John F
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Everything posted by John F
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MAD Ben: I am waiting for the Mad Ben custom kite. Now there is an idea for a contest. Design the Mad Ben Rev. Keep up the craziness Ben
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Ant that is a very nice looking kite. I am jealous. The little boy there looks like a quader in training. Have fun
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Next up will be adjustable handles built with a twist lock mechanism. After all kiters like to fiddle around suboptimizing to perfection.
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I found a nice way to play with weights and learn what they will do to your kite. A quarter is about 5 grams. You take a 1, 2, 3, or 4 quarters depending on the weight you want and duct tape them together. Then take a double sided velcro and tape that to taped coins so that their is a loop side up on one side of the coin package. Then you can wrap the velcro around the spine maybe with two turns for friction and put the coins such that the loop side you taped to the coins is facing up and hook the velcro to that. You can put this anywhere along the spine. I put a 5, 10, 15, and 20gr packages together so I can test different weight combos. The nice thing is there is no disassembly needed and you can change weight configurations quickly. After you find out what works then you can put more permanent weight sets on.
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I fly all winter here in CO. I was out in 18 deg weather. The good news about flying a kite versus sking is with the kite your back is to the wind. I have never had snow or cold related damage. The only problem is when the temp is near freezing and ice builds up on every little thread hanging off your kite. This does not seem to hurt anything except that it changes the weighting on the kite. That might lead to a whole new set of tricks. One thing I do is the WOS if the tips get stuck in snow. My field still has about 20 inch deep snow on it. I think you could ruin the sail if you pull too hard to recover. One thing for sure is a kite sure looks pretty against a snowy background with the sun out. Get some thin gloves too. I also don't have to share the snowy field with soccer players. What wimps they are.
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Hi Wen! Try this link for one of his videoes: http://www.trickspartyusa.com/Videos.shtml Scroll down to TP-USA Event Videos, then you will see St. Augustine Sport Kite Classic — January 29, 2006. Click expand button, and you'll see Dave's video is second. Or are you looking for the one at Liberty in New Jersey? T I found this great video on YouTube. Great flying and great humor and great effects
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Very nice video. I enjoyed seeing all of the different kites. You really see the difference with the Itrix versus the floaties. Hope you do the translation on that indoor manual. It sure looks good.
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Discovered some new stuff again. I have been working on slot machines using the RandyG Tutorial as a basis. There was an inconsistency on getting the rotation when using the half half axle as the starting point. So I experimented and found the best setup was to just set the kite up by putting it in position while flying. Let me explain. Fly clockwise level flight just push a little with the lower wing and pull a little with the higher wing until the nose is facing almost directly away from you with the higher wing just above the horizontal. Pop the higher wing and wow it just spins a counter rotation. I think the same principle will apply to 540's but let upper wing dip below the lower wing as in flight and then pop the lower wing. I am learning a lot about kite dynamics flying inside which I think will help when outside. You really are close to the kite the motion is slow so you get to see the kites response to inputs relative to its attitude to the flyer. It is also nice because the sail pressure is controlable so there a lot of variations you can try.
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I fly all winter. The only problem I have is when flying with snow on the ground ice starts hanging off the kite. Especially if the temp is about 29 to 30. Pretty soon the kite gets weighed down and you get all sorts of funny things happening. Winter flying flying is fun. Love the sight of the kite agains the stark white snow and the deep blue skys.
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I am just back from an indoor session. I experimented with abou 2 grams. Tail, nose, and both. With the weight on the nose the fade dialed in much better. The tail gave some improvement but not as much as weight on the nose. The same conclusion with weight on nose and tail. I had the same results with my Genesis SUL outdoors. A little extra weight on the nose made pitch control much better and the fades locked in like there was an indent on the setting. I found a couple little aluminum bars about 1 inch long with a threaded hole in the middle. Used a twist tie from a loaf of bread to attach. It was excellent. Easy to change and held pretty good. I will use a tie wrap when i have the exact amount weight dialed in. The weighted added fades, cascades and put me closer to doing a decent 540. I also felt the tracking improved.
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I have been trying with different line lengths. I started with 10 foot. I found that easier to learn to keep the kite in the air. Now I am working on fades and axle type tricks and I find it better at 12 or 13 feet. At first catches were a problem but that is quickly overcome. I think there is a sweet spot on line length depending on kite and pilot. I tried 15 feet and that was not good. BTW I am flying and INak. John
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More on the half axle. I did my first slot machines today. There is a Level One video that shows those on a genesis in a series going across the window. Looks very cool. The slot machine is like a cascade in that it is started off of the half axle move. Just make the pop for the 1/2 and just as soon as you are near flat pull again to put you into a flat spin. Seems like everything works off that 1/2 axle move.
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What do you mean by slow? Are you talking about its response to inputs or the speed at which it travels. I notice when I fly up and over I some times need to slow down to stay with the kite. Otherwise I seem to be forcing the kite. I also noticed on 360's I need to slow down to maintain good control and even flight. Since it is the only indoor I have flown I can't compare. One thing about indoor flying seems to be the air flows in the building. There are a couple of big currents where I fly. Are there kites that are better handling these or is it just a matter of powering through avoid tricks where there are currents. It really shows up on fades. I am learning to compensate.
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I am flying an INAK by Sky Burner.
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The dart progresses. This is really a great throw. Today I started doing an extra wrap. The unwind is neat and what is really cool is since you are moving back as the kite unwinds it drops a little then when it hit the end it sort of jumps into the air. That should fit a piece of music. The next thing is to add a couple more wraps. Everything indoors seems to be touch. Just the right input at the right time. It makes it pretty interesting. I adjusted the bridge a little today and that made a difference. I noticed the kite was sitting back a little so I move the pull points about 1/4 inch closer to the nose. This seems to really help. I am able to move slower and seem to have better response from the kite on axle moves. I think it will help on the fade too. I would appreciate any comments from you masters out there.
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I am at about the same point as you. What I am finding as the easiest launch is let the kite settle onto its belly nose away from you and lines underneath. Then pull on one line slack the other. The kite turns and catches air and you can fly away. Check my thread on indoor kite tutorials and there is a lot of good info there. I would like to meet up with other indoor newbies and trade information here. There is a lot to learn on indoor flying. Iwould like to trade experiences. I am not flying a Wren but a Skyburner INak. That shouldn't make too much difference.
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I have been playing with the dart and like it. But I noticed that it is a good way to get into a fade. Seems as if you just pull on one line when kite is away and it flat spins 180 and stepping back you can lock it into a fade. Learned that from an oops so I got two for the price of one. Now if I can just learn to pull the fade back for a catch I can really start boring people with dart spin fade pull catch dart and so on. Indoor is cool. Liking more and more. Started getting 1/2 axels and now learning to control them and will move to cascade. One thing I am learning is to pick slow music to fly to. That fast stuff will kill an old guy.
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Just keep doing those half axles to the left then to the right then to the left and then to the right. Then start doing to left and as soon you can do one to the right and as soon as you can one to the left and you won't be doing the hokey pokey but you will be doing the cascade and that is cool. Then when you get impatient and are half way through (1/4 axle) pull both lines and you are into a fade. That too is better than the hokey pokey. Then you might as well go right to a flic flac or back spin. The half axle is a great move because it has so much potential. I also found that it really teaches feel for the kite.
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I think Prism gives the advice to use short lines to work on ground recovery. I think that is excellent advice. You can see how the lines are wrapped on the kite. You can use lighter inputs so you do less damnage If all else fails it is a shorter walk I put a 20 foot set and 40 foot set together. It is surprising how simple a ground recovery is on a 20 foot set and the transistion up to 40 is easy and then to long lines is easy again. Now I love ground recoveries. Hardly ever do a cartwheel put do a lot of fade launches, sleeping beauties, and standard two point launches. I find it is easier to get into a belly down nose away (pancake) position easier than cartwheeling and then learning sleeping beauty just makes it cool. I do walk on belly down nose towards me situations. A launch from that position seems very not nice to your friend the kite. The shameful walk is if both lines are wrapped around the same tip. Probably is recoverable but not for me yet. Key is the short lines so you can see what is happening.
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I have tried to go tothe Aerilis web site and forum and it looks like they moved or closed down. Does anyone know what happened. Hope they did not go away. They were running some articles on precision flying based on the Nordic mini routine. Looked to be a good set of articles.
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Bram I have a very amatuer translation of the article done with Babel Fish and a Berlitz engels nederlands Woordenboek. If you let me know where to send I will email it to you. It is in MS Word. I am getting a lot from the article even with the rough translation.
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Kingman, Arizona I found a PyroXS/Techno video on Dodd's site, they both look like good kites as well. The Pyro looks really responsive. While I still like the Nighthawk, I do have to admit while watching a video of it, it does look real "feathery" and I can see just from that how people say it can oversteer easily. Im sure I might have problems with inputs on that kite. Its just such a nice looking kite! So it looks like the list has narrowed to 3 kites now 1. Pyro XS - Looks nice on video and ive heard one person say it handles really nice and it would probably be my best choice 2. Techno - Another nice looking kite. It looks like it flys nice as well, though ive yet to hear personal reviews on it. Though I doubt ill hear anything bad on it 3. Quantum - Im still unsure about this one. Havent really heard anything much about it. The way I see it - If I hear good things about the Techno, Ill get that one.. right now my choice on it is 50/50. The Quantum - It doesnt look like I'll lose on that one if the Techno doesnt doesnt make my first choice. And the Quantum - Not much to say about that one. Its just on the list so far, nothing more. Just 2 more cents. I keep hearing about the Prism Mirage or Hypnotist. Breaks down small and heard it is durable. Some reviews say it flys well too. I think t is cheaper than the Quantum.
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I was working on the dart today and was able to get the kite to fly to the end of the lines but not very sucessful in getting the kite to rotate on the pitch axis. It seems like the lines are riding too low on the leading edge. Is a yo yo stopper necessary to do this well or could I just build up the upper connector for the lines to catch on. Or is the problem just in my technique? I might be putting too much input into the unwrap. Found the easiest launch is to have the kite in a pancake on the floor and to pull one side to twist up and out to fly away. Have also done a few fade launches from the pancake. But my touch is not very consistent there yet. I am having way too much fun. Looks like I will be able to get the gym 3 days each week. This retirement thing is really good stuff.
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My life is gusty winds or no winds. I live at the Eastren base of the Rockies. Gusty wind you learn to be fast on your feet and work in 10 second intervals. My winds are typically gusty and change directions by about 20 to 30 degrees. I feel pretty good if I can find a 10 to 20 second steady slot o try a trick. This can be very frustrating. What has been my solution is to try to fly with very low winds when there is more control over the wind. Get a good SUL, UL or indoor kite. I get my best flying in low winds. Here we get nice low winds about mid morning unless there is a front coming through. I spent the summer on the coast and it was like kite heaven. Got to try things more than once.