distraction. Below 5 just start doing ground work. The funnest thing for me with these smaller kites is popping them off the ground doing flips and spins in little wind. I can fly the Addiction in 3 to 4 with some footwork and timed arm pumping. Hard to control and pretty wonky on the inputs. Above 5 it is most always at the edge of the lines. Ya got to pay more attention. Both go on there back pretty easy with the Jewel having a slight edge and it will rotate a little smoother. Addiction flares a little better and easier to put belly down nose forward or away. Flic Flac attempts easier on the Jewel.Both do a rising turtle well but the Jewel is harder to keep from flipping plus I can't do the trick very well yet. Still pretty limited on my skill set and seem to have about the same amount of LE snags on all my kites but the Pro Dancer. I can see things better with that kite as things are slower. Bummer about the Jewel is that when replacement time comes there won't be any. Both kites are a lot more trick capable and durable then their price would suggest. Wind of Change has a great review on the Jewel and with my limited knowledge I concur. Read more negative things about the Addiction than positive and disagree. It's not twitchy.It's precise. It's taken the most abuse and hasn't broke yet. One of the most valuable lessons I've learned is to understand what the kite was designed to do and adjust my [ such as it is ] flying to it. The kite will never adjust to me. An OG on GWTW said one of his biggest newbie regrets was spending time learning and doing mods when he should have been learning to fly better. I won't mod any of my kites in the near future and I'll learn to fly them as is. Not saying I won't cause that rabbit hole is appealing and have started down it more than once. It's going to take awhile because I'm still learning to sew but I'll build one before I mod one. Maybe. Dang rabbits. If you can get both. You won't regret it. You got a Widow ng which for me is my most rewarding kite.Tricking is easier to learn on the Jewel and totally kicks the Grand kids Visions butt. But for something completely different the Addiction is just a complete boggle. Wow maybe I can go back to sleep now.

After inspecting looks like the rest of the kite is okay. After removing the ferrule found a slight crack in the coating of the rod. Doesn't look like it's in the carbon but I'm going to replace both sides just to be safe. After thinking about it more feeling luckier then yesterday. Before that gust hit I was thinking about getting the Pro Dancer. That would have been really bad.Nearest trees for me are 30 miles west. The tell is usually dust coming at you but hard to see with your back to the wind.When summer comes the dust devils are going to be interesting. Looked at Riffs bridle mods for a foil. Sigh can feel myself slipping. GFK foil isn't worth much so that would be the sacrificial lamb so to speak. Make myself practice sewing for an hour every morning. Starting to get some descent runs but my proper tension still sucks. Once that's figured out those tabs look very doable.

Against the window it looks like a mechanical wing in an extremely cool way. Like on a transformer or something.

Yeah my car is supposed to get 30 mpg too .

Excellent.

Dang hope I don't jinx anybody but here goes. Yesterday morning winds hitting 12 to 13 max and flew the Nighthawk. After lunch went to 2 to 6 so Zephyr time. Hour or so into it found a pin hole. Whipped out my trusty ca glue some cellophane and fixed it right up. This is my 4th minor sail repair and best yet. Got to thinking how dumb that was to do in the field and won't do it again. Winds high again this morning so up with the Widow. Winds came down but gusty so I got the Zephyr. Putting kite together looked for pin hole. Couldn't find it till I ran my hand over the back and felt a little bump. If I would have went to the house got some tape for the back, magnifying glass and a tooth pick to align the sail would be virtually impossible to find. Put in the weight adjusted the bridle and nocked the leach line. About an hour set like that. Quite different. Still have to get used to it but I liked it. Winds dropped to near nothing topping at 5 to 6 and seeming to get lower so went back to low wind setting.. Coming across the window a blast knocked me a couple feet forward. Got to the edge landed the kite whipped out my wind meter and wind was still 17 after already dropping some. Zephyr done for the day. While taking down the kite thinking I had just dodged a bullet found the lower spreader ferrule cracked. Minor issue and still think I got lucky but I don't have spare.. Now I'm thinking tomorrow morning I'd better take the kite down and inspect everything I can think of.

I really like the Black Dog but have never flown the ul. Can keep my Widow ng bouncing up and down now at 3 and 4 waiting for the wind to pick up.Haven't had it over 15 but at 12 I have to start leaning on the lines. In a good way. Kites nylon imho.

I'll fly them side by side tomorrow, take notes and post right after. Maybe I can do a better job comparing.Jewel flies more like the Widow ng but faster. They're matching colors so that's cool.Very smooth. The Addiction totally different beast.

I've got the Addiction. Talked to Jon T and I think the different mods people were doing resulted in the Addiction Pro. I won't do any mods and am having a blast on the kite. I read about the mods and I believe 2 different shops were doing them. I've got the Nighthawk that evolved into the Wolf ng but don't know if I'd replace tit for tat. When it comes time to replace the Addiction I'll go for the Pro with out a doubt. Seemed to me the bridle mods were to help the kite track better and be a little more stable. The frame mods make it a different kite I suppose. Just when you think you're getting the hang of things and making some progress then along comes a spider and says look I can do 1 in each hand. OMG I want to do that.

The design has a sense of movement while sitting still. Make 3 in different colors. Get every stitch as close to perfect as you can. When you finish and find your mind again you can compete anywhere.That's only 763000 stitches or there about to fret over. As long as you make it back a LITTLE crazy never hurt anyone. Ya got the IT factor Riff so keep pushing. It's cool to watch.

Oh no!! Somebody wake up Wayne. He's going Rip Van Winkle cause it'll take me at least a 100 years to catch up.

Is there enough difference between the Kymera and Widow ng to justify purchase. Price is stupid low. I've only seen 1 hanging on a wall and it sure looked nice. Can already do everything on the Widow that JB does in his Kymera video . Soo if I get a Kymera should be able whip him in head to head competition right. Yeah right I'll keep fly,fly, flying though.

Yup that was intent but do enjoy the feed back very much . Keeps me thinking. Went to Jo Anne's for Guttermann thread and got bulky nylon overlocking which I think is still wrong but okay to start.Lady swore that's the thread I needed. It will work on the 2.75 material and a 110 needle .Got flo orange on sale in .75 there and .40 in black real cheap on a auction. Do need a kite bag. It's about a 150 yard walk to where I fly thru 3 gates. Carrying 3 kites and other stuff gets a little cumbersome to say the least. Phil at Flymarket said pretty much the same thing Riff. Will be using Flymarket in the future for sure.

Don't plan on flying in 40. Using 2.75 rip stop it will be so heavy if it can fly will probably take 40 to lift it lol. It's step 1 practice so I will be better on proper material. It's nice clean scrap haven't used in a couple years.

37 mph

Yank and spank for me is trying to get my butt out of a mistake to avoid a crash. Low wind or on the edge if I do that I just crash faster . Elliot says kite will fly at 6 but I'm not steady enough to fly below 10 on the stock lines. 10 mph and there's some sag happening. Thought that it would fly similar to the Micron but it's more like the Addiction.Would much rather spin and grin than yank and spank .

I like how the upper corners give the impression of trailing off into infinity. Sweet !!

Box says Jet will fly in 6. I can't fly it below 10.