pbcoole

Thanks for the replies. I took the small Stylus out this morning. It was my first time flying a nice kite. I was having a blast with it, when a gust hit the kite; both lines snapped about six inches up from the handles, and the kite got sucked into a dust devil . I had to chase it for a long way before rescuing it from a neighboring backyard. After that, I flew it near the edge of the wind window. I don't know how to judge gusts, and it is almost always gusty around here. I'm still trying to decide between the largest Stylus and the QuadTrac ProFoil.

I don't have any advice, but I just thought I'd say hello. I'm in the same situation as you. Early last week I picked up a couple of $3 parafoils for the kids at the supermarket checkout counter, and now I find myself ordering kites on the internet and wondering if I can kite surf on vacation this year. My kids, 3 and 5 years old, wander off to the playground while I fly an old stunt kite that belongs to their mom. I have two good parafoils for them and a Prism Stylus for me coming by UPS today. I hope they will enjoy flying kites that actually fly -- the cheap parafoils didn't work at all. I'm looking at some Premier QuadTrac Pro Foils that are on sale. I'd like to have a power kite I could fly in the park or use as a traction engine if I decided to get into that. But I should probably learn to fly the dual line kites first. We live down in Santa Fe, so we're practically neighbors. We also have the same problem with gusty, unpredictable winds. I wonder if it is the presence of mountains. Anyway, I hope you have a good time.

I've recently gotten back into kiting. . . I bought my kids some $3 parafoils at the supermarket checkout and quickly realized 1) That flying kites was something I always enjoyed and would like to get back into, and 2) I needed to buy some better kites. I've been flying an old stunt kite that belongs to my wife, but I would like to buy a quad. (I also have some better foils for the kids and a Prism Stylus in the mail for me). I am curious about power kiting, and I would like to buy a kite that I could fly in the park, or possibly use as a traction engine, though I'm not sure there's a field big enough around Santa Fe for Kite Groundboarding. I was looking at some three meter Quad Parafoils. Is that a good size? Would it also be easier to start with a Revolution? I like the packability of the parafoils because we are carfree and have to haul our kites by bike trailer, but we can always have a bigger kite sticking out of the trailer. Also -- one more thing -- are there any good websites for beginning Kite Groundboarding? I just want to get pulled along by a kite; I don't care that much about doing jumps and tricks. Thanks, Paul