Mitch

Thanks, I'll give it a try. There are indoor one liners that have a built in pocket in the nose for weights (the Focus Designs -Skate). I've revered to flying these gliders outside when the wind fails. Now I would rather try to fly my Zen in zero to minimal wind, but I'm not sure how to set it up. I'm flying outside with the same 0-2 mph you did your (Excellent) Zen dock vid in. I've tried flying on 50 ft lines and end up backing up most of the way from St. Louis to Kansas City, despite my best attempts at gaining ground with down field slow dives and long sweeps across the center of the wind window. So I've come to think of it as the equivalent of indoor flying. (Notwithstanding that you looked like you hardly took a step backward). You used 30' 50# lines in your vid. Were you using the standard handles? I've tried long ones but have more trouble in low wind with over control. Is it your advice that shorter lines might be easier in these minimal wind conditions? Handles? I love the Zen but admit that flying in low and variable wind has been exasperating. I'm looking for any little hint that will help get me going, here. Thanks Mitch

I have one of these interesting kites that I got on a whim. It flies OK outdoors, but it claims to be a zero wing indoor kite as well. Anybody know if you need to change bridle or configuration to work that. Have been having real fun with my Wala (nee Aerobe) but can't see this thing gliding. Am I missing something? (As an aside, I just learned that I've been mispronouncing "Air-ohb" as "Air-obie". They renamed it the Wala last year and I don't know how to pronounce that either. But wouldn't it be funny if Flying Wings themselves renamed the kite as a misspelling/mispronunciation of Voila'. So nobody knows how to say it!) I digress. Advice about flying the Kichi Tako as a zero wind kite?

Any particularly good places to fly, browse for kites or otherwise hob-nob with the heavies on Plumb Island, MA. Newberryport, Newberry, Ipswich? Going for various reasons, but will be right on the Atlantic and intend, by G*d, to fly!! Nearby kite shop?

This would be PERFECT for me. I weigh about 130 pounds and anything much bigger than 3 meters would be a break neck risk (not that I wouldn't try it.) Drooling as we speak.

I was on a symmetrical quad kite kick awhile ago looking for better reverse flying including an Airbow and HQ M-Quad http://www.foreverfl....com/mquad.html While they do fly as well backward as forward they don't track as well as a rev in flying straight flight. On the other hand they do great propeller spins. The Airbow seems to have a narrow wind range, not too high, not too low. The HQ M-Quad is a smaller kite on shorter lines and is quit twitchy. They are fun interesting kites in their own way, but if your interested in quad kite flying you have to ask yourself why are there so many revs and so few symmetrical quad kites? It just takes lots of practice:) I suppose you're right. I assume that the Rev's have taken over by the strength of their performance. Natural selection. Still, a symmetrical would be a different flying experience. They say that they don't fly like Revs. Interested in selling your Airbow? I'd love to give it a try. I've got a couple of ads out to buy one. Hoping for good condition for about 150. If it was enough of "a while ago" maybe you wouldn't mind lightening up you quiver. Thanks for the insight, regardless. Let me know at Cordover@charter.net. :-)

Just checked out the video of Andy flying his Airbow. Thanks for the link. Of course he makes it look pretty easy. The 3 dimensional mobility is intriguing (though I've seen JB do almost everything Andy did forward and backward, except a barrel roll). Have you ever flown one, JB? I'm hardly worth a darn on the Revs that I already own, but I find I'm becoming a collector of interesting kites! I'd like to try one. Maybe pick up a used one, before I spring for the whole $300. Built a smallish UFO (and will soon have a full sized one). Attempting to fly it quad. The symmetry idea interests me, but I'm ready to hear that I'm barking up the wrong tree, if anybody has real experience in the air. Maybe having a real up and a real down has it advantages in flight dynamics. Thanks for the prompt reply!

I can't get into the classifieds to post a "kite wanted". My user name and password won't work. Do I need to register separately? I'm looking for a used Airbow. It's a symmetrical quad. I'm not sure anybody even makes them anymore. Is the classifieds the best place to hunt one up? Mitch

It was just as you suggested. The sliding bridle worked for casting my little model UFO out and back, and at one end, it serves as a tether for single line flight. In any but the slightest wind, my small version needs a tail, but it flies remarkably well. Time to buy a real one. My newsprint test version is in tatters. Now I want to try it in Quad mode. I've seen a few stills pics of Lee doing flying a UFO on short lines. You seemed to have some vids at your fingertips, JB. Got any of somebody flying the UFO on 4 lines? I saw that Lee made special handles for this. Do you know if that the only way to make it work as a quad? I wonder if I couldn't just use my 15 inch rev handles. The ones he made are symmetrical for forward and breaks and sharply angled (see attached). Any insight? Thanks for your help. This forum and the Rev one is what really got me back into flying and got me started with Quads. Great resource. Mitch

WOW. That was fast! Also wow about his performance! It does look like fun. I suspect part of the trick must be in tossing out and taking in the line through the flying rod. I'm eager to give it a try. Thanks. Incidentally, I'm and emergency doctor and I work a night shift. But what the heck are you doing up at this hour?! The eternal energy of the entrepreneur, I suppose. Mitch

Did you say you might have a link or pics about the UFO? I've scoured the internet looking for vids of the UFO. I have some sales pictures of the kite, a couple of blurry pics of kids and a 30 second video of Lee himself doing some over the shoulder rolls with this thing. But nothing on how one plays with it like a yo-yo. Got links? There is some pics and a video on the UFO in quad line. I'm interested in that, of course, but that's for another forum. Thanks Mitch

Kent, useful advice as usual. I've strung my little model up as you suggest and I'll take it out tomorrow. If it works out, I'll want a real one, no doubt. Newsprint lasts just so long. (P.S. you recently sent me some carbon rods, ferrules and end caps so I could retool my Vertical Visuals Roller kite. Worked just as you predicted. Also, Daelyn was able to find me the yellow Wala I wanted. Tell her for me she's a peach, no yellow pun intended. As long as this is a single line forum, I'll add that between the Wala for low wind and indoor, and the Roller as a slow-motion fighter kite, I am regularly seduced away from my quad addiction and back to my one-line roots.) Mitch

I'll give it a try, thanks. As an aside, if I buy something on line and link through your site ( a YFO for example), does the magazine get credit, or a cut or something. As a loyal Kitelife fan, I buy a fair amount of kite stuff on line and if it helps the cause... Mitch

Thanks, John. I see them using the sliding bridle to toss and glide the kite. I'll give it a try. If I can use the same configuration to fly it as a deep sky one line kite (perhaps with a tail like a round version of Charlie Brown's Eddie kite) I'll send pics so you'll have it in the archive. I think this kite is under-appreciated for it's versatility. Thanks again. (and wish me luck for the Vented B drawing). Mitch

I wanted to buy a Rev UFO (Ultimate Fun Object...Sedgewick's round flight toy) but I wanted to try it first. I read that you could play it like a yo-yo, fly it quad-line and so on. I wanted to try it single line, so I built a half-sized model with a 3/32" rod I took out of an old EO6, and newspaper. It's 20 inches wide and the center vent is about 1/3 of the diameter. It glides GREAT, but I can't figure out how to bridle it for single line flight. I put lines on at 10,2 and 6 on the face of the clock (it is a conveniently 12 point shape). Bridle lines were 1.5x the diameter. I fiddled with the length of the bottom line quite a bit to try to get a good angle of attack, but it just seemed to want to lay flat. Do I string a line across the face of the circle, fly it from one rim? I can't find a picture on the web or instructions for single line, although I have seen a quad vid or two. Anybody got one? or experience with a similar design?

JB. I'm a subscriber. Do I need to sign up for this particular drawing, or is my name in the pool already? When I hit the "sign up here" link it takes me to the subscription page. I could use a vented kite. I've got a Zen for low winds and by B pro and II for most of the rest. I find, to my surprise, that there are days where I've got nothing to fly cause the wind is too strong! Who'd have guessed it, here in the midwest. So how do I sign up? Tell me before the drool shorts out my keyboard. Mitch

This thing looks SWEET. All those trick in the standard Midwestern winds...3 mph and choppy. I admit to being a Rev addict with a secret lingering eye for duelies. I'd love to add this one to my quiver.