BobL

hi Mozca, im not familiar with the 3 kites you mentioned, for 140 i doubt youll find any new kites that fly and trick in that wind range. i could be wrong and that would mean i have to rewrite my kite notes...not the first time. i would suggest looking for a used proven SUL or UL. i have 3 kites that will fly that low and only one of them was new, a Skyburner Tica 2020 UL and it cost $350. the other 2 are Skyburner Widowmaker Pro UL $250 and a Viper Vendetta SUL $250 these last two were classic freestyle kites from about 2010, if they hadnt been kind of famous they might have gone for $150. both of them are well used but fly way better than i can...or in other words, theyre not holding me back.(thats how obsessed i am with this sport) theres a good chance if you start checking the used market that youll find what youre looking for. i suggest you put a want ad here at Kitelife too for a kite that will fly in those winds, thats where i picked up the widowmaker. facebook has several forums where you can place an ad also. good luck Mozca BobL `

yeah, the mike, couldnt do without one. i noticed kites and fun things had a 6mm EXEL center T listed. if yours is 6mm (or .240 inches) then the p200 with .240 inside diameter should work. when you're dealing with a kite from the previous century (1998 lol), you have to improvise. luckily the owners of kites and fun, Jon and Marianne know everything about everything. Theresa at the Kite Shoppe in vancouver is also an expert on making things work.

ballance is pretty important in kite flying so using the same spreaders side to side can make a big difference. the outerspace specs call for p200 (Skyshark)...Kites and Fun Things in Michigan are a good place to buy Skyshark tubes and the ferrule that connects them.

thanks for that cerfvoliste, that era produced some awesome fliers, kites, music...

Congrats on the 3E! i have to admit i know almost nothing about Nirvanas...how did you narrow it down to that model? the elusive Ocean Shores trip, when it happens, will be epic...i get to try your Deepspace and Nirvana...woohoo! just a thought: maybe other flyers from the forum would like to join in on the Ocean Shores trip?

I dont know if you're interested in used kites but I'll put in a good word for used rather than new cause learning tricks is rough on new kites... I picked up several used kites last summer that might work for you. ( I'm not planning to sell any but you're welcome to try them out). The Level 1 Genesis probly a mid 2000's kite is a good allround trickster, its a standard, specially good at holding a fade which was my obsession at the time, does turtles just fine...another allrounder is the Flying Wings Silver Fox 2.2 std, a Lam redesign from 2018. (you flew its vented brother at Brown's Point) as Cerfvoliste mentioned the Fearless, and just about anything Lam will do what you want...if you dont mind used so much the better. Probly the best allrounder i've flown is the Prism Q Pro. that kite has it all... when the weather straightens up i'll fly them a bit and put em through the few turtle based tricks i know and get back to you with a little more info. Bob

hi Woody,welcome the best place locally for kite parts is Theresa at The Kite Shoppe, in Vancouver (online sales) she may have a line on a used Gemini. i know a guy with one for sale but hes pretty private and wont be back up here (Long Beach) till May.

the Trick or Treat video was the only Benson video i knew about till Mike posted this one. most videos if not all are a little sketchy on showing the inputs and the kite at the same time. this video is the best at that. another plus is organizing the tricks in a logical way from simple to complex.also very helpful.

hey Mike, sat morning at ocean shores sounds great...we just have to time it for some 4-10 mph winds, more or less...and warmer weather if the wives come...seems like Tim was flying in pretty low winds for this video. we would probly just come for the day...after all the cost of a room is about equal to a new ITW Hydra lol. in case you're not famiiar with OSKUSA, they are a great kite store located on the beach approach at ocean shores...you can stock up on kite parts for your inventory and drool over all the kites they have hanging from the ceiling. last time we were there my wife busted a center tee on her Echo, drove a mile to oskusa and was back flying in a half hour. back to tricks...one of the great things about this video is the progression from simple to more complex tricks...i may be only on step 2 but i can see the logical steps i need to take to get to 3. my new recovery method if i'm down on a leading edge is to flip it over onto its belly and recover with a fade launch, gain a litlle altitude and try a back spin or just pull one line and fly away. on the subject of fades and different kites, i've noticed that setting the angle of attack back a bit (the opposite of a low wind setting) helps. also moving the standoffs away from a low wind setting can help. ok Mike, that's all i got, looking forward to seeing your ds fly...happy new year

hey Mike, thanks again for posting the video, its probly the best ive seen so far. i'm struggling with the axel-to-fade roll too. i finaly realized the kite points left or right before it passes through the flare as well as after when i was flicking...bingo...its not easy to get the opposite hand flick so quickly after the initial flick but when i do... it rolls right into a fade...i still have a lot of precisionizing and beautifying to completely own the trick but i think this video has speeded up the learning process quite a bit. congrats on the deep space, what color did you get? and lastly lets get together and fly again...how about we meet at ocean shores sometime this winter? we usually get a bit of good weather/winds in january or feb. its about a 2 hour drive from here but well worth it for the quality of winds there...also a killer kite store - oskusa

Saturdays forecast winds seemed a bit much for me but Sunday looked good... i can be there as early as 10 on Sunday...if shes like my wife she might not even want to do something till noonish...

so i looked at Weathernetwork's forecast for Brownspoint and Sunday afternoon is the first day with sub 10mph wind (Brownspoint seems to get the same type of weather as the coast) Monday is the first low wind day, 4 gusting to 6. the next good day was probly Thursday, 6 to 9. like i said i take off on kite road trips once or twice a month and im retired so meeting up with you even though its two hours away is no big deal.

i have a few places to fly around the Longview area, probably Willow Grove Park (25 min away) is the best at this time with low winds and trees disturbing the wind as the biggest problems. to the south near Kalama there is a sand spit out in the Columbia River ( 25 min away) which is great when the wind is right at low tide only. otherwise my choices are a 45 min drive to Vista Park to the west on the Columbia or continue on to Long Beach, another 45 min. or i can go south toward Portland where there are several places on the Columbia around Vancouver and Portland. the only place ive flown to the north is Ocean Shores, about two hours away, so driving an hour or two is not that uncommon for me... once or twice a month. a weekend would probably be best to get the most flying bang for the buck. before i take off for a kite flying day i look at wind reports and try to get 3 to 10 mph wind for most of the day. i dont know of any other spots between here and Brown's Point but that doesn't mean they aren't there...

hey Mike i'm south of you in the Longview area... i'm in if you don't mind flying with a newbie.

the Quantum was my 2nd kite, the one i learned how to fly around without crashing too much. i eventually gave it to one of my sons for his first kite as i moved on to more technical, trick kites. fast forward a year and we are flying at the beach in June this year...im struggling to get good looking half axels on my Hydra, so i trade kites with my son and proceeded to get perfect looking half axels, one after another on the Quantum...so yes the Quantum will trick, it seemed a lot more forgiving of my sloppy inputs than my Hydra and even my Widow Makers...i guess that means i need another kite...a Quantum. if i remember correctly the yo yo stopper goes 2/5's of the way down the leading edge from the nose.