Hasek

I'm in. Thank you so very much for this awesome Karma drawing Scott

I use a snowboard bag. Mine doesn't have 'em, but believe some do come with shoulder straps. I would think they might be too long and the bag would not clear the rear wheel unless you kinda angle the bag someway. Maybe try to find one with a single strap that you can put over your shoulder and sling over your back. Not this bag, but carry like this: Maybe a snowshoe bag like this. The Revs would stick out the top, but that shouldn't be a problem if you can secure the three other sides. Another option might be to configure out a way to strap a 4" diameter (or whatever size) piece of PVC to your bike. If you have a rear rack that would make things a whole lot easier. You can figure something out with a bungee along the lines, but much simpler, of the setup in the pic below of my homemade panniers. Some sort of hook or two attached to the top of the pvc that hook over the outer perimeter rail of the rack. Then a bungee that hooks to the bottom of the rack.

Wow Rob, that kite is quite impressive! I appreciate the advice. Line and a winder will be on it's way shortly.

I picked up this dragon kite and need to get line, stake, and a winder. I have no idea what strength line to get or about staking it down. I am thinking the Shanti Windbreaker for the winder although I am also consider a hoop. If the kite doesn't pull a bunch, the hoop would be less cost. This kite is about 17 feet wide and about six feet tall. When I set it up for the attached pics, the wind was gusting to about 7-9 mph and the dragon wanted to fly . How about staking it down? I saw some methods at some web site about double stakes and other methods. I've also seen the dog stake. How about larks heading around a piece of 90 degree bent rebar? As for launching it, a very knowledgeable person in kite history said to let the line out and then launch it. I don't believe she flies, or at this point in her very experienced life. What would be the benefit of letting the line out then launching rather than just launching right off the spool? I don't know how much pull the kite will have and just want to fly it safely.

Thanks again Scott.

In the first pic, looking at the closest kite, it doesn't look too much like wood spars. The three kites above the closest one looks wood. It seems they may be a mix. Maybe the person put carbon in the first kite due to the stress on it.

That makes a bunch of sense Mark. I'm a bit miffed I didn't think of that. Scott, that's a great idea as well. Rob, thanks for the adjustment tip. I like that a whole bunch more than messing with knots until the adjustment needed gets finalized. Scott, you said "if you must have both upward". Do the rear flopping down is no issue for you and you just roll with it?

I picked a three B2s a bit ago. First I got one from JB, then got two more that came to me already stacked. I've flown the single a few times, and today I finally got to fly the two stack. What to say about it? Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha, AWESOME! I love the IIs and the B2s. I need to shorten up the two lower stack lines to eliminate the small amount of rear kite wobble, but other than that, they flew great using the seven Rev stack line method. I started them on the same leader knots I fly my 1.5s on and it did okay. The wind picked up and I moved the upper lines in one know and it was better. I'd imagine once I add the third B2, it'd probably be the normal leader knot. One question for the stack fliers, when I landed inverted and staked the handles, the rear kite kept flopping down. It wasn't a big thing to just launch the kite, the first started flying and then the rear popped right up. Although I'd prefer both to stay. Any suggestions?

Same here for the most part Bill. I do have a low cost quad foil I'll let most anyone try. Nothing to break and slower than a Rev. I like having the foil even though I fly it a small percentage of the time of flying a Rev. http://www.crosskites.com/cross-quattro I really would've like a Prism Tensor but for significantly less cost and how often I fly the foil, the Peter Lynn 1.5 Quattro flies well and serves the purpose!

We all know that's the furthest thing from the truth. So. How to change it? An interesting question. I've discussed this with the president of my dying kite club. My belief is short of an advertising campaign by a major manufacturer or the AKA would simply be to get kites in the hands of people. For instance if someone is watching you fly a quad or dual, ask them if they'd like to try it. Of course that is if you're comfortable with it. If one out of ten of those people then get into kiting, that's a pretty decent percentage. It will be a slow process although it will produce more fliers. Does your club have festivals? Have an area set up with some kites and some club members to help new folks get going. Another action that helps is as oapbillf mentioned above. Help those with the low end kites and it's possible they may up their ante into the sport. The best option would be for an advertising campaign of some sort. Regardless of the method, what it comes down to is exposure.

I like Wayne's thoughts on this. To take it a bit further, how often are those $5 kites flown in the proper conditions where the flights are successful? I would venture to say a small percentage fo the time. I like the web site Scott!

Wayner, it is slooooooow and makes BIG turns. Young ones could certainly fly it although I would consider getting longer lines to give them more room to complete the turns. I am not sure if I am going to fly the dragon. I did get it with the intention of using it for decoration. It's bigger than I thought when I got it home, it has roughly an 18 foot wingspan and won't fit anywhere in my current home. I will be moving in the future at some point and hopefully the home will be set up to display this beautiful kite. If not I'll most probably fly it. I need to find out how to fly this thing as well as get the gear.

Yes, three would be great. It was at the Cleveland Kite Festival.

Last fall Dragonfish put up a Gomberg 10' inflatable airplane kite. I was the winner and I finally got to fly the plane. I was nervous to fly this and was thinking it may be a handful due to size. Well, I was wrong, it actually was not at all tough to launch, fly, or land. It has zero pull, is slow in speed and response. It was fun flying it and I am glad it's in my bag. Thank you so very much Joanna. A friend and I launched it and both of us were flying it for a few minutes and Gary from Windjammers Stunt Kite Team came over with his. He said he had no idea why he decided to put his into his car for the trip down to the kite festival....lol. Both of us flew around for a while and that was cool, a mini squadron! Gary and I packed them up, I grabbed the Cross Quattro and while setting it up I saw another plane kite. I walked over and spoke with the woman. She made hers. Evidently the Gomberg kite has plans on the net somewhere. She said she saw Gary and I flying and grabbed hers to get it in the air. Shoot, I wish she would have let us know she was going to bust hers out before she started to set it up. Then we could have had three in the air. On a side note Joanna, even though there are no fish in this and it's not a dragon, I did pick up this yesterday. This thing is bad a$$. It's a kite from Indonesia and was picked up from an auction when a nearby amusement park went out of business. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but for the awesomeness of it and the price, I snatched it up.

Your thoughts are valid Bob, although there are some things that may factor in which seem to skew the numbers of sorts. Automated "spiders" which index all of Kitelife's web pages most likely show up as guests. These spiders result in search engine results. I only log on when I post, so more often than not I am showing as guest. My computer cleans up cookies, caches, etc each time I shut down my computer. I don't see the need to log in each time if there is nothing for me to post. I am sure there are the folks you are referring to in the guest count, but again, I don't believe the numbers are a true measure of those that come to KL to gain kite info.

What a great thread this is and will continue to be I am betting! I believe there will be a lot of commonality between certain people's stories as well as unique aspects to each.... what a tremendous thing. My kiting journey began in like '90 or '91. A close friend of mine had gotten into dualies and we were down at the park for him to fly and introduce me to flying. Phil handed me a Trilby (a small plastic sailed diamond kite dualie). He gave me the 411 on how to fly. I romped around for a bit with it while all the time wanting to check out his real kites. When he was confident I wouldn't immediately lawn dart his Team Hawaiian, he left me fly that beast! At some point during this time I unfortunaley bashed some guy in the face with the Hawaiian. He was okay thankfully. A couple other flying times down at the park and we headed to our long gone now local kite shop. I picked up a Kite Company Crystal which I believe Wayne has familiarity with. Within a year or two I picked up a couple more dualies and had a crap ton of fun flying them. Then Phil busted out a Rev 1. He explained how quad is different from dualie in how to control it and gave me the handles. Phil was pretty amazed at my quick transition in being able to pick up on the difference between dualie and quad. Evidently it took him a bit to forget the dualie muscle memory while flying quad. Another trip to our kite store and I had my first Rev.... a Rev II, which I still have and even though I now have five Revs, the II is still my favorite to fly. I picked up a dualie or two since I got the II, but quad is my interest and has been since I got II. Why do I fly kites? Even though I have been flying for a lot of years, sadly I haven't flown a lot of hours in a long time. I made a decison this past fall to make sure I get out a lot more in the future. Interests/hobbies are a way for me to move my mind from reality to relaxation. I've had numerous interests throughout the years and kiting is relatively inexepensive compared to many other hobbies. I flew rc planes for a few years and as SkyPuppets mentioned above, it gets expensive. Model Railroading is also expensive; I still have and work on my layout, but it is an on and off venture. As already mentioned, kiting is relatively inexepensive. Lay out three to four Franklin's and you are good to go for years with care. An occasional spar replacement or new line set, not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. My reasons/enjoyment of flying has altered a bit throughout the years. Back in the early days it was just plain fun and relaxation. Now, standard work policies have changed my flying preparation and the availability of technique topics gives me things to work on (thanks JB!). Back then I'd "prepare" and just get lost in flying, clearing my mind of reality. Today and the past bunch of years, I can no longer "prepare" yet I also have goals to accomplish. I no longer just go out and fly around 100% with 100% enjoyment. Now I also work on specific skills and when that gets frustrating, I fly around. With that, for the last bunch of years I get the challenge and satisfaction in leaning new skills/techniques as well as secondary - flying about.

If anybody wants to roll with the design I did and refine it, feel free and consider it your entry. http://kitelife.com/forum/topic/5688-tshirt-design-challenge/page-4#entry40427

Thank you for the info Marshall and Paul. I do like watching Dave's vids with him playing with people on the pier; yes Marshall lotso control for certain!

I am curious about the Rev DVDs that come with the Revs. I have one labeled "Speed Series - DVD 4" that came with my Shockwave and two labeled "B-Series - DVD 3" which of course came with my Bs. What other versions are out there? I would think the other versions are for the different models such as the B2. Haaa, I am wishing I never got rid of the VHS that came with my II back in the day. Has anyone seen The Kite Connection's DVD made by Dave Shenkman, how is it? http://www.kiteconnection.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi?act=prd&id=694

I was able to fly the vented for the first time three weeks ago BB. It's been pretty brutal up here the past two weeks Until yesterday it hasn't broken 20 F. with many days in the negs. Apologies JB, I meant to put this in the "Off Topic" forum. I am with you on the photo/vid person Wayne. I need to get some pics of the Karma Gomberg I got from Dragonfish. Definitely a couple of sweet Revs in your vid Scott!

Hi Barton Have you been flying down there in Tn. last week? How cold was it? How about everyone else?

Hey Phillipe, Here is a pic of how they come with the B-1.5's. The bags have been stapled to the literature on both my 1.5's.

MGower, You do not need to " I'm in " for this drawing. There are three types of drawings at KL. 1. Drawings such as this where KL puts up a tasty kite and members that are official subscribers are automatically entered. Once these drawings are done, John will choose something else to put up and once again, all official subscribers will automatically be entered. 2. The karma drawings. These are the ones that us KL members do. These are the drawings you need to mention if you're in or not. 3. Special drawings handled by KL. These are like the "Win JB for a weekend" or sometimes they are kites. You purchase tickets for these, so that is your I'm In for those