dashgee

May Fly - the Lost Days Hi everyone, May has come and gone so here is the last of our glides for the month. Thanks West, once again. for starting up this topic. yes, Tmadz, i really do take them with me everywhere. although Kelli was the one who made sure they made it into the parks. I had hoped for some more pics there with the castle in the background or something like that but the storms got in the way. maybe we will try again next year. No pictures from special locations this week as time is really starting to fly by. (really, it is) In fact i completely missed one photo op on Wednesday. We were having a family reunion and I forgot to get a picture of iPrey #17 while it was flying there. iPrey #17 has now been set free and has flown off to New Orleans to fly in the ballet. No, really, my niece teaches at a Ballet school and is planning to use it in one of her future performances. Festivals are happening and fun flys are coming up quick and while i enjoy gliding everyday i can't wait to spend a good deal of this summer flying revs and single lines. While we were visiting Orlando last weekend, i know Wayne was headed to the big Festival in Rockaway Oregon and mystainedskin went to WIKF in Wildwood, NJ so our little forum group is definitely covering the country and the globe. mystainedskin was on hand for the monday indoor event and from videos it looks like there was lots of good gliding on. we will be flying at the New Smyrna Beach Kite Festival this coming Saturday and hopefully will run into mystainedskin there, i want to ask him about Toothless the kite. :-) And later this month we will land at the at the 2nd Annual Gumby Drop on Treasure Island Florida. Come by and say hi if you see the little purple octopus. Happy Summer Everyone! -g May 26th - iFlite II Vented #81 May 27th - iFlite Fusion Vented #1488 May 28th - iPrey #17 (no picture) May 28th - iFlite Classic #1239 May 29th - iFlite Classic #962 May 30th - iFlite Classic #962 May 31st - iFlite Classic #621

May Fly - Day 25 iFlite #1490 flew around the locomotive of the train at Walt Disney World during a rain delay at the station after lightning strikes had occurred in the area. The air was still between storms and the station was empty so it was quite the unique opportunity.

May Fly - Day 24 iFlite Fusion #1488 was Flown under the Banyan Tree in the Cypress Gardens Area of Legoland Florida. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful place to fly.

May Fly - Day 22 iFlite #621 while relaxing at home. May Fly - Day 23 Flew iFlite Fusion #1488 at the Park View Hotel Pool

May Fly - Day 21 A quick fly at 11:45PM with the iFlite Classic #962. i flew til Kelli ahem-ed me a few times... it was kinda late and the camera flash woke her up ;-) There's something about the iFlites, once I start flying, i do not want to stop. Oh nice glider there Amexpmh! I have stared at those a few times on horvath's site (www.horvath.ch) The vent is a great idea i bet, does it help keep the nose down for a glide? My hybrid 200 is great , but sometimes i think it would benefit from a vent. When i spoke about wingtip strikes a couple of entries ago, it was because when the horvath 200 is low to the ground and i try to turn it back toward me, sometimes it will pick the nose up and then turn sideways a bit and that's when i get tip strikes. The wingspan is so wide compared to the height that it strikes the ground and then once it strikes the ground it will just crash. (so it's not a tip strike on trees or other objects, it's the ground! i wasn't clear in my earlier post.) It really makes me laugh when that happens though! Because the kite is going along so smoothly and then there is this sudden transiton to a crash. Like when flying the iFlite inside and it's on an absolutely gentle glide all peaceful and all and then a wingtip will just barely touch the ceiling fan or the dresser and you will hear a tiny "tink" and then it noses down and quickly spins to the ground. kites are fun. :-)

May Fly - Day 18 Both iFlite Classic #964 for Kelli and iFlite Classic #621 for me made for some nice mellow gliding. May Fly - Day 19 Kelli flew iFlite Fusion #1490 at a fountain on campus and I flew iFlite Fusion #1487 May Fly - Day 20 What a nice kite the Horvath 200 is. This is my first glider and my favorite. The best time i had with this kite was at the beach in about 1mph wind and the kite would just overfly a tad, turn and glide for 200 feet before turning around for another climb. Tonight's session was really nice and would have lasted longer than 20 mins if the bugs had not been so aggressive. The 200 flies really flat and is very predictable. The major challenge flying in the smaller space of the backyard is trying to avoid wingtip strikes. I look forward to flying the Horvath this summer at the beach when nothing else will fly. Happy Gliding -g

May Fly - Day 17 Flew the Wala and the Emong in a nice open space in calm to no wind. The wind would blow at times and at one point had all the Wala's line out like an slk. Someone remarked, "oh you finally got it to fly up high in the air!". Kelli also flew iFlite #1264 without a photo op. Later back at home Kelli flew pink iFlite Classic #857

May Fly - Day 16 Ahhhh Friday! The grass was mowed a few days before and it is already growing back fast but nonetheless it was time to fly. To the backyard with an arm full of gliders. The Emong gets alot of my attention. I am still enjoying getting to know this kite and it seems to act a little differently everytime it flies. sometimes it likes to circle a lot and not stay on a straight glide and others it really likes to travel back and forth across the field. It is easy to assemble it with the nose assembly upside down and i am sure i have done that once or twice. It also seems to change character a lot depending on how tight the sail adjustment is. And of course everything changes if the wind blows even a little. Mostly it seems to do really well once you have 30 feet of line out with some room to correct the attitude when need be. I like this glider alot. But wait, there's more... around 8 o'clock they were going to launch a Delta IV rocket from Kennedy Space Center and the skies were quite clear so we headed up the road to see what we could see from Lake Geneva in Keystone Heights. Now, KSC is about 132 miles driving distance from us, not quite sure what the straight line distance is but that gives you an idea. The launch went off exactly on time and it was very cool to watch as always. After the launch we hung out for a bit and Kelli flew her iFlite with the rocket trail still hanging in the sky. A great start for the weekend!

Hi Everyone, Time to catch up from too long a lapse in posting our glides. We have certainly been doing a good deal of flying but schedules this time of year keeps the pace going at a pretty good clip. One missed post turns into several in the blink of an eye. This is where the iFlite can really come in handy as even when schedules do not yield time during the day you can always find time to fly inside the house for a few minutes while sitting and relaxing at the end of the day. And that's exactly what i did for Days 13 14 and 15. May Fly - Day 13 iFlite I #1217 Vented - Blue May Fly - Day 14 iFlite I #1239 - Orange - Acrobat May Fly - Day 15 iFlite I #962 - Blue - Mellow Glide And finally here are a couple of pics of my little iFlite case made last year. It fits well in my backpack so there is always something to fly nearby.

May Fly - Day 9 White iFlite Classic #621 was the kite of choice Friday evening at home. May Fly - Day 10 Orange iFlite Classic #1261 flew inside on Saturday night. May Fly - Day 11 Pink iFlite Vented #855 flew on Sunday night for quite a while. May Fly - Day 12 An entertaining session tonight with the Pop Art Plutz. Gentle inputs seem to work best with this one. I am still gathering experience while learning to fly this glider. Hi Wayne, did you get your Urban Ninja from Horvath or did you make it? I really want to get one sometime. I'm thinking of getting Horvath's kit, has anyone else done that? I know the plans are available on his site for free. I had a chance to fly one briefly in February and it seemed like a lot of fun. Happy Gliding Everyone. -g

May Fly - Day 8 Ok, getting behind on posting once again.... Day 8 was a good one for gliding outside. Morgan, Kelli and I flew the iFlite II #78 , Kelli and I flew an iFlite Classic, but i don't have the number with me at the moment ;-) (update: Kelli says it's iFlite #1264) and then Kelli and I traded turns with the Wala. It was a good session and Kelli's first try with the Wala. We also had a chance to test out the new camera, a Ricoh Theta 360. Ricoh had a promotion where they gave out 360 cameras and we were lucky enough to get one. It takes "spherical" pictures and is quite an interesting little device. The camera certainly has its limits and the conditions were a little dark so I should have adjusted the brightness a bit but it still made for a fun picture. follow the link and you will be taken to their site where the image can be rendered. be sure to look up to see the two iFlites above. Hopefully there are better pictures to come, we will be experimenting. Can't wait to take it to a festival. -g The Spherical Image is at this link: https://theta360.com/s/EqY

May Fly - Day 6 Kelli got some great shots flying on the campus of the University of Florida. The wind went from calm to a light breeze and back again allowing for a little slk flying between glides. During break down a spectator stepped up to check out her kite. I got a chance to fly my printed rev on thirty foot lines in no wind conditions which was kinda gliding especially with a toss for the launch. I really am not that good, but the kite sure is. This was the first time I have been able to maintain my position on the field in low to no-wind conditons without eventually having to walk forward to relaunch. I need a lot more low-wind practice before I will be able to stay aloft as long as I want, but calm winds are a lot more fun than they used to be. Later when all was quiet i flew iFlite Classic #962 while sitting on the bed. The blue sail fabric on this kite seems much softer than other iFlite sails and almost flutters in flight.This kite has a very claming effect on its pilot. :-) May Fly - Day 7 A quick flight at the end of the day with Vented iFlite #855. This fabric is crisp and shiny and flies nearly horizontal making for some nice long glides.

May Fly - Day 5 It was a Family Fun Glide as we all got into the air just before Monday's daylight began to retreat. Morgan had great success flying his iFlite Vented Fusion #1489 making for some fun pictures while Kelli flew her iFlite Vented Fusion #1490. It sure seems like more than twice the fun when two iFlites are flying in the same airspace at the same time. I took the Emong out for a spin to round out the family gliding session. A fun way to finish off a Monday.

May Fly Day 2 - iFlite Fusion #1487 ------------------- My how quickly the days pass by. We've had storms and iffy winds but the gliders keep on flying! Such wonderful therapy while sitting on the couch. Day 2 brought out iFlite Fusion #1487, an attractive kite in the colors of the University of Florida. This one likes to spin and can keep you busy especially if you give it a quick pull. It's quite fun and easy to get some distance from the pilot with a quick spin at the end of a glide. That spin will allow it to climb and then head further away from the pilot as it glides using the energy from the height gathered in the spin. May Fly Day 3 - iFlite Classic #962 ------------------- I almost missed my perfect attendace record as it was a quarter til midnight before i started gliding. I flew for about 25 minutes so it could really count as Sunday's fly as well, but no need for that ;-) May Fly Day 4 - iFlite Vented #1217 ------------------- May The Fourth Be With You and all that ;-) Today was iFlite #1234, one of my favorite gliders. It flies very smooth and slow and pretty much goes right where you tell it to. Thank you Patrick Tan for your masterful craftsmanship and all these wonderful toys!

May Fly - Day 1 Hi Everyone, And we're back! ... Another International Glide Month, Excellent! March was great fun, so why not repeat the experiment! Thanks to West for keeping things gliding along! It stormed most of the afternoon here in North Florida but had eased off near the end of the day. When I arrived home, Kelli was already outside gliding her iFlite Fusion Vented #1490 in the driveway. I followed up shortly with iFlite II Vented #78. National Kite Month continues thru Sunday here in the US. Happy Flying Everybody, -g