Katrina

I have the into the wind 48" bag, too. It's great. And cheap. If you get it directly from into the wind you'll get the aka discount too. Durable, interior pockets, waterproof. No brainer if you want a duffle type (as opposed to roll up or hard case)

Mr Dowler was a very happy Fly-Guy when the wind dropped to almost nothing yesterday. . Congratulations on your new kite, Wayne!

Please excuse the cross-forum post, but you may find this helpful: http://www.revkites.com/forum/topic/5279-trying-to-get-permission-to-use-facilities/ Good luck!

Around 30 days a year, mostly at festivals. As long as I just let my hands do what they know how to do, and I just try to keep it airborne. As soon as I try to engage my brain (thinking about where the kite is in the sky and its orientation) I screw it up. Can maybe do one figure 8. Maybe. So that tells me it's not all muscle memory, I need the visual feedback to do anything that looks interesting. (well you know, if I had my eyes open to see if it looks interesting ) Think of how you first learned to ride a bike. You couldn't even do it at first, not at all. No muscle memory. You see people riding bikes and they make it look so easy, so why is it so hard at first? But then you learn, and you no longer have to think, going into a turn, should I turn the handle bars or lean my body, or both, and how much of each? You just see the turn in the road and so you... turn. Without thinking. And that's how it'll be with a kite. But right now you are at a frustrating point. The training wheels are off, but it's not quite easy yet. Believe me I know, I was stuck for a long time. It's no fun watching everyone else make it look easy.

Nice Cody, thanks for putting that together.

Most of the difference you feel is no doubt due to the vents. You'll always feel like a better flier if you're on a vented. Way smoother. That said, yes there is a noticeable difference between the b series and other 1.5s (exp, sle). To see if it matters to you, you'll need to compare kites with the same number of vents. I prefer the Bs, but you may be perfectly happy with an sle. Team 180 go flies on all SLEs and they seem to do just fine SLEs are better now bc they're made of icarex. Just to clear up any confusion, most people do abandon the SLE rods to the garden, but the kite itself is still called an SLE.

Was he tied down??

Nope, but I'd LOVE to see you try it. That would be some entertainment! . And the seagulls would probably avoid that airspace for a month or so afterwards.

Yay! If the wind's up just a bit, try race rods in the vtd. (not 4 wraps in the STD).

If it's a new kite and you flew it in 15mph, I'd bet those bungles do need tightening. And yes, you could use a full Vent for sure! Can't say it'll solve the the reversing/ bowtie effect, but it might help: Tighten bungies on the tips (trailing edges). Tight enough so that the sail lays flat, that's all. It should take a little bit of effort to put the endcaps on. But not a Herculean effort. If you see creases form next to the verticals, that's a bit too tight. Hope that helps! (Ps don't tighten bungies if the sail is damp.)

The good news is that yes, that will gradually go away. I agree with Rob. I think it is caused by handle movements that are more extreme than they need to be. You are telling one side of the kite to do one thing and the other side to do something else. <<Think small inputs.>> You can only reverse so fast. Too fast, and with uneven inputs, and over one wing will go!

I've got 2 duals, both blue moons. Lovely kites. But I almost never fly them. I do like them a lot, they are very relaxing to fly. But truly, how long can one be entertained flying loops? Huh, maybe I'm missing something. See, this is you with revs. (I do know there's plenty more to duals, don't shoot!) Yes you're missing something, but I wouldn't worry much about it until you get bored with duals. And when I get bored with revs, I know there's a whole dual world I'm missing out on, so I can go explore that. The vented is probably my favorite, you're not missing out on anything on that account. The social aspect is a draw. But even besides that, it's just more fun to put several revs up in the same airspace. Even if you barely speak to the people you are standing next to, it's more fun to fly that way. It's like dancing. Dancing is fun, right? So why don't you do it at home by yourself? It's more fun in a group for some reason. And then there's the team stuff... Way fun. That's similar to choreographed dancing.

A rosier scenario, here's hoping it's fact rather than fiction: Some people on the CoC either came to your festival last year, or heard all about it from people who did, and now they're really excited about kites. You didn't get a response out of them last year, but sometimes you just have to SHOW people what kites and kite festivals are all about. Now that they've seen it, they are into it, and they want to support it. They aren't kite fliers...YET. They will need your help to make this happen, but they may not know it yet. They've already blown it in how they approached you, but here's hoping your meeting today goes better. As for the site, I actually did fly a kite on that very spot last year. I just remember it being small, looks like about 100x220 at best looking at google maps. If the wind were out of the west, it'd be nice and clean, but with only 100 feet of width in that direction, not so good. Suttons usually have 100 foot tails. Seems like it'd be hard to get big stuff spread out enough in such a small area--lack of air space and anchor space. Revs would be on 80 ft lines, being careful not to walk backwards too far and fall of the cliff. And the adoring public has to have somewhere to stand. And what if they want to fly kites too? Which of course they will. Seems like this site would work for a family fun fly, but nothing much more extravagant. Have you been out there yourself? Alternate site at the adobe, all I remember is some nice stretches of lawn there, but tall trees around it, and in it too, right?

John is indeed on this site. :-) You'll find him and the tutorials under the video heading along the top of the main kitelife website. Welcome!! And congratulations on your new kite.