Jeepster

Duane, 1) About one month ... 2) At an IKE club get together ... same place where I met the group at the Pontiac Kite Festival. 3) Show up! Seriously, I showed up with a full sail and the winds were about 20 mph. Mike Kory said the full sail wouldn't work, so he loaned me a vented kite. We messed around for several hours and then Mike asked if I wanted to fly with him. As soon as I said yes, two others came over and I was number three in the line up. We did some follow the leader stuff, bursts, and other simple stuff that was commensurate with my skill level. One of the guys told me to do a vertical hover and he flew through my lines ... I was too dumb to be scared. 4) A couple of times my brain froze, but no real problems. Everyone was very patient with my flubs. I learned a ton of things to practice during the next month. In hind sight, it was one of the best things I did during the first few months of flying. So, don't use your age as a crutch, get out there and DO IT!! Cheers, Tom

Duane, Rich gave you the link for the animations, but the link I had in mind contains the paper copy with some written instructions. It's also located on the Revolution web site (duh) ... just above the animation link. Print out the .pdf version and you can refer to it on the beach. Don't get too hung up on memorizing all the figures and associated moves. Use the manual two ways; 1) Gain an understanding of the general moves associated with the figure names. Watch some iQuad videos with the manual in hand to help learn what the figures look like in practice. 2) The real value of the manual is to show you the simple maneuvers you will need to perform to participate in a team fly. The team captain (caller) will use maneuvers based on the skill set of the members ... if you can't do compound benefits, then the captain will not call that maneuver ... well, at least more than once!!!! Can you do a tip pivot? Being able to do a tip pivot and having a general understanding of what the maneuver looks like is actually all you need to know to be able to do compound benefits. Again, speed and directional control, along with being able to hold your kite steady in all different situations, is all you need to know to enjoy flying with others. One last thing ... do you know about the techniques manual? If not, then that's one other booklet that you should print out and keep with you to help direct your practice. So, take a deep breath, relax, and have fun ... Cheers, Tom

Duane, The Cuban Eight is for airplanes not kites (ask your wife) ... but, teams will do some figure eight like moves to keep the lines from getting tangled. As MrDenny says: controlling your speed and direction, being able to stop and hold in any position, as well as, being able to back up are the real prerequisites for team flying. Attached is the "official" verbiage off the the iQuad site:. Someplace there is a list and diagram of the common team maneuvers; put together by Mike Kory. I can't locate a copy right now. If no one else pops up with it, I'll dig in my brain cells a little more to see if remember where the electronic copy is stored. Cheers, Tom ............... What does it take to fly with iQuad? A good attitude will get you on the right path... iQuad is a fun loving group that is very serious, about flying hard and not getting too serious! Seriously, here's what it takes: * 120' quad lines - If you don't have 'em, forget about it... With so many kites in the sky, the 120' gives us all the room we need to operate and do our maneuvers. * Revolution 1.5 - We use full and vented sails with a combination of 2-wrap, 3-wrap, 4-wrap and SLE rods, depending on the conditions. * Basic control - An absolute must, here is what a flier must be able to demonstrate: 1) Dead hover... Ability to do a stable hover in any orientation (i.e. with the leading edge facing in any direction), in any part of the sky. 2) Reverse flight... A key element of iQuad maneuvers, fliers must be able to back (reverse) their kites up from and to just about any position in the sky. 3) Speed control... Must be able to manage slow, medium or fast speeds flying in any direction. 4) Tip pivots... Another key component in many of our maneuvers, a flier must be able to rotate their kite around one wing tip, from a stopped position to a stopped position. 5) Sense of humor... Even the best fliers get into a real snafu sometimes, and if you can't laugh it off... Well, good luck to you! We often do quad mega-flies at events throughout the year, and we heartily encourage you to come on up and try your hand at team flying... It's great fun, and we're always willing to spend time with a new flier to help them learn - even if they're not up for team flying yet.

Good decision Duane ... One of the kite shops sells cut 90# LPG for $0.95 per 10 foot length. That would make the cost of your 1200 feet of line about $114 ... Again, keeping the wife seems like a good decision!!! Cheers and good night, Tom

Sure! These are shops that I've dealt with that carry LPG ... I'm sure there are others: Kent at A Wind of Change; Lyn and Rich at Midwest Kites; Dave at The Kite Connection. Cheers, Tom

Duane, The first line set I bought was an 80 foot set of LPG 90#. The actual length was 79 feet. So, they cut the line at 80 feet and made a line set. Don't know if it was pre-stretched or not ... I was a little lacking in knowledge at that time. After that experience, I learned to make my own line sets. If you can tie your shoes, then you can make line sets. I later bought an 85 foot line set made with Shanti. The owner of Shanti made me a great deal to get me to try his line. Who ever made the line set used two different thicknesses of sleeving. That makes it extremely difficult to even out the lines. I untie, even out and then retie the lines to get them equal. I've sworn off buying line sets. I make all of my own and have no one else to blame for any problems. Shanti sells some great sleeving ... Kent has some in stock. It's white, white w/ a green tracer and white with a black tracer. A couple of 100 foot rolls will cost you about $25. I use white on the top lines and white with a green tracer on the bottom lines. You can even re-sleeve the lines you've bought so that all line sets have the same color combo. It takes about 5 foot of each color, so you're set for 20 different line sets ... almost a lifetime supply. Cheers, Tom

Duane, Keep this quiet ... don't tell anyone else. Don't get caught up in chasing that elusive "thing" that others lead you to believe will instantly make you into an accomplished, but older, JB. If you enjoy chasing the latest great thing, and you can afford it, than go for it. However, realize that the only thing that will make you into a great kite flier is hours and hours of very enjoyable practice. At our club get together, it's interesting to watch the beginners become grounded when the wind starts to die down. Next, the intermediate fliers to come to ground. Finally, there will be one member still flying ... with an old, well worn SLE. If it was windy earlier in the day, he probably installed 3-wrap rods and was too lazy to take them out as the wind died down. So, old equipment, wrong equipment, and not the latest, newest, best thing, and yet, he's flying when the rest of us are unable. The difference is practice ... sorry, just plain old ordinary practice. Oh yes, there is one thing that can really speed up the learning curve. Fly with others every chance you get. It's amazing what you can pick up flying with others. And, ask for help!!! I asked Bazzer once how to do a reverse tip pivot ... in five minutes he made the process so clear that I was able to do it before the day was over ... maybe they looked a bit goofy, but they looked good to me! Cheers, Tom

Oh Bill, that's just plain mean!!! Truthful, but mean!! Cheers, Tom

Duane, First of all that's the real joy with flying a Rev ... there are so many new things to practice, it never gets boring!! As to a slow, controlled circle ... yep, been there and stumbled. That part of the circle needs a quick change in handle position. You can do it fast 'cuz you're using momentum to get through the part where your brain has to process a hand movement that doesn't yet make sense. Do it fast, then slightly slower, and slower, and slower until your brain catches on. At least that's how I worked through that problem. My first circles looked more like figure nines!!! The funniest one for me was the figure eight. I also fly RC planes where the figure eight shows up in maneuvers. Flying towards the ground in the middle of the figure eight (Cuban Eight) is the most difficult of the two directions. Going upwards in the middle of the figure eight (Reverse Cuban Eight) is not as frightening or dangerous. So, I practiced the "hard" maneuver with my Rev by going downward in the middle of the wind window. I got pretty good at it ... remember that pride goes before the fall!!! The very first time I flew with others, they flew upwards in the middle of figure eight and my brain completely locked up in the lower right corner of the maneuver. Two kites ahead, one behind, the lines slightly wrapped up, and I simply hung there in the air trying to work out what to do next. Embarrassing at the time, but funny now. The other guys were very cool with my fumbling around ... being patient seems to be a universal trait with team members. So enjoy the learning experience ... all the honest flyers will admit to having brain freezes over different maneuvers ... you're following a well blazed trail. Cheers, Tom PS as Rich suggests ... relax your grip on the handle ... relax your mind ... and enjoy the experience!!!

James, All good advice so far on line stretch ... actually Kent tells me it's technically called creep! The one other thing you should add to the mix is to rotate your top and bottom lines during the initial break-in period. The top lines carry a greater load than the brake lines, especially when flying in high winds. If you don't rotate your lines, then the bottom lines will not have been subjected to the same loading and will continue to elongate over time. Thus, your line sets will have to be adjusted more often. Cheers, Tom

LPG is one case where you get what you pay for!! Cheers, Tom

Duane, Don't know your experience with dual line sets, but quads line sets last a long, long time with reasonable care. You might cut a line near the kite if you and others get to playing war, but for normal use you should not have to build spares ahead of time. With what you have in the bag, I'd focus on the shorter line sets with 90# line ... 50', 25~30' and maybe a 10~15' line set will give you some new experiences. The shorter line sets are generally brought out when the wind is very light. I really wouldn't recommend making up anymore 150# line sets. I'm currently making up my first 150# line set to use with a six kite stack. Some of our British friends like to use the 150# line when the winds are really howling, but I've flown my full vent in 30mph plus winds on 90# lines and not broken anything. When the winds get to that level, the fun factor with a full size Rev is greatly diminished. I either fly a Rev II or one of my four foot Half-Pint kites ... or go home. Cheers, Tom

Gee, I don't know about this one John. I don't own a single dual line kite. Would have to buy lines and handles straps and a dual line bag. Have to spend hours learning to fly the darn thing. Plus, Youtube probably has a video of some pre-teen kid doing awesome things with a kite just like this one. Owning that kite would just compound my embarrassment at the flying field and lead me to a full blown case of depression. In fact, my luck is so bad the darn RNG will probably go ahead and pick me on this drawing. Once again, thanks for the contest John and for the opportunity at expanding my ineptitude. Cheers, Tom

Congrats Detlef!!! Enjoy!! And thanks to John for another opportunity to add to the kite bag without visiting the poor house. Cheers all, Tom

So desu ne!

Hey Bear, Have you ever thought about sewing up some small sleds with scrap nylon? I've got a small (one square foot) pocket kite that I let the little kids fly. My daughter gave it to me, so I can't give it away. It'd only take a few minutes to sew some up ... wouldn't take up much room ... very low cost ... no one will get hurt by a sled. Or get wufer to do the honors ... he's got to have lots of scrap. Cheers, Tom

Duane, Are you sure you want a male kite in the kite bag with all those females? You never know what will show up!!! Since it's so colorful, you might consider naming it Carmen after Carmen Miranda. Cheers, Tom

Duane, If you've got some extra bridle line, you might go two different directions. 1) Use a single line for the pig-tail. Several IKE members do that with even thinner bridle line than yours. 2) Strip the core out of the bridle line and see if it's thin enough then. Straight Dacron sometimes has too much stretch, but it's worth a try. I've been using Shani non-cored bridle line ... same as I use for sleeves. It works reasonably well. Knot spacing is an individual preference, but eventually, you'll be looking for closer spacing than 1-1/2 inches between knots. Mine are tied 7/8 inch apart. If you tie two knots on the bottom pig-tail 3/4 inch apart, you can use the bottom line to split the difference between the top line knots. Hmmm ... some how I keep thinking of corn dogs ... don't know why!!! Cheers, Tom

Duane, When you get a chance to fly with your wife, here's a French team that is fun to and learn from. Those kites are mega-vented ... about 33% of the sail area is venting. It must have been a very windy day there to use that much venting, but they still made it seem easy.Cheers, Tom

Oh yea!!! That one's great! Thanks, Tom

I stumbled on this video again today ... Polo is an excellent European flier. Look at the video at about 1:45 and you'll see him holding the handles in an "A" configuration like John describes. Cheers, Tom

I came to kiting late in life. Played with kites as a kid and when my kids were kids ... still have a small delta in the basement. But, I was never that interested in single line kites. I saw a Revolution kite in the early 90's, but money and time were short ... other hobbies ate up both. A year-and-a-half ago, I decided to investigate the Rev kites again. Went to a festival about 50 miles away where 180GO! was participating. Big Mike saw me watching and asked if I had a kite. I said no, but expressed an interest in how they worked ... he immediately put the handles to his kite in my hand and taught me the basics. Damn him!!! That was a Saturday ... my kite was on order by Tuesday and was delivered on Friday. The kite bag now has eight Rev's in it. Plus, three homemade "smaller than normal" rev-like kites and two stacks ... one three-kite progressive and one six-kite linear. A few sleds, deltas and some line laundry. Still don't get really excited about the single or dual line kites ... the Revs are too interesting!!! Cheers, Tom

Opps, a residual carry over from working with Excel ... yep, <Home> works by itself. Let's see Jeff, you also taught me to skip the <Ctrl><R> in favor of <F5> to refresh, what other single key strokes do you advocate? Cheers, Tom

This thread bothered me for awhile. There are many good kite shops out there, why single out a few? But then, in child rearing and management, we're taught to praise in public and chastise in private. So, maybe this thread isn't so far off the mark. When I first bought a kite, I surfed the Rev and IKE forum for comments. Then I surfed the web for all kite shops that handled Rev kites ... nearest store-front kite shop is 150 miles away. I found about a half dozen kite shops where they had Revs as a large part of their inventory. I've had dealings with four of those over the last year-and-a-half and came out with a positive feeling every time. I've also met the owners of the four shops and they are as friendly and helpful in person as over the phone or internet. Oh yes, if they don't have what you want on their website, call ... they develop their kite flying, not their web sites. These are my favorite four: A Wind of Change ... Kent has the best web site for surfing and day dreaming ... he's also very knowledgeable about Revs and willing to share that knowledge. Kite Connection ... Dave's web site is so-so, but he more than makes up for it in helpfulness ... also very knowledgeable about Revs. Midwest Kites ... Lyn and Rich are very easy to work with, plus they're only 100 miles from me so if I need it fast! Windpower Sports ... Cory is the most opinionated, talkative individual you'll ever meet ... and has been fun to deal with!!! I've not dealt with several of the others, but from personal experience, I'd highly recommend the above four. They all have a good inventory of kites, parts and support equipment. All four shops have left me feeling positive about working with them. Cheers, Tom

I know you're being funny and believe me, I'm all about fun and sarcarsm, etc. especially the sarcasm, but seriously, over on the REV forum, at the end of each post on the left, there is a button that takes you to the top of the page where you can than navigate back to the "view new posts" button. Over here, the "back to top" button is all the way at the bottom left. I just find it easier to have it after each post rather than scroll back up to the top or down to the bottom to find it or continuously hit the back button until you get back to the new topics page. Stupid, lazy crap that's all. Since every forum has the "back to the top" button in a different place, that's why the <Ctrl><Home> key stroke is so neat ... Cheers, Tom