dragonfish

Great shop, but unfortunately probably won't be of much help to the OP. It is in Vancouver, WA, USA, not Canada. There's got to be kite shops with replacement parts in Canada though. Hopefully you find one should you need it. Out of curiosity, I looked up the Skydog Freebird and happened to see specs at the first link I clicked. It says, 6mm carbon, which I believe usually means pultruded tubes. SkyShark are wrapped carbon tubes - excellent tubes, but often more expensive and may not be "right" in your case. I think it's a good idea to replace with the same sticks as the original, unless you are intentionally experimenting for a reason. Weight, stiffness, etc. can all matter in a kite.

I've seen cling wrap taped over vents as a temporary solution. The guy used blue painters tape. The cling wrap is basically cut to cover the vent, and then tape along the entire edge of the cling wrap onto the sail. I don't know if this sticks any better than the packaging tape solution you already tried though.

Here are some of my pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/108873278673905697938/WSIKF2015August1723

Oops, was flying all day. Kinda hard to take pics while flying.

A standard and a full vent (what you have) will get you quite far. As an example, some people (myself included) have flown competition with just 2 kites - a standard and a full vent. For competition, you are expected to fly if the wind is between 4km/h and 45km/h (yes, it's actually specified in km/h in the rulebook and converted to mph). It's possible to cover this whole range with just those 2 kites, although it takes some effort on the low and high ends. I think you will be fine for at least a year with the two Revs that you have. During this time, you will learn what the typical conditions are like where you fly, and how they change throughout the year. You will learn how you like to fly, what you like to fly in, and what you wish you had another kite for to make your life easier. Maybe you won't know which kite in particular you "need", but hopefully you'll know what you're looking for and be able to get some help figuring out which kite(s) that is. Don't forget: have fun!

Awesome. I see Jim and Lynn Foster's kites in there. Soon enough, you and Miss Terry and Nancy will be flying with them too. Now that makes eight as well! (...yes, I just read your blog) Have fun.

And chances are several more will fit. When they don't, you could always get a second kite bag. There are two of you after all. Welcome to the darkside.

Congrats Nick. Well, bbailey was right. But, if the rest of us don't even try, then there's definitely 0 chance for us. Infinitesimal is still bigger than 0.

Well, the bug's bit all three of you hard. At least you'll be well equipped for whatever WSIKF throws at us. Got rain gear ready? (Does it rain up there in August?) Seaside's a great place to fly too.

It can't be a country song. There's nothing about momma, gettin' drunk, pickup trucks, trains, or prison. You forgot a dog, and a river helps sometimes. Nor Jesus nor love. But I did get a chuckle out of it.

I'm in. I think I hear that purple Micron calling my name.

If you haven't already, you may be interested in getting on the Rev forum and adding your count to this post: http://www.revkites.com/forum/topic/531-global-rev-count/

No, nothing wrong at all. But I wonder if I will fly it any more than you.

Sounds like a great idea. Who doesn't enjoy drooling over pictures of beautiful kites? Don't have any SKD kites, so I have nothing to contribute right now. But, I look forward to seeing the album. Maybe if this idea takes off we could make separate albums for other makers too.

I agree, there are those who make it look easy. Learning tricks is not easy. I thought I'd know how to do more than barely an axel by now, but I don't. Although, admittedly, maybe I haven't had as much time on two lines as I thought I would have by now. The darkside keeps calling me. Oh, and I can cartwheel....is that a trick? Nice flying Rob. I'm amazed by those who can fly trick after trick after trick.

Awesome that your wife is hooked. We're going to see both of you flying at WSIKF right?

I put my kite bag in the car when I went out today, thinking I might go fly on my way back. So, I get to the park on my way back, and I realize I forgot my line bag (also containing my sunscreen)......which I had taken out of the closet before I was ready to leave and put in front of my shoes so I wouldn't forget it! Well, now that I couldn't fly, I continued home, and stopped by the grocery store on the way. I get home and find out that the milk leaked in my car trunk. At least I put my groceries in the trunk where it is easy to clean up (I have a trunk tray) instead of on the passenger seat.

IdahoFlyer, you might be thinking scary, but I hope you're thinking exciting even more than scary. You might get roped into a line, but those who rope you into it will likely have been watching you fly and have assessed your abilities. Yes, definitely fly through the nerves. The worst thing to do is to not fly with others and regret it later, especially if you would have to wait a long time for anther opportunity. If you're worried about inadvertently tangling lines with others, it's not as bad as you might think. It's happened to most if not all of us. It's even happened to me on the main demo field at a festival. Untangle and keep flying. It will just be another story to laugh over later. I've been at WSIKF for a day before. I can't wait to be there for a whole week this year.

Just booked my flights. Getting in late on Saturday the 15th and staying through the 23rd. And thanks to JB and TKS, I have lodging all set too.

Sorry, a little off topic, but still on the topic of screen reinforcement/repair. If I do the zig-zag stitch, should I just run it across once, or go back and forth a few times? Wayne, how were yours done? Thanks.

Yes, that reinforcement at the vertical spar has always been there. Some of the high end Revs now have an additional similar reinforcement at the fold point. The ones I know for sure have them are the (newer) Shook meshes. I think some others have them too, but I cannot name them off the top of my head. Some people have added their own reinforcement at the fold point and center as well. I have thought about doing it myself on my full vent which is starting to have screen tears as well. However, I haven't done it yet and don't know if I will because of how I typically fold my Revs. I separate the LE sticks about 2 inches or more before I fold. It so happens that this allows the wingtips to fold over and just clear the vertical end cap of the other side. Maybe it's just me, but I find this makes a neater rolled up package. Also just a force of habit now. The reinforcement on my Shook at the fold is about 2 or 2 1/2 inches wide (I didn't actually measure it) centered near where the sticks meet. This means I can only separate the sticks just enough to make the fold in order to keep the end within the reinforcement strip. This leads me to wonder if I am causing other undue stress with the "tight" fold. The first time I folded that kite, I actually pulled the sticks apart as much as I usually do, and I noticed that the reinforcement (because it's thicker and probably also because it was new) wanted to stay flat. Thus, the fold ended up at the edge of the reinforcement and the screen, which seemed to me to be more of a stress point. So now I always make a point of folding that kite differently from the rest of my Revs so the fold stays within the reinforcement. Sorry for the long-winded second paragraph. Just something I noticed that I didn't like. So now I'm thinking of just doing the zig-zag stitch on my LE/screen. Edit: haha, must have been typing at the same time as Wayne

Woohoo! Congrats Karen.

LOL If I calculated correctly, John has about half an hour left to do the drawing "today" in his timezone. I sure wouldn't mind having a B2 to speed up my Rev flying.

Congrats! Sounds like you got a good start.

When I do this, I keep both kites flat on the ground, bridle side up, LE into the wind. In this position, the kites stay put on the ground and there's no fighting the wind. In more detail, I land inverted and stake the handles. At the kite, I'll stand downwind/behind the kite, bend over with my hands on the bridle side of the kite, pick the kite up by the leading edge, and push the LE into the wind. Now I've got the kite parallel to the ground, bridle side up, LE facing the wind. I'll set the kite down on the ground a couple feet into the wind from where it was, so there's a little slack in the lines. The kite I want to switch to gets placed in the same orientation, just downwind of the kite that's still attached to the lines. Usually I'll put it so the LE of the second kite is just underneath the bottom wingtips of the first. Now swap the lines over one at a time. If a line won't reach, move both kites upwind a little so the line does reach. Once done, slide out the first kite from under the lines and stand the second one up, inverted, ready to fly. The only part to be careful of is when sliding the first kite out not to snag a line. Hope that helps.