makatakam

Hi, Fiona and welcome to the forum.

Good flying. Your field looks nearly identical to my usual field, Busse Woods (Ned Brown Forest Preserve) in Schaumburg, Illinois.

I look at it this way. If you put it up 300 feet on light line in light wind and suddenly the wind starts blowing hard, it's too late to do anything about it. If your line snaps, say goodbye to your kite. A 100 pounds more strength would probably have saved it.

I know this is redundant, but necessary -- more brake. On the dive stop, hit the brakes hard and take a step towards the kite at the same time. This will take the bounce out of it. Try to hold the inverted hover as long as possible. When you start losing it, turn and fly away.

You don't even need an extra set of verticals. You can just turn the ones with the springs to face the other way, in other words, just don't engage them.

Thanks SKS65! There you go, Peter, that's a fairly short trip for you. And maybe fly a bit with the guys there. Definitely worth a phone call.

Hi, and welcome to the forum. The Reflex is just a Rev kite with a different panel layout and pattern, plus the reflex "springs". The springs change the flight characteristics of the kite. It will fly more easily in very low winds, and floats better in ground recovery glides, and will fly further out at the edge of the window. It can also be recovered from the face-down, leading edge towards you position just like a Speed Series Rev. However, it will not move upwind for the catch and throw trick, has a floaty feel to it and feels lighter on the lines, makes axels more difficult and is a bit slower overall. As riffclown said, some people like it, some don't. If your style of flying is "yank and spank" you probably won't like it. If your style is "grace and precision" you probably will. It is not bad or good, just different. It is made and designed as well as any Revolution kite, and if you find that you don't like the springs, you can just bend them back, remove them, or use uprights with no springs. The newer models are built on the 1.5 format and frames are interchangeable with other Revs of that size. Early models have larger frames that are not interchangeable. With the springs disabled it flies like a regular Rev. I have flown one of the early models, and found it to be a capable kite. I don't own one since I can modify one of the many Revs I have by installing a similar spring, and have already experimented with making 3D Rev sails. It is a bit more expensive, but on the plus side it incorporates many of the design improvements that were pioneered on models that are no longer available. Lately I have not been paying as much attention as I should have to know exactly what is new and standard on the newer Rev models, so please check with the company before you purchase.

Google the recorded wind speeds in your area for each day/month of the year. Choose the one that will give you the most possible days to fly. Ninety percent of the time, the standard/fullvent combo is the way to go, but if the wind tends to stay under 20mph a vast majority of the time, then a midvent may be in order. If you really get into quads it doesn't really matter. You will eventually have at least one sail for all possible conditions. The only restriction is how much you can afford to spend. At any festivals you go to there will be other Rev flyers who will be more than happy to let you fly their kites. It you can wait and try theirs you can make an informed decision, and the flyers in your area can fill you in on what will work in your area. There is literally a ton of active flyers in the Washington/Oregon area. Look them up and join them on the field. Also, moving the top lines further out away from the handles will help dramatically with control during gusts.

Do whatever you must to make it to BKF. It is one of the top kite fests in the country. You will not regret being there. Lots of people wearing silly grins. If I was as close as you, nothing would keep me away.

Try flying about 1/4 of the way up from the ground. Stop there and go into an inverted hover. Glide away as if trying to regain ground. With your dominant hand sharply pop the bottom (brake) of that handle all the way down past the thigh, and at the same time throw as much slack as possible into the other handle. Do it in light wind, or near but well short of the edge of the window in medium wind. Search samurai slide on this forum. It is the easiest pre-entry position for the axel.

No problems here. Have you tried exorcism?

Bottoms furthest out for now. Later you will use them to adjust for unequal lines. Bringing the bottoms in is equal to letting the tops out by the same increment. If your top lines are already all the way out and you need more brake you can bring the bottoms in. I have two or three knots in my bottom leaders for these reasons, but the same effect can be had by using longer top leaders with knots further out. There is generally no need for knots close to the handles on top, unless you fly a variety of differently designed quads. I do, and therefore my leader setup varies slightly from the "norm". Search and read the handle and leader topics on this forum to see how others have set theirs up and you will have a good idea of the norm.

I like messing with geese. They're not very afraid of people and cars, but when that kite comes zooming by, they scatter. One time at Busse Woods I was just hovering near the top of the window for a bit and a hawk joined in.

Just the front will suffice with the tape. Using saran wrap will only save you about one gram of weight, but will take 10 times as long to accomplish. Just slap the tape on and fly. Remove the tape when you pack up the kite. One roll of 2" tape should last at least a couple of seasons and is cheap enough that you don't need to be frugal with it. If you don't have to take a step backwards and pop the handles briskly toward your shoulders to launch, then your top lines are not out far enough, or the wind is really howling and you should be using a sail with more venting. You will get used to it within a few flying sessions. It does improve control very much.

It won't look pretty but you can cover the vents with 3M blue painters' tape in lighter winds. It can be removed easily and leaves no residue. The midvent, without any modification, will fly in 7mph wind and lower once you have enough experience to fully harness the wind's power. Lighter lines will help, but the expense isn't necessary. Covering the vents should suffice. Move the upper lines out a knot or two if you haven't already. It puts more wind pressure into the sail. Covering the vents allows you to fly in 4mph and even less once you have more time on the lines. A lighter, more flexible frame does help in lighter wind, but again, the expense at this stage is not necessary. What frame(s) do you have? Another thing you can do is to remove any excess weight from the kite. Once you have the sail bungees tightened properly, you can cut off the ends that stick out beyond the knots. You will never need to loosen them, so the excess can be trimmed off. Flame the ends after cutting to prevent fraying (the burning rubber smells really bad, so do it outside if you can). Anything you can think of to reduce weight will help in lighter wind. You can make or buy a Spectra bridle to replace the one you have -- again, not critical at this point. There are many modifications you can do, that when added together, can reduce the overall weight of the kite by as much as 3 ounces. Try covering the vents and letting the top lines out a bit before anything else. These should make a dramatic difference.

Awesome!

Congratulations, Mike.

That is definitely a colorful display. A welcome addition to any kite field. You will probably get requests to fly it at festivals.

Sounds like a lot of work. That's why I don't do stacks. If somebody hands me the handles, I'll fly it, but the setup and breakdown is more time than I want to spend on it.

Are you leaning toward rolling the sails or folding them? You might consider shooting Paul LaMasters a PM. He is a stack guru.

It will get easier. You'll have a lot of breakthroughs and "aha" moments by the time you have 40 hours of flying time, and will probably revise your setup and breakdown procedures between now and then. The advice you've read so far and that JB shows in the tutorials is by far the fastest and easiest way to accomplish both. Some folks prefer the method they have developed while learning for various reasons, others eventually migrate towards, if not all the way to, those shown in the videos. It's all good. What works for you is the method you will use. You may never need or even want to set up or break down in under 2 minutes, but if you do, there's the fast way versus all the other ways. As long as you're satisfied and having fun all else is irrelevant.

Yup, there's always many things to consider. Just wanted to make you aware of that possibility, in case you had overlooked. The best solution is always what works best for you. I pack "light" -- you know, like about 40 pounds. That's just the quads and field accessories.

If you don't have a lot of experience with duals, you might consider a more robustly built kite to learn with like a Prism Quantum. Both the Kymera and the 4D, although very well made, are not intended to take the abuse that a beginner can dole out. They are both really awesome kites, and if you get the hang of tricking duals, you will probably own one of each in the future..... Just saying.

Get on the GWTW (Gone With The Wind) forum and post up in the "wanted" section there as well. And welcome to this forum. I look forward to flying with you someday.

Cool. If you can, fly with Dave or check with him for locals who can give you hand, unless of course you're not having any problems. If you learn alone, as I did, it will take twice the time it would as sharing the field with an experienced flyer. Keep us up-to-date on your progress. Any questions -- we're waiting with the answers.