Paul LaMasters

I'd call your community center for tourism, tell them you're needing an open area to fly a kite, either indoors or outside. What do they recommend? Whom shall you call if they can't help out? Ask the Sheriff's office or the fire department? There's a park or parking lot, something in Houston you can use! Ask how you can get in touch with a local scout troop to build some kites, or a farmer to use part of his fields. butter-up some noses and make friends at the elementary schools in your area Volunteer in the senior citizen community, but always reminding folks of your one true objective. You want your OWN flying spot just for kiters!!!!! form a kite club, advertise that you are seeking a location worthy of kites and kids in the local environment

Almost every kite is more efficient and a quad-line backs up better (knifing thru the air) with edge binding,... now that you know that, there's a way to do it better still. Two rows of parallel stitches closer together is better than a single triple step zig-zag. The edge binding is easier to work with if it is cut-out on the diagonal. Make the strip 4 times wider than the ribbon desired upon completion. Fold it in half and drag it across the edge of piece of glass (or other hard surface) to score it. Then fold in each edge towards the middle and score again. It is WAY easier to edge-bind a straight line when compared to a curved surface. You're actually after hard ribbon 4 thicknesses in width to cut thru the streaming airflow, either smoothing it out as you pass by in Forward Flight or knifing your way past in Reverse.

next time,.... use the fabric itself for the leading edge sleeve too, if you want it reinforced, do that INSIDE before construction. Cut away the opening desired to create patches. It would look cooler for the graphics to wrap everything!

I make shorter sets (from older & longer lines), when perfect doesn't matter as much,... little frayed, little less slippery, a lot discolored, being hacked to shorter and shorter lengths is just economics. Shorter is usually going to be flown solo anyway, eventually down to indoor lengths!

I had one of his originals for a decade, it would fly from 2 to over 20 mph because you could adjust the amount of tension on the legs of the dragon. In low wind you can snug 'em up tightly in line with the rest of the sail, in bigger wind you can lean the legs way backwards and dump massive amounts of sail pressure. My first novice quad-lined competition I borrowed Smithy's music, signed-up on site and flew 1st using a Beautiful Evil Show kite...... and won! Rob Semblast acquired it from me,... number sixty something, I believe

Added 1 new hybrid indoor/XSUL crafted by Eliot Shook from Dave Ashworth's original 3rd generation design,... kinda' Blast sized quad but framed for indoors. I'm creating the bridle and doing the tuning/adjusting/modifications so it's "fun mission"! I'm hoping to unveil it at SPI in February. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212255614440399&set=ms.c.eJwzNDAyNDIyNTUzNDExMTC2tNQzRBIxMDC2tAAAfSIG~%3Bg~-~-.bps.a.10206887457319826.1073741834.1079141123&type=3&theater

Carabiner clip the handles to your kite bag if the tundra is solid

Ride it hard, that's when they are the most fun, put it away wet too, rolled up tightly, stuffed into an overpacked kite bag, never rinsed a kite or anything else kite related in my entire life (wait!, the misses does launder my Gortex) Will it wear out?, sure but you'll want a new one long before it does anyway! NEVER ever give a lesson if you are trying to preserve your new kite for your grand-children

I needed a kite bag made for some baby Ryvs, so I sent this sketch to Brianne Howard she could print it out and fold it up to see how I wanted it You can use half of it or the whole thing together. case two.pdf

when you can afford it "adobe Illustrator" allows you to specific Pantone Matching System colors (PMS is the language of color standards for various industries), apply tint percentages (opaque or 1/2 of one percent) and overlap colors (it matters what fabric color sequence order is on top) to see how it comes out. Vector Artwork is created. You can scale it to full size for a paper template ,or map it to a cutter, be it laser or a knifed edge directly. You can ink-jet a sail on a roll fed printer (uncoated nylon) or have it sent out for DyeSublimation process on Icarex marrying both heat and pressure for a color set thats' truly permanent (Spiro styled Rev kites are an example) I wouldn't have it except for the working requirements of my employment position. Worth the money? YES it certainly is! here's a quick sketch as an example, "dumbed down" to fit here thru a PDF squeeze 1.5_FSK_french_copy.pdf

Not my experience at all, low or no wind is a time for a longer handle (weight is also a consideration, more mass=tougher to change directions). Light weight lines are more flimsy, so a more powerful handle input overcomes some stretchy feelings, i have 17 & 19 (titanium, grade 5, tubes) for dead calm, from a "burka "rev2, to Zen, sul B-pro, to reflex. The 17s are b2 handles with a carbon tube extension jammed into the bottoms after hog ring was removed, very old school method from RecDOTkites Transition is how it feels, if you don't like "it" you change something. Ha, Marc our standard kite in DC is a tuned SUL 1.5 on 50#\100s with at least 15 inch throws using the lightest weight frame you own. Without this your probably missing 5 months of the year.

I visited my son over the halloween weekend,... down in Gainesville, FL Benjamin's kites: 1. home built Rev 1.5 knock-off,... my first build project, a category winner at Smithsonian Kite fest for 1st place in sport kite novice! 2. Bazzer Pro mid-vent with sticks and a french bridle on Race or 3wraps 3. Bazzer pro SUL with sticks and a french on a diamond travel frame or 2 wraps 4. Indoor Rev 5. a Rev 2

I'm experimenting with a Skyshark tube that both Red and black (50% each side),.. I've cut 'em down to 18 inch travel frame for a Zen (so it fits into the Orvis case) and found it still an effective no-wind kite (it ain't a set of Rev's diamonds though, which I'd happily pay 30 bucks per stick to get "right", alas they are only made left now ~HA!) I have some more SS 2 tones to try out in the 1.5 sized platform, just haven't gotten to it yet (those will remain a standard 5 tube layout for framing)

practice inverted flight an inch above the ground,.... the weight of the kite and balance points are better, easier with the leading edge facing the land. Get comfortable flying in this position. Imagine you are flying in between the goal posts and the soil on a soccer field. If your kite will not do this action it is tuned incorrectly or you are flying with feet welded onto a steel platform! Place the LE on the ground and slowly force your thumbs towards the kite WHILE you back-up with your feet (holding an inverted hover). Try to be light and smooth with your feet and only do a tiny action on the handles. You don't want to "over-correct",.. allow you feet to add or take away energy. Eventually you should be able to back-up to the top of the window SLOWLY and recover your field (since you walked backwards to make it smooth going up) coming back down again. Work on your glide, take the kite to the edge and pull on handle back to your shoulder blade whilst forcing the other handle as far forward as you can reach, turn your torso too, to face the new direction. your after an action that looks like you are shooting a bow& arrow. Next rotate your torso back to "neutral" and slide your two arms together so one is directly over and above the other. As you slide the handles together or force them further apart you should be able to "side-slide the kite vertically up and down. Pick a spot on the ground a lump of dirt or scrap of paper. LAND ON IT, swap win tips and do it again. See if you can land the center of the leading edge (inverted) onto the point of impact desired. Practice landing on a trash can lid,... when you can take away the trash can and replace it with a empty pop can,.... and still land on it.... you are one of us. Maybe that is an hour away or maybe it's 14 months from now. The quad-lined kites all about one word, "control", you make it respond and answer to your will thru practice and maybe also acquisitions (more models to expand your wind range availability) Get someone to assist you and save years of trials and pain. Honestly and experienced flyer can touch your kite and offer advise if everything is not tuned properly. tuning is like driving a car, you know , you can adjust the driver's position thru seat and mirror, as well as steering wheel adjustments. There's no right or wrong way to drive, unless you can't control your speed or stay in you darn lane!!!! Well a quad is the same way, you can adjust it to fit your comfort and personal preferences. A coach can teach you how to "feel" the differences and determine what suits you best for a given set of conditions.

sure, best approach to quick learning is to find someone already more experienced and steal their best stuffas they help you thru the basics

they're called "sand anchors", quite popular with easy-ups (i prefer those huge plastic refill bottles of Windex over basic milk jugs) When you travel by airlines you can't always take a decent kite stake, so I use the Orvis kite bag itself as the anchor point.

REI will sell you an individual tent stake, they make stuff just for sand (like an empty milk jug with part of the top cut off, save the handle part though) , and a carabiner onto it (fill with sand) A longer screwdriver (try a garage sale for on the cheap) Magic Sticks?

My first coach Jeff burka is the same, only his Zen has magic sticks, but he went all the way with a French bridle also added,.... making a flexible wiggly kite into what it should have been all along!

doing it yourself allows for potentially fewer knots (which are all every one, a potential tangling point when acres of slack lines are involved) A commercial version has to be fool-proof for installation. They incorporate a little 4 legged attachment point "spider" onto the back of the stick, so each leg is independent of the others. Some pilots use a slightly different version with only three string attachment points, (the connecting or bridge line is not applied so the wings are still fully independent. here's a couple of diagrams if you want to try it yourself. REV 1.5 Magix Stick.pdf Truss line & Caps.pdf

I remember the "clicks" when I started flying kites. My bride and I would help unload and set-up, then folks sat in a circle and didn't include space for us to join 'em. Some made and passed out breakfast while we watched 'em eat (after being invited to join on the invite)! If I wanted to try out a kite "it was for sale", but not available w/o a monetary commitment. Those actions had a profound impact on us and we swore if we ever got in a position to change it, WE WOULD! I go out of my way to greet and include folks, whether new or old acquaintances. I share my kites, water and lunches to make you feel equal and included in our local club. Blow us off a couple of times though and we get it, (we don't matter to you), so next time we'll walk right by with just the slightest head nod of acknowledgment, but we ain't stopping to share our time or conversational wit. Barbara and I are too old to fight, the easier path is to just keep going right on past the controversies. The friendly ones are those willing to share, the "clickers" have reasons that make sense to them. Most kiter folks are in fact great and the ones that we don't approve of will eventually figure it out. There's a significant list of individuals we simply can't support financially anymore (for travel, equipment, materials or consultation) because of their outrageous exclusive past actions. Treat people exactly how you'd like to be yourself and there's no reason we can't all get along on the field together.

off of the back is correct, .....the side opposite of the bridle and sail's logo(s) "sticks" alter the glide and allow you to risk slack lines tricking and almost always recover from a snagged line if something goes wrong. They don't add anything except for a "Clam-shell roll-up". Land the kite leading edge up, resting on the ground. Relax the strings' tension and step-forward slightly. The kite falls onto the sticks fitting, then keeps going all the way over with the strings OVER the back of the sail. To un-roll you step back to re-tension and sharp launch forward command to regain flight. It's four beats of music. More advanced? Enter the roll-up from flight by throwing a half axel very near the soil and then snapping the handles thumb input zone aggressively. These tricks are near impossible w/o the magic sticks. The roll-up from the ground is pretty effortless and very reliable when done in the center of the wind window. The sticks are easy to take off, if you find them undesirable for any reason. I laughed at folks using these for the first 7 years, now they are even on my indoor kites!

on the reflex models (Rx and Classic) you pull the BOTTOM lines to effect the catch, on the other models you pull the top lines Practice on longer lines than you'd use in a demo or at a competition, so the kite comes back effortlessly With magic sticks it doesn't matter if the kite goes all the way out to the end of the strings, anywhere it lands you just walk out the excess and retake the air like you meant to do that

easiest way to learn reverse/backward flight is with the leading edge resting on the ground. Back-up the kite to waist or shoulder height and then go back to the ground.... do that a few times Next double the distance traveled backwards to "goal post high" on a soccer field Get comfortable with the kite an inch above the ground and in reverse flight You are judged in competition on the "Quad-line effect" so if you only fly forward your score will always be middle of the pack or worse! Assemble your routine with straight lines, sharp corners and smooth circles FIRST. Add it cool stuff as the musical opportunities present themselves, only if you can do them reliably 85-90% successful) You are trying to hide the difference in speeds between side slides, reverse flight and forward motion. You need a powerful ending and open sequence too. KNOW YOUR MUSIC, know every beat, what you intend to do then and where is your next position going to be. Take graph paper and diagram your routine in five second intervals, flip thru the pages fast and make sure you aren't boring the judges doing the same crap over and over again. Too long of a pieces is more dangerous that short and sweet. Get in and get out!!! With all of this stated above,... none of it do I follow myself! I'm a soul flyer, I don't fly with intent, I fly solely for fun. Guess what, for about 4 minutes YOU HAVE TO WATCH ME! I seldom win but nobody has more pleasure than me either. Decide if you just want to enjoy yourself or if competition has become like a second career (where you must come out on top to gain satisfaction). Watch video of yourself, to see where easy improvements can be incorporated. Do you have high wind things to drop if conditions warrant? what about if it's dead calm, can your routine be adapted to both ends of extreme conditions? Or do you have two routines assembled? Some of the best fliers are gone now, burned out and doing something else entirely. Not me, I have been competing since about 1999 and it is still fun, like I can't believe I get to do this FUN! Decide what is important to you, but a quad routine without reverse plain and obvious will score poorly in my book too. I remind people at the pilot's meeting.... "forget about the scoring sheet, if you don't fly slow and with lots of reverse my score will be awful on you! Many times I see folks flying two stringed routine with a quad-lined kite,... they just don't get it and if they win then neither did their judging staff. Remember too, the folks judging you are the ones who don't fly in your category. SUBJECTIVE, do you fly for them or yourself?

always tighten the tops first, (if possible) otherwise you might just be pushing the down-spars higher above the leading edge tubes, ideally they should be flush!

Yes, eventually that (design master floral?) paint will flake off at the folds, it is a coating on top of the nylon not leached into the fabric like would happen with acid etch dyes and an autoclave on icarex material. Heat and pressure forcing the dyes thru the polycarbonate coating and polyester threads to permanence is the ticket! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3190280950800&set=a.3125872780636.2141729.1079141123&type=3&theater