Cot51stState

I don't think the date really matters. It's not like you have to be present to win, is it? 😁

Congratulations @LarsHH! 🤙🤙

My pre-made 120' line set had one line that was out by almost that much. My first thought was "I can do better than that", so I've been making my own ever since. 🤷

Everybody's quad line journey is different. I'm not suggesting mine is right, it's just the path I took. I had gotten an excellent mid-vent kite with the intention of regularly driving 1.5 hours to the beach to fly with the local kite club. Well, then COVID and the lockdown came. Left to my own devices, I quickly became frustrated by the fickle local winds and endless "walks of shame". Ultimately I decided to go 'Windless'... Ultralight kite and short lines. With an ultralight kite and short lines combined with a 'fly anywhere' attitude you can quickly log hours learning. I feel everything I learned on short lines in low/no wind is directly transferable to flying with the more traditional line lengths and wind speeds. The main downside I've noticed, once hooked up to say 120' line set, is filling such a large wind window. It seems like every maneuver takes forever to complete. 😂

Nice! Two indoor and an urban set of lines for the making 😉

I can't speak specifically to the VTD Polo, but I think I understand what you're speaking to. Do you fly with a lot of brake? I've recently been using the same heavy brake tuning indoors and am really liking it. The kite seems to have more 'presence', can climb halfway to the ceiling in an inverted launch, and does 360s in reverse easier than forward. Overall it seems more responsive and controllable.

When I was communicating with Ocean Shores Kites they recommend 150lb for the 26 foot octopus and said they usually flew theirs at 75-100'. I also ended up with a 500' spool of line, but only put half of it on a hoop winder. The kite is for my wife's amusement, but I'll end up being the one who has to pack it up and I didn't want to have to deal with but so much line 🤣.

I've seen where OSK had added heat shrink tubing to the middle of the bungee and thought it a good idea. None of my quads have that and the bungee always fails in the middle. I've been able to find bungee locally and keep a couple of yards of it in my repair kit. For a frequently flow (or in my case, abused) kite, bungee becomes a consumable item. **this topic of bungee is not specific to quad kiting, but you're right, you may get more response if it were posted there. **

Fraying on the bungee cord is common. I'm accustom to it occurring where the cord enters/exits the end cap. When you have your vertical rods installed, is there any tension on the bungee cord?

10', not 12'... I'm always overestimating my length 🤭

Actually yesterday, but I pulled out the 12' Banhee Kites Scimitar with an 80' tube tail. There's a night fly on Jockey's Ridge, NC this Saturday and I was looking for something that I could illuminate. I was working with 5-7mph wind, and am definately going to need more than that once lights and power pack are installed. It was a good time nonetheless... I'd forgotten what all that kite can do in a lighter wind with a little finesse.

I've used PowerPro Super 8 Slick 50# with good result. It's a small diameter, 8 strand, coated, braided line. Mind you, these have been for 13'-40' max line sets and generally in less than 7 mph winds. But at $35 for 300 yards, it's enabled me to experiment with a variety of line lengths and not feel too bad when I get lazy and drag them across concrete/asphalt. This purchase was made over 3 years ago and I just used the last of it within the past month for a 25' line set.

Congrats @Mike Klaiber 🤙🤙

@Exult I started following this post in hopes to assist (since I was in the same spot as @matthew_birkett just a couple of years ago). I'm continuing to follow in order to soak up all this great information you are dispensing. Thank you for all your contributions. 🤙🤙

It's the difference between completing a maneuver and controlling the maneuver. You start recognizing surge and oversteer, and playing with the tuning on your handles to eliminate it. I think @John Barresicalls it "flying with intent".

Storms were forecast and here's John making it rain 😁. Congrats to the winners!

@Exult has a lot of good info. Something I've been working on is speed. Those movements you can blast through in a successive blur, can you do them in a slow deliberate manner? Can you stop at any point in the wind window at any attitude and hold it for a beat or four? To me it seems 'doing nothing effectively' can be the hardest skill to refine. I think @Paul LaMasters first made me consider its importance in a post about 'holding your hover'.

Looks like it should be fully flight tested in time for the Wright Kite Festival 🤔. See you there 👍

My daughter picked up some bungee cord from a local craft store. The diameter was a little larger than I needed, but it fit through the holes and kept tension on the sail once installed. A lot of the materials in a kite were originally produced for something else (i.e. arrow nocks), so there's no reason to limit yourself on where to acquire spares. It's not like you're voiding the warranty 😉.

Is there an opening in the sleeve that would allow you to remove that rod? Others probably have better techniques on how to fix the hole, but an end cap on that rod would go a long way in preventing it recurring (or developing in the first place).

I really appreciate the offer. Unfortunately family life will not allow me to attend Rogallo... hopefully I can make a day at the Wright Kite Festival.

It took a while to acquire the kites from Yves. Not due to any delay on his end, but because I though my daughter was going to arrange for them to be made as a gift for me. She thought I was to arrange for them to be made and then she was going to wrap them 🤷. A year, a Christmas, and a birthday later I have finally received them both 😂. I was actually reading through a @riffclown@riffclown thread (the one when he was working on stack catch/throws) when I was thinking about link line length. The line set I was flying on was around 40 feet, so I probably should give it a shot in a more open field with longer lines and see how they perform.

I finally got to see the Yves Ganne Revs 189 and 190 in the air at the same time. Linking them seemed the best option since I don't know of any other fliers in the area and I'm not ready to attempt flying two quads at the same time 🤣. It's my first attempt at linking quads and, for the most part, the trailing kite tracked rather nicely. Reverse flight was rather elusive, though. I'm not experienced enough to know if that's just the nature of linked quads, the light and variable winds weren't sufficient, or possibly my link lines are too short? 🤷