JoneZ

Welcome to the Group m8. Glad to have another onboard. In regards to the axle, yes your lines will cross, as with most tricks you do -- and some are even easier with the lines crossed a couple times (like yoyo's from my experience). Don't listen to Shanobi with his talk about lines, that guy.... Last time we were out, he spent 5 minutes flying his kite around in circles trying to unwind his lines -- turns out he was spinning the wrong way, and another 10 mins of pinwheels ensued.

great recovery to have in the arsenal rx. As for the pop launch? Im scared.... Tried it a couple times, to no success. Will not try any more. I wouldnt like having my face repeatedly smashed into the mud, so Im thinking the same goes for my Kite.

Good to hear you're diggin ur kites My Fiance and I love the Vid. Its great to hear newcomers reactions to kite flying. A word of caution on the UL side -- they are a tad-to-a-lot more fragile, so you'll definitely have to practice up on control, landing, and running forward to avoid a nose down crash landing (happened alot for me when I was learning flic flacs, and still running forward learning 540's), or any crash landing for that matter (most of my unscheduled landings occur from unsuccessful yo-yo's with my lines getting caught up in the LE's). I was thinking about getting an AcrobatX, but got my Widow instead (Love you My Widow ). How's she fly?

Right on. I strapped my 65" lineset yesterday, and flew in low winds (barely). I agree with bigwheels about gravity based tricks being hard with shorter lines. I think it would be less of an issue if I had a UL or SUL, but an STD like my Widow -- you give a pull, you're 4 feet closer to the ground. I was still able to wrap some yoyos, and actually pulled off a yo-fade. On a lateral note::: I hear all this jive about spectra vs. dacron vs. dyneema. I know dacron has more elasticity than spectra, but I havent heard boo about Dyneema lines. Are they comparable/better than spectra? Or is it just another instance of user preference? Cheers!! ~Jon

wow. 30# lines? Im assuming thats on a UL or SUL? I've been trying to figure out what kind of pull (in Lbs.) my Widow has, but can't find anything on it. That would be pretty helpful in finding the right lineset. Allowing me to maximize my light wind flying experience. btw. I flew in 3Mph winds no problem last week. I had to remove my top spreader, but she flew great. ~Jon

Just wondering what length of lines all you trick flyers out there fly with. I've been testing a couple lengths (100ft - 65ft.), and thought I'd start a post for no good reason. 100ft. lines are great for me, but I was thinking of strapping my 65ft lines on for faster inputs. Im thinking just having the kite closer could help in my precision tricking (ie. making small correction inputs in things like flic flacs). ~Jon

Right on UpNet. Glad you and the misses could get out to fly. I agree with tonycarl60 in that you'll need a 2nd bomber and do pairs flying. My first was a cherry bomb. I still have it -- still fly it -- still love it. I remember I couldnt freestyle with it for the longest time, then as I got other kites I found it more easy to pull off tricks on the ol bomber. Great kite. Im trying to train my Fiance with it now actually. Cheers and welcome to the group. ~Jon

That would be me. lol

hehe, indeed. Im just trying to understand better, what I'll feel as I make these settings more pronounced, as opposed to inactive. I unhooked everything, and flew with a 3 point setup, re-tuned it. flies awesome. So I hooked on some dynamic yokes I made, tried it out. NO GOOD!! Too squirrelly, so I switched back to 3 point, came home, and measured out some more spectra line to re-do my cross active setup. I shortened the pitch activators a little, and lengthened the cross activator a little. I did this because I was noticing too much of an active effect. I think it was due to my pitch activators being too far from my tow point, and squeezing my uper and inner legs too much. It was really "rocky" if you know what I mean. So I hooked the new lines up, and went out yesterday to test fly it -- introducing the x-active setup gradually. I still have some fine tuning to work on, but man,, I think the x-active setup is the way for me right now. Sliding and flipping the kite is much more responsive. Pulled off my first REAL yoyo yesterday (without a tail-weight = much more running forward to wrap the lines)-- yoyo to fade, tended it, and managed to actually turn the kite to a fly-able position, unwrap and fly off. I Love my Widow.

So your talking about wrapping the outer and inner legs around the spreader, or just the outer? Yet, another Q. lol On the cross active setup, should my inner legs be longer, thus pushing my towpoint to a wider setting? Im thinking thats maybe the case, as when you are turning, the tow points can float to a wider setting making turns sharper, but also can be pulled in (by the cross activator) when flying in a straight line. Am I close here? Thanks. ~Jon

Cross Active bridles allow (Im reading) for your tow points to be set further to the outer edge, while not sacrificing trackability. Heres where my tow point sits right now with the setup. (the lines arent exactly tight, but its a good approximation) Does everything look kosher? The yellow lines I drew are the bridle itself (not including the yoke that is my tow point), the green lines are my pitch activators, and the red is my cross activator. The tow point sits where the yellow lines meet up (obviously. lol) Heres the lengths of my lines respectively: Outer Leg (x2) = 42.5 inches total: (upper is 19" and outer is 23") Inner Leg (x2) = 23 inches Pitch Activator (x2) = 7.5 inches Cross Activator (x2) = 19 1/4 inches Im not noticing any tracking issues, but I am noticing it a little hard to slide, but that could just as easily be pilot error. What would I notice if my tow points go too far out toward the outer edge? Reason Im asking, is to be able to tune this bridle setup accurately. Thanks (once again) in advance. lol ~Jon

practicing kite maneuvers is a great way to hone in your ability to be precise with your kite. http://www.hiflykites.co.za/free-kite-guid...e-maneuvers.htm check those out, as well as some that I printed off and'll give you when I see you. As for tricks? well, learn slides, and how to control a them across the window (a dynamic or dihedral bridle will make this easier to control -- I'll make you up a couple of new yokes for a dynamic setup in the meantime). Also practice stalling, and tending the stall. that'll give you a great basis for learning an Axel. Heres a link for an axel that I found helpful. Its all 1980's narrated, and makes you feel like your sitting in a school desk, about to grab your #2 pencil to jot down notes, but its a good tutorial. lol http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/ho...ite-trick-1730/ OH!! Also, remember me telling you about the "EZ Axel"? Heres the link http://www.kfs.org/~abw/kite/rec.kites/axel1.html ~Jon

Completely agreed Eddy. I was actually telling my neighbor (I got him addicted to flying as well) about the Addiction kite link you sent me (thanks for the link. Was VERY informative, and I'll try to send some business that way if I recruit more newcomers.). He has a Beetle, and is pretty much just starting out. My Fiance and I forgot to get him an Xmas gift this year (yeah, we suck, I know. lol), so on Friday, before we headed out to the beach, we went to REI and got him a Prism Nexus (since he popped one of his standoffs last time we flew, and his spine was messed up and patched back together with Duct Tape, and he'd been flying my old Cherry Bomb). He's likin his new one. Cheers Shanobi187. Welcome to Kitelife! ~Jon

Done. And thanks. I don't know why I'm not already signed up there, but I am now. lol. ~Jon

Yeah, I went to Delta Park yesterday and tried the Cross-active bridle out. For all intents and purposes it flew well (I think), but I had to keep readjusting my activators (both pitch and cross), because they would slide during flight. I would think this is ok during flight, but they slid into a bias position (ie: one side closer to the tow point than the other side of activator), which makes me think (especially in the case of the pitch activator) that its drastically changing my flight characteristics, and Im just not noticing it, because its in mid-flight. Are these knots (the sheet bend) suppose to be that free moving (I can tighten them good-n-tight, but after 5mins of flight they are loose again, and sliding all over the place)? If not, Im assuming I should use another knot (like a Prussik) thats a little tighter? The Sheet bend is a loose knot and doesnt stay tight (Im assuming its got to do with the fact that it is flight line instead of actual bridle line).

Im trying to remember back to when I first bought my Cherry Bomb, and how difficult it was to pull off tricks. Flying was a breeze. I loved it,, but I yearned for more. More in the sense of tricks I was seeing others do. Stalling, backspinning, etc... I started my research on another kite. One that was bigger, more bad ass, more pull, larger wingspan. All that good stuff. I had the E2, the Hypnotist, and the Quantum in mind. Being as my budget was only set for a certain amount, I decided on the Quantum. That gave me a whole new perspective on "trick" kiting. It was tricky. And that was an understatement. For some reason, no matter how I mimicked those trick tutorials I viewed 1000+ times, I still couldn't pull a large amount of tricks I was attempting. It was pretty dis-heartening to say the least. I found myself flying less, and getting frustrated more over the fact that I knew I was doing it right, but the kite was just not responding to my inputs the way it should have been. Eventually I deduced that it had to be pilot error. And that bummed me right the f*** out. I essentially stopped flying, stopped watching vids, stopped reading,, stopped everything. I ended up losing my kite (as described in another post), and realizing how much I loved to fly all at the same time. I got pretty depressed about it, and was thinking "OK,, thats the Gods telling me that I should put kiting behind, and move onto other things." I just couldnt accept that, even with all the odds weighing against me (or so I thought), as I went to Cannon Beach and watched others fly and trick, and stall and fade, and ,, well, you get it. So, I started researching other kites, thinking that I wanted an Advanced kite (being as my prior 2 kites didnt do it for me). This was an "all or nothing" shot. If I bought another kite, and couldnt trick, I was just going to sell it and make my money back. So I ended up purchasing a Premier Widow. I raced home, and set it up, and raised it. I could immediately feel the difference from my other 2 prior kites. So I went home, and grabbed my PMP loaded with Trick tutorial videos, and headed back out to the field. "Holy s***!! Did I just pull off an axel -- in the middle of the wind window -- without struggling?" "w00t?!! Was that just a backspin?!?!! Something that Plagued my very soul since I bought my Quantum?" "540s?" "YoYos?" Well,, to make this long story just a bit longer, I keyed in to the fact that I should have bought at least an advanced kite to start off with (I mean, after my initial purchase of the Cherry Bomb). So, with all this, Im trying to convey the importance of really researching your kites before your purchase. If I knew what I know now when I started flying, I would have bought a whole different series of kites, and would have probably saved myself a lot of angst, sadness, and frustration. For crying out loud,, I was almost ready to quit kiting!?! In closing; Find out what you want to use your kite for, whether its freestyle, precision, pairs, whatever. Then do your research. and LOTS of it. I thought I researched quit a bit, but apparently not enough. And please,,,,, don't go buy a kite cuz it looks pretty -- looks can be deceiving. What I recommend for beginners? Buy a beginner kite!! Fly the living crap out of it. Break it, nose dive it, whatever. Dont concern yourself with freestyle tricks, just learn to control your kite (tracking, sliding [k, maybe not sliding], landing, crash landing avoidence, turning, CONTROLLED spinning, etc...). Get the feel for the Wind, and how it interacts with your kite. Be your little 5ft beginner kite and LOVE IT! Once you've got those down pat (mainly the crash landing avoidence training), skip the intermediate class -- it'll only get ya down (from my experience). You see, once I learned all the basics with my cherry bomb, I wanted to freestyle. That much I knew, and I wanted a kite that could do all the freestyle tricks out there, but I just bought the wrong kite, flat out. Beginner/Intermediate class just slowed me down, and bummed me out. Go intermediate/advanced to advanced. If you learned all the beginner techniques I listed above you'll have no problem flying an advanced kite. Nor will you feel sketchy about crashing, or breaking something on ur kite, cuz you know how to track, slide and land. Thanks for listening to my rant. This experience helped me realize that you need a kite that best suits YOUR needs, and your style. I hope this post will help a beginner out there not make the same choices I made, and maybe give hope to some people that are down on themselves for not being able to land,, lets say, a backspin, no matter how hard they try. Peace, and may the wind always be at your back KL'ers. ~Jon

Also, Im wondering about the infamous "sheet bend", and how you keep it from slacking once the bridle is pulled tight (ie. the loop you made on your bridle that the sheet bend wraps around pulls straight as tension is introduced to the lines)? I found my measurements of line, and thats really hindering the exact length, as the bend pulls loos and once re-tightened, its either a little longer, or a little shorter. I just ended up re-measuring and tied a single overhand knot right above the sheet bend. Oh!!! Also, lol. (inquisitive this morn.), being as this is an "active" setup, Im assuming that the pitch activators should remain free to move, since the cross activator keeps a small amount of tension between both pitch activators. Right? I ran into that same problem with the Dihedral setup I had. I would adjust my activators, then fly, then land, and they would be all out of whack. I naturally thought that since its an "Active" system, that they should be moving around as the wind increases/decreases,, but it still just didnt seem right, since I was using a totally different knot method than the cross active (was using a triple wrap slip knot). Are both the Sheet bend, and triple wrap slip knot equivalent? Or is there a difference. Thanks in adv. ~Jon

Im reading up on different types of active bridles (the dihedral worked great btw), and I want to try a Cross Active as explained here -- http://www.wardley.org/kites/bridle/xactive.html -- but I am not sure if I need to alter my inner leg. Is there a general rule of thumb on measuring these lines? I know in a dynamic setup there is a 90o rule for the upper and outer, and a target zone for the inner leg, to get ur tow point to a desired location. Should I just line it up so that after my cross active bridle is set, the tow point lines up to exactly where it did on the factory set static bridle? Does this make sense? lol Thanks for the help ~JoneZ

Heres a pic of my Dihedral. I have a new cross activator I made up but havent installed yet. I want to introduce each activator to get a feel for how it changes flight characteristics. Then I was thinking of trying the cross-active (with the activator attached to the pitch activators). **edit: attachments arent working for me on kitelife, so heres an imageshack link

any comments on the Cross Active? Just got done reading up on that -- it seems alot easier than the dih. and more functional? ~Jon

hah! nice. I was also looking over the Trihedral active bridle today at work (I printed out all the diff. types so I could have some reading material in my kite bag for when Im bored), and it seems to be an improvement (from what I've read) on the Dihedral. Any validity to this? or is it pretty much user/kite preference? ~Jon