dragonfish

My pins arrived today. They look great. Thanks JB.

Not very far. I've never made a sport kite before and hit a speed bump figuring out all the bits and pieces that I would need to order. Then I got sidetracked by other things.

Congratulations!

I tried out using organza ribbon to make tails. Organza is the semi-see-through stuff that Robert Brasington uses on some of his SLK tails, but I got it in ribbon form. It's ribbon, so the edges aren't cut or raw. It's lightweight, available in black, white, and a variety of colors, and available in >50' lengths. I think mine are 2" wide by 75' long, but they may be 1.5" wide if I remembered wrong. HOWEVER, I wasn't too happy with their skywriting effect, or rather, lack thereof. The tails wouldn't follow the path of the kite very well. What I mean is, say you flew the kite around in a small circle a few times. I would expect the tail to spiral around downwind of the kite such that you could see the circles you just flew, leaving a big open area in the middle about the size of the circle flown. Unfortunately, with the organza ribbon tails, the end of the tail stays much more toward the center of the circle. The end of the tail doesn't "follow" as well. My guess is the material is so sheer/porous that there is some dampening effect going on and the end of the tail moves much less than the part connected to the kite. I also thought 75' was a bit long but haven't cut them shorter yet. I haven't flown with them much. Maybe there is some other kind of ribbon out there that is solid enough to have better skywriting effect but not too heavy. I haven't found it yet.

Exciting. I hope you don't have to wait for the right wind once the kite arrives. I must have been staring at a particular kite plan a little too much lately to know right away what kite that is...

Oooooh, is that a ........ Ok, I won't say it out loud just yet to give others a chance to guess. Who did you get to build it?

Nice! I like it. I would buy one (or two). Let us know when the order page is available. Thanks.

Hi Rochelle! Welcome to the forum. I'm Joanna from BASKL. Glad to see you here. Hope to see you on the field again soon (I need to get myself to the field more).

http://www.simian-studios.ca/kites.html ? It occurred to me to do a reverse image search on Google. This was the one matching image. He doesn't say anything about it being a custom.

oooooohhh...nice one

No need to apologize. I wasn't trying to say you shouldn't have posted them. Sorry if my post came across wrong. I wanted to point out that there may be more than what meets the eye at first. I didn't want DeafThunder to expect a single Rev I to be like that and then be disappointed after getting one if indeed those guys were flying stacks. A kite that will fly at 1mph will be a very light kite. This is usually achieved by using a very light frame. These kind of kites are often referred to as SULs (super ultralights) and are delicate by nature. They will break in higher winds. SULs generally have a limited wind range. Think about it this way... you have your mid-vent that can fly in 10mph to 20mph (no I didn't use your exact numbers, but bear with me). 20mph is twice the amount of wind as 10mph. Now think about 1mph. 2mph is twice that. 1 to 2 seems like a small difference, but it's twice as much wind. 10mph is ten times as much wind as 1mph! This is why it's hard to find a kite that will fly well in everything from 1mph to 20mph.

Hahah, nice pics. Let's not confuse the OP, though. The last pic and the comment about Lee leads me to believe the guys in the first two pics are flying stacks of Rev I's. A stack will pull a lot more than a single kite. DeafThunder, can you tell us a little more about what you are looking for in your next kite? Are you looking for something with pull/power? Are you looking for something fast or ??? Are you looking for something that would work well in a certain wind range that you don't already have covered with the kites you have? If so, what is that wind range? It could help with recommendations. You seem to be concerned with low wind flyability, high wind durability, and possibly an interest in power. I'm not sure you can get all of that in one kite, unfortunately, so you might need to decide what is more important for your next kite.

Don't cross out clockwork for clockwise. They are 2 different things. Clockwork (also known as clock turns?) are in place rotations around the center of the kite with stops every so often, eg. at 90degrees, 45 degrees, etc. Clockwise (and counterclockwise) are directions of rotation. I have no clue what these are ... care to explain ? iron-cross (shape ?) re-fuel, nesting, and pass-thru ? Those sound like pairs/team terms. I have more of that kind if you want, but I figured you might want to stick to terms for individual flying.

Ok, I get it now. You're looking for single word terms, not yet trick names like your title says. How about forward, reverse, inverted, arc, clockwise, counterclockwise, glide. Not sure if you're looking for things like square, box, diamond.

That's too bad you haven't been having any luck with your new kite. Sounds like it's not you; you've just been unlucky with the wind conditions. With dualies, I would definitely use 150# line when the wind is "howling." I start to get worried on 90# line when the wind gets above 10mph or so, though most of my dualies are slightly bigger than the Kymera. I would guess the bridle breaking may have resulted from the line snapping (some kind of damage from the whiplash?) and/or the collision. At least your kite didn't get stuck on the lamp post. Sorry I'm not of any help in what to replace with. No experience with wind shields or wind brakes yet either. I'm with Rob - fly Revs when the wind is up. Well, I started with Revs so I'm more comfortable with them regardless of wind conditions. Hopefully you're able to get things fixed up soon and get better luck with the wind.

There are lots of people on this forum who fly Revs (what we call Revolution Kites for short). I'm actually a little surprised you haven't gotten more replies already. It doesn't matter if you're a novice flier or not, you can learn to fly a Rev. Unless you've got some magical knack for flying Revs, you'll start out as a novice Rev flier anyway. Dual line (like your Quantum) vs. quad line (i.e. Rev) is a bit like skiing vs. snowboarding. Similar in some respects, but different in many. You don't have to learn how to ski before you can learn how to snowboard. Same with these kites. You don't have to learn how to fly a dual line kite before you can learn to fly a quad. It's possible to be a novice dual line flier but a good quad line flier, or a good dual line flier but a novice quad line flier, or a novice at both, or good at both. See where I'm going with this? Your skill with one doesn't determine your skill with the other. If you think Revs are cool and you want to do that kind of flying, a Rev is right for you. When I was introduced to sport kites the first time I went to a kite festival, I got to try a dual line and a Rev the same day. I went home and daydreamed about a Rev for a long time until I got one. I wasn't nearly as interested in dual line kites then, so I didn't get a dual line first. No regrets. Been having fun ever since.

Looking good. Not sure how I like the phrase "fly with intent" in the middle of what I'm guessing are various translations of "kite". I saw your earlier iteration, which clearly implied that all the words mean "kite", so I recognized this one as such as well. But, someone looking just at this version may start to wonder what all the other phrases mean, since you've inserted a different phrase in English in there. I do like the phrase "fly with intent", just don't think it belongs in that section.

Glad you had a successful day. As for the handles and leaders, a picture of what you have might help. You obviously don't have what I guessed you had. Leader lengths can vary a lot from person to person, and the ideal difference in top leader to bottom leader length varies from person to person as well. Where you hold the handles will play into this too. If you can, go to the festival that has been mentioned. A lot of things will make sense a lot faster if you can see others doing it and ask them questions.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I and many people always stake the kite inverted. When you do this, stake the handles at the TOP (i.e. the stake is between the top of the handles and the top lines). This position "drives" the kite into the ground, and it pretty much won't inadvertently launch. I would suggest trying this first. However, I understand that for someone's first launch, this might be a difficult position to start from. For example, if I am teaching others, I will land the kite right side up before handing over the handles to give them the best chance for success on a first launch. But if you're on your own and don't have someone to flip your kite over for you, it wouldn't hurt to start by learning how to roll the kite over from inverted. It's a skill you will want to learn quickly so you can get back into the air without setting your handles down. Your first flight will likely end with the kite LE down anyway, and if that happens to someone I am teaching, I don't flip the kite over for them, I teach them how to roll it over themselves. IF you've already tried rolling the kite over and are getting close to frustration with no luck in getting a first flight, and you really want to start with the kite right side up, you could stake the kite right side up leaning back, but make sure you stake the BOTTOM of the handles. Remember, if you stake the top, you are giving the kite input to fly in the direction the leading edge is facing, so it will want to take off on it's own if you try to set the kite upright. Staking the bottom means you are giving the kite the "reverse" input, which will direct it into the ground if the kite is right side up. However, this method is not as reliable as staking the kite inverted from the top of the handles, which is why I said try inverted first. Since you have an SLE, my guess is your handles have only one knot at the end of each leader (the short lines coming off the handles). Just attach the lines there. All four flying lines should be the same length. The handle settings from the factory are "gas heavy" meaning the kite will want to fly forward. (Gas as in gas makes the car go; the "car" is the kite in this case.) Eventually, you'll want to try longer top leaders to ease off on the gas and make it easier (and more ergonomic) to find and hold the neutral position. The neutral position on the handles is where the kite stays in one place. It's all about balance - balance between the right and left hands, balance between gas and brake. Any deviation from the balance point will cause the kite to react in some way. And keep your inputs small. It doesn't take much on a Rev. Good luck and remember to have fun.

Great event recap. I like how you tell a story with pictures and captions. Looked like a good festival.

Hi Greg, and welcome. I realize this may be a bit far for you, but there's a big sports park in Ripon where people in that area fly. It's called Mistlin Sports Park. Lots of sports fields. Sometimes lots of ball games too. There used to be a roughly monthly "Ripon fly" there, schedule permitting. I'm not sure if they're still going on since I've only been once (I'm about 80 miles away from there). My impression is the winds are also on the lighter side, so might be best to get some input from the locals before you make a trek out there. Not sure if they frequent this forum though; I can try to help if you are interested.

More dual line clinics...yes please! Hopefully with a little team flying thrown in as well. After my first taste of dual line team flying with you at WSIKF, I am now hungry for more. It was super fun. What will it take to get you down to the Bay Area for a dual line clinic? I should probably start with drumming up some interest for one down here, shouldn't I? Thanks for all you do in sharing so much helpful information with kitefliers.

Great video. I loved the synchronized axels. The matching sail design is also nice.

Yes and no. Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to fly a kite past the max of it's wind range, since you are much more likely to break the kite. That doesn't mean if you fly the kite a tad over it's wind range that it will instantly blow apart. How aggressively you fly, where in the wind window the kite is, and many other factors can affect if/when a kite breaks. Common advice for dealing with gusts is to fly to the edge of the wind window (e.g. up or to the side) because you will have less sail pressure there. Too much wind can also cause the sail, bridle, etc. to stretch prematurely and that is not good. The "sweet spot" in terms of wind for flying a particular kite is usually around the middle of it's stated wind range. Like jeepin said, the low end usually requires low wind technique, which involves footwork. The upper end, the kite is usually pulling pretty hard and you do want to be careful. A hard crash, even within the stated wind range of a kite, can lead to something breaking.