makatakam

The spars are on the front side for taking pictures -- one picture instead of two.

He who has made the most mistakes is the best at what he does.

My 5-slot Rev bag has 13 Revs, 5 home-made quads, 12 sets of line, 6 pairs of handles, 4 extra frames, a bunch of parts and accessories, 3 ground stakes, and I occasionally put a kite or 3 outside the pockets and just roll them into the bag. The Rev bag, as long as you don't drag it on the ground on concrete or asphalt should last a very long time. I can't of anything more durable with maybe the exception of a hard case. I think it's a terrific bang for the buck.

If you had tons of fun with the quad, then go with that. If you can afford it, get an SLK, a DLK, and a QLK. If you get the bug you'll end up with a lot more than three eventually anyway. Buy quality stuff. If you decide to get out of kite flying, you'll get back a better percentage of what you paid. Better quality = better performance 99% of the time; a ten-dollar kite flies like a ten-dollar kite, just as a VW does not perform or last like a BMW.

Hi, Acrop, and welcome to the forum. I look forward to flying with you someday. As far as addressing your concerns -- go to the clinic, period. I don't intend to be rude or crude, but you and the others so far are really overthinking this. Take whatever you have now and go. There is tons to learn from one of John's clinics without even picking up a pair of handles. Usually, someone has an "extra one" of whatever is needed. If not, then taking turns on one of John's "beaters" will be the way to go. Trust me, he usually brings more than one kite to the show. You will learn more in two days of clinic time than you would in 6 months of learning on your own. Two days of flying with JB will put you well beyond the point of just basic control, and give a direction and purpose to your practice time. It will help dramatically in dealing with light and variable winds. And please, don't take my word on this; call Cath and talk to her. John has a knack for teaching others how to fly quads and understanding how you can use wind to your advantage.

I had a Zephyr and liked it very much for low wind. I was just beginning to learn the basics, but I was an intermediate quad flyer at the time, so I had some experience with low wind and technique. The kite likes 2-4 mph. Below that, it's work like most others, but the 2-4 is sweet.

Hi, podenbeck, and welcome to the forum. I look forward to flying with you someday. Never been to Montana. Flying is a good excuse, right?

I only want the plastic bag and the label. Really. I'll give the shirt and the frame away when I win. Really. Did anyone actually believe that?

Way to go, @RobB -- spank it well.

Hi, Zendal, and welcome to the forum. It's good to have you with us.

I don't mind the store -- nope, doesn't bother me at all.

Yes, I have tried it once -- very smooth. I have seen it and handled it a few times during its development. The quality and durability of the materials and the machining go well beyond what one would expect. This is a serious piece of equipment and will last a lifetime, unless you are John Barresi, who will probably wear out the bearings in about 30 years.

Join IKE (Illinois Kite Enthusiasts) at ikeclub.org -- it is free, and we have members from other countries, you don't have to live in Illinois. You can send him a PM there. He is on Facebook too. Try searching for him, Mikey Devereaux. Sorry, forgot the x at the end of his name in previous post. I edited it to correct the error. If nothing else works, PM me on this forum and I will contact him for you. I see him a few times each year at festivals and club flys. I must warn you, the mechanism he machines is of superb quality and is rather expensive. It is his creation that John Barresi and the KiteLife team are using, and if you Google kite dogstaking videos by John you will see close-ups of this machine.

Hi, and welcome to KiteLife. It's good to have you with us.

Hi, DavidW, and welcome to the forum. It's good to finally have you on board. And welcome to the Darkside (quad-line kites). I look forward to sharing a field with you someday. Smile, have fun and don't forget to breathe.

I tried it for the first time yesterday. I flew with the club members of IKE (Illinois Kite Enthusiasts) which includes the members of Team 180GO!, which includes Mikey Devereaux, the inventor and manufacturer of the dogstake set-up that JB uses. He was using his for a bit of fun and practice and I gave it a try. He recommended switching the handles and regarding the kite as "normal", even though we were looking at the back of the kite. He mentioned that most people fly dogstake this way, because it's easier to get the hang of. I didn't try it the other way because it was hard enough to figure out what was happening the easy way. He said that not switching handles is much harder to figure out. It made me feel almost as newbie as the first time I ever tried a quad -- a whole new learning experience. It's exactly like starting over, with all the knowledge you have from years of experience, but almost no moves other than launching to go with that knowledge. I played with it for about 5 minutes and gave up. I think I'll just stick to flying my Revs normally so I don't look like a total novice on the field, and practice in secret somewhere no one is watching. Definitely not as easy as JB makes it look. I would say try it both ways and use the one that makes more sense to you. If you have very much Radio Control flying experience, then not switching may be easier.

Hi fliefish, and welcome to the forum. Would that be Portland, OR? If so, you have a heap of damn good fliers all around you. Give them a day or two to recover from The Washington State International Kite Festival (WSIKF), which was in progress for the last week, and I'm sure some of them will chime in with their favorite locations. Just remember that ocean breezes are SOOOOO much nicer than inland stuff, so even though I prefer to fly on grass, whenever I can catch a good beach breeze, I go for it. That being said, the most obvious places would be hilltops, with no obstructions around them. I really like gently sloping hills when the wind is blowing directly up the incline. Gives you the same speed at ground level as you have further up, a nice compressed wall of air. Ideally, any location should have 10 times the height of the tallest upwind obstruction in linear ground distance clear to the place you are flying in to give the wind time to "reorganize" after being disturbed by the obstruction (trees, buildings, other hills, etc.). In other words, if you have a 40-foot tall tree line behind you, to have the best possible wind beyond those trees you must stand 10x40 = 400 feet downwind of that tree line. Buildings have a bad habit of creating wind that likes to change directions abruptly, left, right, left, right, left.......... Areas with multiple hilltops create wind that rolls in waves, similar to water at the beach, with a ripple effect at some altitude that feels like you're flying on marbles. Wind is weird -- and fun to play with. Smile, and don't forget to breathe.

She's got it under control. Will be pro-grade by the end of the year, guaranteed. Good work, dad. Now go find some other kids and do it again. Or maybe she can get some of her friends interested.

55,001.

When two kites are headed in different directions the results are usually bad. I recommend at least connecting the nose of each, which will still leave some sideways wobble in the setup. Best bet would probably be to connect nose and both tips. A triangle forms a rigid structure. The length of the connecting lines will make a difference too. Too much and it will wobble sideways; not enough and the bottom kite blocks air from the upper. It will, more than likely, take a few tries to establish the ideal length. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Good to have you with us. I look forward to flying with you someday.

Hi, Mike, and welcome to the KiteLife forum. I'm not into powerkiting, but if I was 25 years younger I probably would be. Can't take the physical beating anymore at 65 years old. Good to have you on-board. People on this forum fly every kind of kite ever made. Smile, have fun and don't forget to breathe.

I'm in. I miss flying a foil. It would be nice to have one in the bag again. All the ones I had are gone.

Congrats Mikelp3586. Enjoy it!

Just have fun -- we are not talking life-and-death here. Smile and don't forget to breathe.