JoneZ

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

I've been reading up on weighting my Cherry Bomb. Im not sure on exactly where to place the weights, if at all. A couple things come to mind. If I decide to weight my kite, I would think placing one in the center of gravity point would be ideal for flicflacs and 'nose over tail' rotations, and overall most tricks. Weighting the tail I could see giving better vertical spins, and axels (stop me if Im wrong in any way here), but would kind of nerf your kite for flicflacs, and other 'nose over tail over nose' tricks, being that the kite is now bottom-heavy. Then I was reading on weighting the L.E.'s. And thought weighting the LEs and the CoG would be a good balance -- giving the kite more weight, thus allowing it to spin better, but not knocking the CoG totally out of whack. Cherry's are pretty lightweight as is, so Im seriously thinking of weighting it, and seeing how I like it. so... Should I start with the CoG first? or just slap it on the tail and go from there? Any input would be completely helpful. ~Thanks ~Jon

Found my own answer to this one. I'll explain it in here, just to add it to the search DB, incase anyone else asks, or searches up bridle adjustment (s). Anyone feel free to chime in if theres anything else to add, or if any of my info is incorrect. --- Bridles should typically be set anywhere from 4 degrees to 12 degrees. The lower the degree, the less pull you'll have and the harder it will eventually be to turn. I was told that adjusting to a lower degree would only be helpful in really high wind conditions. The higher the degree, the more pull you will have, and the kite will turn a little more precise and tighter. Stalls will also be achieved with more ease, but the speed of the kite decreases. It will also fly a little better in lighter winds, but launching will be more difficult. Adjusting your bridles down/away from the nose will increase the angle, and adjusting them up/toward the nose will decrease the angle. Determining your angle. Lay the kite belly up, take the bridle rings/lines, and raise them up evenly. If the nose lifts off the floor first, it means that you have a lower angle on your bridles (4degrees = nose lifts off the ground about 4-5 inches before the wings lift off the ground). If your kite lifts evenly off the ground, you have a high angle set (roughly 12 degrees). Setting your bridles. Mark your factory settings on the lines first before adjusting. That way, you have a reference point to go off of while messing with the angle. Just adjust up or down a little (make sure the adjustments are even left to right), test fly it, and see what suits your style best. Mine are set to about 7-8 degrees. Middle of the road. Seems to work fine for me, although I havent messed around in light wind conditions yet, and my precise turns are not-so-precise. Thats probably just my kite, being a beginner cherry bomb. When I've got a day to mess around with them I'll test out lower and higher settings. Thanks to High Fly Kites for the schooling in bridle adjustments.

Thanks Penny. I'll definitely be there, hopefully with at least a few tricks under my belt. Just in case, make sure to bring your helmets. One more Q to add to the list. --Bridles, and how my kite flies. I havent messed with my bridles yet, and for all intents and purposes they work great. But, I did notice today, while flying (kinda gusty wind conditions) that when I bring my kite up to the top-center of the wind window, it seems to want to extend a little over-and-behind my head. My logic is telling me that the angle of my bridles could be a little off? Im not quite sure. A solid link on bridle adjustment would be great, if anyone has one. (I've searched up some myself but the ones I've read aren't that specific, plus I want to stir up some conversation with all you KiteLife'ers. ) The specifics Im wondering about are mostly, What angle (if its a specific) should they be set to? Also, how do you go about measuring that? Or is it just an 'adjust and test fly' type of thing?

Hey all. I just got into trick kiting a couple weeks ago. Reading over all the material I've searched up, I've gathered a few questions on things that Im not too certain of. I've searched a little here, and got some answers, but nothing compares to realtime advice. So if these Q's have been asked before, please forgive me, as Im sure with the responses generated here, I'll have more questions. Thats why I chose to start my own thread. lol. I'll just fire them off I suppose. Oh! btw, I've got one of Dodd's "Cherry Bomb" kites. --Lines. I've heard people say good and bad things about the length of your lines for doing tricks. What would be the best length? 75ft, 50ft, etc...? I've heard that you can 'feel' your kite more with a shorter line, but theres also less forgiveness/leniency while doing tricks. Could someone help me understand this a little better? I've got 80ft. lines with handstraps currently. --Leading/trailing edge line adjustments. First off, when should I set these:: when the kite is fully assembled (Stand-offs, and L.E. connectors in place), or partially assembled (just the L.E. connectors). Secondly, how snug is too snug? Im aware that you do not want the lines so tight that they distort the shape/flow of the kite. I've messed around with them, setting them taught enough so there is no distortion, but when I fly it will still sound like a AK47 when I execute sharp angles. I've set them tighter so there is a slight ripple at the very bottom of each wingtip, and that seems to cut that noise out -- but will it affect my flying in the long run? --Lonely Kiter Lastly, and this ones a 'puttin myself out there' long shot, so here it goes: I live in the Portland Oregon area (Oregon City). If I set a time and a place (probably Delta Park, but anywhere theres wind could be an option), would anyone be willing to meet up and show me the ropes on a couple of things in person - such as: some basic ground recovery techniques, simple things like stalls, or correct/incorrect ways to pop/pull/push lines, etc... Im new, and in a nutshell, I don't know my arse from a mole hole when it comes to trick kiting, but Im very adaptable, and quick learning, and thats gotten me this far (so far). Reason Im asking, is Im more of a hands on kind of person, and don't learn too particularly well with videos (being you can't watch a vid and fly at the same time), and tbh, I'd like to fly 'with' people, not just 'around' people. lol. I don't know too many 'real' ppl in the area (being somewhat of a misanthrope [the way that mainstream society has developed these days makes me kinda nauseous.), let alone anyone who considers kiting a passion, let alone fun like I do, so with all that blurted out, I guess it would be good for my somewhat socio-phobic ways to get around some like-minded individuals. hehe Kind of a long shot, I know, since you can't predict the wind, but people seem to be pretty active on a daily basis here, so I don't think a days notice would be stretchin it. Might be a while, with the current weather trends Im sure, but I still want to throw that out here. (perhaps I'll post this part in the 'Flying in the PNW' section as well.) Thanks in advance all ~Jon

Thanks m8. ~Cheers

I met a guy in Seaside called the Wizard. He had long white hair and a long white beard. His clothes were made of kite sail ripstop in all the great colors. He rode the beach on a trike with kites tied to the handle bars and blew huge bubbles for the kids. We saw him there for years and then he was gone. A few years ago we went to Pinky's Kite Factory in Cannon Beach and I asked the old guy if he knew what happened to the Wizard. He told me the Wizard was gone. I asked what happened, wishing he went while doing what he loved, entertaining all on the beach. The old man stepped out from behind the counter... he was wearing kite sail shorts over his jeans... and said his wife made him get a job We drank coffee and listened to his stories. My favorite was about his traveling north up the coast of Oregon. He would take a snow saucer and a kite and ride the shuttle bus south to the end of the line. He took his stuff to the beach, setup his kite and got on his saucer and "fly" back to Cannon Beach... he got home before the bus got back If you don't have snow saucers in the UK, I can send you one I guess there's no difference between wind currents and water currents when you're a master! Hah!! I met Wizard as well. Hello all, first time kite flyer, and addict from the first time I raised my kite. Also new to the forums. Greetings. I went to Cannon Beach last weekend. We wanted to go fly my Fiances Kite (a nice single line butterfly kite), and my neighbor loaned me his little trick kite, but it had no strings. So after we unpacked at our camping site, we drove up the road, wanting to stop in at the first kite shop we find. We stumbled across Pinky's Kite shop, and lo and behold ---- The Wizard. This guy was probably the coolest cat I've met since I moved to the PNW. He gave me a couple of lines for this trick kite - asked me if I knew how to fly one. I of course said no, and he just went into it! Gave me a crash course in about 3 minutes. lol By the time we were done, my head was spinning with info, and we were on our way to the beach. I strung my kite up, and raised her, and then I was hooked. I can't remember the type of kite I was flying, but the spine was frayed at the nose, and patched with a zip-tie. It was a little difficult to fly, and a little noisy, probly cuz of the slack that zip tie created along the leading edges. Not to mention the wind was pretty low on that day. So, we flew for about an hour, and packed it all in. I immediately wanted my own kite, knowing how much fun a half broken kite was, and wondering what a brand new one would be like, so the next day we went back to pinky's, and he took one look at me, saw the addict in my face, laughed, and immediately showed me some kites. So I ended up buying a Cherry Bomb Kite, by Dodd Gross. He said it was probably the best value (coming with a fig. 8 winder, and hand straps) and controllability for getting into trick kiting. We shot the conversation for a bit, he gave me a tonne of websites to check out for tutorials on stunts, Thanked him, and we were back to the beach. It was cloudy, kind of spitting rain on and off, but the wind was just right. About 20Mph. I set the kite up, and raised her. Hoo boy. Magic. .... We flew for about 3 hours straight, and I didnt want to pack it up, but the rain was telling us that the day was at an end. Wizard? If you're out there, thanks a million for all the info, and the kite. Lovin it. And if anyone else on the west coast is up around Cannon beach / Seaside, you HAVE to go see Wizard. Coolest cat! Hes also got this octagonal kite in his shop he made that he says lifted a 300Lb man off the ground. I live outside of Portland,,,, not much wind here. Im just waiting for the next sunny weekend, then we're back out to cannon beach for more flying, and practicing stunts. -constantly licking my index finger and raising it above my head; ~Spz0