Mike

I know how you feel Litsong, and I'm so happy for you. My first sport kites were a stack of diamonds (rainbow stunt kites) with long tails. I used to fly them on the beach in Santa Barbara, after work.

Good looking team and nice photos!

I bet you're happy Conner. Jumping up and down, bouncing off the walls happy. I know I would be if it all happened to me. It is such good news that it turned out the way it did.

Scott, I'm slapping my forehead right now. I taught a paraplegic to fly and I forgot all about quad sticks. That is the magic that guy needs. It would sure give his daughter a break. I'll have to make a set and surprise him with them this spring. Thanks for re-opening this thread.

Congrats to Mom and Dad and welcome to the world little Joni!

Best wishes to your wife for an easy pregnancy. Dec 1, 1:00 am.

The wing flip is very common, perhaps universal, among beginners. As Baloo says, it comes from over control. Think smaller movements. When flying in reverse you can't go very fast and when you are starting to learn it, go very slow. Start by practicing with gravity on your side. Fly up to the top of the window and reverse back down to the ground, leading edge facing up. The inverted hover is an advanced move and just takes time to learn. Start with the kite upside down on the ground and reverse up and hover a few feet off the ground. Measure your progress in seconds. Your first try may only last a second. Then you'll graduate to 3 seconds. Pat yourself on the back when you can hold it for 5 seconds. Then, one day, something will just "click" and you'll have it. Have fun, there's always new stuff to learn and keep things interesting.

glue works well for small tears. Put some scotch tape (cellophane tape) on one side. Apply a little crazy glue to the tear on the other side. Let it dry for a few hours. Remove the tape.

Ha! I actually did try that, but gave up and went and got my charming wife to push the shutter.

okey doke, I went into the backyard and took some photos. Please ignore the way the lawn looks; we're not supposed to water our lawns right now. It's not bad really. Now we don't need to mow either I attached the lines to the kite and unwound the lines off my handles. Here are some photos to show that the lines look tangled: At this point all I had to do was to put tension on the lines and all those supposed tangles disappeared! There were only a couple real twists. I put my handles together and turned them once, and then I turned one handle around once and that was it. Now, to wind the lines back on the handles, grab the the handles like so: Point the handles in the general direction of the kite and start to wind the lines. I like to start by winding around the adjustment knots to help hold it all together better: Note that I start at the bottom of the grips and work my way up to the top, ending up like so: Now disconnect the lines from one side of the kite. Sometime the lengths come out even, but usually it looks like this: To keep things even on the handle, I larks-head the shorter line onto the longer line: After larks-heading the other pair of lines, pinch all four of lines thru the grips to hold it all in place. When it's time to set up your kite, attach the lines to the kite and walk backwards. Grip the handles the same way you did when when winding them up. Point them towards the kite again too. This is essential. That's it! I hope you enjoy Mike's Magical Method of line storage!

I dunno, I don't use a figure eight. If you get a lot twists, its because the lines were not unwound the same way they were put on. If you orient the handles the same way when you wind and unwind you'll be ok. If you orient the handles one way, and then unwind with the handles pointed the opposite way you will have hundreds of twists.

A newbie asked me how to wind his lines. I told him I just wrapped them around my handles, but warned him that many folks worry about the technique. He decided to go ahead and wrap around the handles and had no problems thru the weekend.

Heya Jim, I think a diagram would help But if I understand you correctly, I still don't think it would make a huge difference in the way that you are talking about. A few things to consider: The difference between the yo-yos is maybe a foot. Assuming 120' lines, the end of each line is 60' away from the stake. The kite moves in an arc. I think some actual math needs to be done to see if there's much difference. Also, it's probably easier just to try it with an actual kite, as you suggest. But don't make the stakes a couple feet apart, make it more realistic and make them a foot or so apart vertically. Hector, you could bungee a couple carabiners to a pole to test the idea. Cheaper and quicker then welding a whole new stake!

Heya Jim, It has been a while since I've taken geometry, could you explain that a little more? What do you mean by "error"? Also, I was wondering if the strings spend much time rubbing against the sides of the yo-yo. It seems to me they would rub against the plastic unless the strings were coming straight off the middle of the yo-yo.

ok, even more info. I keep a set of handles with 75' x 90# lines wrapped around them all year round. This is what I fly on most of the time. I have a set of handles that I keep free of line and use winders for my other linesets. When I don't want to carry my kite bag, I can just carry my handles, with the lines wrapped around them, and a kite. I don't need to carry anything else. Except when the field is icy/slippery, I usually don't even carry a stake (but that story is for another day).