JoneZ

Sunday Sunday Sunday!! Delta Park, May 4th, anytime. Come show your n00b skills, teach a n00b, or just come to watch ones like myself attempt simple tricks, with mixed results. All ages welcome. Come join the excitement! Bring your repair kits!! Going out to delta park with the Fiance this afternoon for some practicing, if anyone cares to join. Cheers ~Jon

I was pretty upset this morning, finding out that my work needed me -- being as I just got into this sport, and was looking to meet up with some kite junkies like myself -- but, I guess all things happen for a reason. Just don't know why today had to be sacrificed to work, of all things. lol Glad it went well cats. If I don't head out to Cannon beach tomorrow morning, I'll definitely be out at Delta pk. flying with my Fiance. Cheers KL. ~Jon

The weather was quite crappy today, as I worked outside in the rain, watching my fresh paint drip off the windows.... Did the NWSKC get postponed as well? If so, rescheduled for Sunday perhaps? If not......

LOL I did exactly that just a couple weekends ago. We went to Cannon Beach with an orange butterfly ripstop kite my Fiance and I bought from Grocery Outlet. $9.00. A steal we thought. We assembled it, and I noticed something was a little off. The kite had the top spreaders stretching out the main wings, but there was no bottom spreader to stretch out the bottom wing section. The thing still looked like it would fly, so we launched it. More like, I ran with it, and ran, and ran - while watching the kite rise up, then veer left, and nosedive 90% of the time. Man was I out of breath..... I think I got the thing up above 50ft 2 times before I got so frustrated with it, I yanked it out of the sky, and was about to snap it in 2, til I knocked some sense into myself, realizing I could fix it. lol Im gonna install a bottom spreader on the thing before the next time we go back to the beach. I bought her another blue butterfly kite while we were out there (WITH a bottom spreader), cuz I felt horrible that I was flying and she was just watching. lol. Thinking about stacking the butterfly's once I get the orange one moded.

Also am looking at the French Connection. Any experienced FC flyers around?

aww man.. 1 day event? Thats a bummer. I'm probably going to have to work on Saturday, if the weather is good (so far its calling for sporadic rain). I was hoping to get out there Sunday. =\ You know what? Im still going out on Sunday, NWSKC or no. Gonna take my Fiance, some Lunch, my cherry bomb, and a couple single line kites out there, and go have some fun. Anyone else up for it?

I was looking at the Silver Fox 2.5. Looks nice m8. Plus I saw John flippin some tricks with it on youtube, and that kinda got me geeked out for it. lol. Think I'll learn some more tricks on my cherry bomb first before I upgrade. hehe If I can pull off a whack of tricks on this little thing, the silverfox will be a breeze. got any of these in stock Theresa?

Just a quick google search, and I pulled up this one. http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/2826/PlanGenki.gif Im sure theres lots of others. Try searching "Genki Kite Plans" Cheers m8.

Should I even reconnect those stabilizer lines? I mean, asides from higher wind stability, what other uses would they have? Im thinking the less lines, the better. Am I wrong?

Divx player download for Windows http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/download/index.php For Mac http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/download/index.php Should install all the appropriate codecs for use (I don't think it installs the web-divx player, so just right click the video above and "save as", then open once its finished d/ling).

aye m8 got em all downloaded. I thought this site I listed would be of some help to newcomers as well. It is pretty helpful to me, being as I can write them down in my notebook word for word, make my own descriptions, and bring that out on the field to practice with. Heres that same site, organized by function http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/p.j.f.pete...uncidx.frm.html

I stumbled upon this really comprehensive site, listing and breaking down tricks in alphabetical order. http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/p.j.f.pete...phaidx.frm.html Enjoy.

lol *rotation... K. Flying in from left to right, I give a quick push then pop with the upper wing to get the angle for the rotation. All the tutorials say to give a pull to start the rotation, but they don't say with both hand, left or right. Do I pull with the left (lower), or the right (upper), or both? I would think that you would pull with the left (lower), then slack the lines for the rotation. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.

w00t!? I can do them now every time. Pulling out is still a little tricky, but thats just because left-is-right and right-is-left when pulling out of the trick. Since I switched to a dynamic bridle, the controllability of my kite has increase 10fold. I wonder why they don't just make dynamic bridles standard on all manufactured kites. Now onto axels and slot machines. Cheers.

Are you by chance going to have a kiosk set up at the championships this weekend?

When I do decide to upgrade kites, I was wondering if anyone had any specific picks of choice? Theres just so many brands out there that its mind boggling. Im the type of person, that if I have a good experience with a particular brand, I'll tend to stick to that brand. I've had great times with my lil' cherry bomb so far. The only thing with NewTech, is that for the most part, their kites aren't too appealing to the eye. The "Desire UL" series look good, but are indoor kites (0-8Mph), and the "BLK" series, as far as the reviews I've read, are good kites, but not amazing. I want amazing. The "techno" series kites look nice (wonder why they're not listed at the NT website), and have a decent review. Anyone had experience with these? Any sugg?

I've got a Cherry Bomb by newtech kites (Dodd Gross design), and so far, Im really enjoying it. The handling and trickability is great. The cost is very reasonable for a kite of this caiber. Being very new to the sport, and still in the learning stages of mostly all tricks, I have to say, that the maneuverability of this kite is great. I haven't had any trouble getting this kite to stall, spin or take off. It is a little on the light side, so Im experimenting with weighting it, and its seeming to work great, as well as give it a higher wind range. Plus, its got a 4th stabilizer line, between the upper and lower outhaul lines on the leading edge for more stability in higher wind situation. It's also got a break-away velcro strap at the tail, for those nasty dive bombs that you will most certainly do while starting out. It prevents the spine from breaking in the even of a nose crash. Saved me a few times. I would recommend reading up on dynamic bridles, if you decide to get this kite. I just converted mine, and now its like flying a whole new, slightly better kite. The dynamic bridle seems to help me recover from bad stalls a little better. Heres an article on kitelife about it. http://www.kitelife.com/archives/issue41/c...omb41/index.htm -cheers.

I just keep answering my own questions. hehe So I sped out to the park in the 15 minutes that it was sunny here (before it started hailing), and tried out the new bridal I made.... Wow. Its like a whole new kite. With having all the lines taught give you SO much more control and preciseness. Not to mention stalls are about half as hard to pull now. Recovering from bad stalls, and dive bombs are a breeze. The kite doesn't want to get wrapped up in its own lines as much on a nerfed a trick (and I nerf about 95% of the ones I try. lol) Lovin the dynamic bridle. Although it is a little harder to launch in lighter winds, its still a friggin superior design. Thankful for the info on this site, I tell ya. ~Cheers.

I took off the stabilizer lines (white arrowed line, as shown above) yesterday, and the kite worked just fine without them, although I did notice the leading edges flexing quite a bit more in the gusty winds. I think I may just leave them off and use them only when its necessary. And on that note, I switched to a dynamic bridle setup. I unstrung all my lines, and split the long line in two(the left/right inhaul to upper outhaul line [red lines shown in above diagram]), swapped it to a upper/lower outhaul line. Then used the old Lower Outhaul Line/tow point as the inhaul line/tow point. The lengths of all the lines were such as I didn't have to snip or add any. Now I just need to wait for some windy weather to try it out. And btw... I was thinking the issue of the stabilizer lines (white lines as shown in the diagram above) to the 1000th degree. All I'll have to do, is resize them to fit the dynamic setup, and larkshead loop them to the base of the Yoke, before I tie the yoke to the tow point. Heres a pic of the updated lines (without the stabilizer lines, I havent sized them to fit yet). You can see where the stabilizer line should go (between the upper/lower outhauls) - a little hole is there. I don't want to put them on yet, because I haven't flown it with the dynamic setup, and I don't want to go cutting these lines, until Im sure A.) I like the setup. and B.) til I have it tuned up for flying. Does it look like I've got everything right? The nose lifts off the ground about 4 inches before the rest of the body picks up, so I think thats around 5degrees or so. Also, the yoke is made from the upper/lower outhaul lines. In my searching, I've seen the yoke made also from the inhaul line. Any difference? From my point it looks basically like the same thing, just strung differently. ?

Great. I read the one on Andy Wardleys page before about dynamic bridling, but couldnt find an answer to the 3rd leg issue, as the example does not have a 3rd stabilizer leg. I guess I don't need it attached, but I kind of want it, for higher wind stability. I'll read up on some of the other active bridle systems on that site, see if I can answer my own Q. Thanks for the pages Dan. ~Jon ***edit Yep, I definitely do not have a standard 3 leg static bridle. I've uploaded a pic diagram I drew in paint. The red arrowed line is a single line (both left and right side are attached where the inhauls intersect - making the entire red line system essentially 1 string.), making up the inhaul line to the upper-outhaul line. The blue arrowed line is the lower-outhaul line. The white arrowed line is the 3rd leg stabilizer line. The green line is the tow point (which is an extension of the lower outhaul line - folded and 2 overhand knots made about an inch apart - which the other lines are attached inbetween the knots with larks head knots.). If I want to convert to a dynamic bridle, would I first have to make new lines? Or could I just use the existing lines - detaching the single line that makes the inhaul and upper outhaul line, snipping it in half to detach the left from the right bridle line, and making them single line upper/lower outhaul lines, then swaping the lower outhaul line to the inhaul? phew... hope that made sense. lol then I would just have to find out how to attach the 3rd leg stabilizer (if I need it at all). OR Am I thinking this to to the 10000th degree, and theres a way simpler way to accomplish a dynamic bridle with a 4 leg static bridle? Thanks in advance people. I really appreciate all the info, and input thusfar. ~Jon

When I was flying this weekend, I noticed some slack on my bridles (on the inhaul lines). It didnt nerf the performance of the kite, as far as I could tell, but then again, Im new.. heh I started readin gup on dynamic bridles this morning, and I've got a question on them (actually 2). Firstly, should I even try out a dynamic bridle? I have a Cherry Bomb Kite. Being as its a beginner-intermediate kite, Im wondering if this would be a good thing. secondly, if I do try a dynamic bridle system, how and where would I attach the "3rd leg" (between the upper and lower outhauls) to it? From my understanding, where the inhaul line attaches to the upper/lower outahul line is where the the 3rd leg would normally go, but it cant, since the yoke connects in that spot (Im referencing this from the guide listed @ http://www.kfs.org/~abw/kite/bridle.html ). Any insight would be great. PS Had a great weekend at cannon beach. Not much wind, only got to fly friday (messed around with weighting -- fun stuff), but got some great scenic pics. I'll have to post them in my profile when I get some time. Cheers. ~Jon