Paul LaMasters

drop all four flying line loops (from the kite end of the string) onto a well-placed stake or a carbiner affixed to a fence post. When you pull back the handles tightly, do all align perfectly? sight down the tops first, pulled tightly back towards your eye (like shooting an arrow), slowly give slack and the longer line will show itself. Adjust knots, or leaders, or flying lines, maybe switch positions of the flying lines. whatever you have to do! These handles when pulled back tight need to align perfectly. longer leaders (on top 200% to 300% on average) will tame the beast like a saddle and heal spurs to a wild pony in the paddock! Call flying smiles kites in NC and ask for some "hi-test bridle line" in a hundred pound strength from Cath/Eliot. In a couple of days you'll have an envelope in the mail to make the change. This change will make the kite WAIT for you to tell it what you want next ~ instead of you reactivating to what it wants to do all by itself affected by the wind.

a few have mastered the technique of 2@once but Steve has 10 thousand more hours than anyone else,... and it shows!

mine was rigged to quad-line

Ashes is the same Icarex sail material, only the leading edge sleeving is changed to 1.5 ounce nylon instead of 3.9 ounce Dacron. My bridle on the Ashes was the same 100# hi-test as the B-Series, although I have replaced it since acquisition

Bazzer didn't sew it for you maybe, but he certainly made SULs B-Pros on almost every model I ever acquired from him, from Zen to full vent 1.5s, at least 3 full sails and a couple of mid-vented models too, plus his masterpiece patriotic old glories (2) and a Sizzle Flame (1). I don't get the bridle, but sure wanted the SUL leading edge sleeve. After you know what you're doing,... who "drag launches" the leading edge sideways (inverted across the ground)? That is what a cartwheel does for you. Why add weight there unless it has to be done thru framing as a personal choice? Ah, but my first coach Jeff Burka builds his kites with thick Dacron LE sleeve and screening 'cause he wants that weight there, even his indoor Rev2 sized wings. (which he flies Up-Wind outside!) Nope, everybody has got their own thing and very few of us are willing to change, just so we blend-in.

It is a full sail, ... why modify/frame beyond it's intended wind range with thicker tubes? The rods listed above are completely appropriate to this most excellent wing. I use both Skyshark and Rev's tubes in mine, but I think right now (for WSIKF) it is a travel frame ~SS P-100 four pieces with two P-300s at the junction of the down-spars and top end-caps on the verticals. Verts' are diamonds travel-framed. Mine is that same color scheme as yours above in the ad. Black Race is a winner too, slap 'em in and spank it hard!!!

I've mixed fabrics as a builder, but it is not recommended. I've furnished Tie-dye poly rainbow and black Ixy to Lam for a kite too, the problem is the different characteristics of each (beyond color choices my question would be "why do it"?) Now a different material for edge binding, sure that is common. Nylon stretches better than Ixy (say you were working a large slow curved image piece) The nylon should be on a 45 degree bias folded four times (quartered, the outside 1/4ers fold into the middle and the middle is folded in half again with half affixed/butted to the sail, so each side has a doubled-up thickness and it snugging the sail. Do you hold it in place with hot tacking, painter's tape, water adhesion, spray tack adhesive, do you tape seam and then sew thru the tape. Back-cutting one side or both? different reactions to UV radiation, water, stretching, weave, etc. Ixy comes in only fourteen colors and it is wildly expensive, but so is a Mecedes Benz car when a bus can get you downtown for a few bucks. Still if you could financially, do it up right (you're adding your own value-added labor after all as a kite builder!) you could get a driver too!

bringing your own rain-gear almost always assures "not needing it" at all, there's really no bad weather, only a poorly-equipped kite flier outside with the rest of us!

nope, no REV history published from me, (John Mitchell maybe?) I'm considered a new guy in my local club, only owned one since '93. My friends there are in even deeper w/Revs, since the late 80's. Club 38 is free, their kites are not. Our club is free too, the kites and lessons come with the membership, maybe lunch if your arrival is early enough. Anyone only needs to show up to feel included and welcomed, we fly the first Sunday of each month at the Washington Monuments in DC. Everybody lives at least an hour away, there's no free parking nearby or otherwise, inconveniently located bathrooms and always street closures for special parades and national activities. But there's also a crowd to watch us! I guess by some viewpoints I am wealthy, I get to buy kites and travel to visit with friends and fly them. But I've worked my ass off to get where I am in my profession too. College education, decades of work experiences, doing whatever slime it takes to make myself indispensable at my current job. I live well below my financial means and have since meeting my 2nd wife. She runs the household money and believe me it's not easy to squeeze her! I get a daily allowance, not weekly or monthly ~ oh heavens NO! So, if I bought a thousand dollars worth of kites since '93, I've probably spent 10 grand each year so I could go travel. Does that seem excessive? Sometimes the gigs are comp'd/free, sometimes I gotta go even if I have to give something else up and pay my own darn way. When the misses travels along, she ain't sleeping on a prison floor just because it's free! No, we will do less festivals but do each of 'em up right when we can! We save for a whole year to make it work out. So this year our big vacation trip is to WSIKF, (23rd year on the kiting road circuit) it came at the expense of my bride's 70 birthday celebration (and 16 months later too!), we'd intended to go to Iceland. When this mega-rev world record thing came up she said we can go, BUT kiting is only for 3 of the ten days we are there. I screwed up Treasure Island, FL (not spending sufficient time w/her) so not allowed to go again as a constant reminder of my spousal errors. My financial luxury is quad-kiting, I have earned the right to do it exactly as I want to after 50 professional years of working and struggling to make the ends meet. My bride Barbara and I have both been so poor in the past, the backyard was considered a king's vacation retreat. We aren't ever going to be in that position again! If I couldn't travel I'd still walk to fly kites in the local park and chase the kids there. I'll drive up to about 5 or 6 hours for a good fest, thereafter I have to fly instead, which means less stuff for my pleasure upon arrival due to weight/freight restrictions and less festivals attended overall due to increased travel costs.

I've sent Revolution over $25K during the past couple of decades. Not what value of products I bought from kite shops, but direct sales from the factory. We have supported each other over many issues and developments. I own a few dozen official Revs, quads are all I fly. That said, their last "go around" w/me ended that relationship! I ordered 26 custom spars for a Zen, they were made the wrong size, instead of fixing the problem or refunding my money they sent a prototype XX and stated they were now going to provide a different diameter spar in the future as policy of business. I'm old school, I like what I like, heck I'll pay you to do it my way too, but don't jerk me around. I'll circumvent you in a heart-beat! I used to make my own kites, my expectations are quite high, my bride's money is quite green, I will find someone to do what I want. I will support those firms/individuals that make my life easier. A local kite club is vastly superior to any on-line experiences available, I recommend you incur travel expenses instead of buying and learning alone. Nothing beats trying out a kite for 5 minutes and see if you connect to it. A coach can correct and encourage, a club can share a dozen kites, each one appropriate for today's conditions. Tuning, framing and options don't matter, only how it feels. You pick the best feeling kite and use it all day, or switch off every few minutes. It's the best of everyone's efforts for you to test out. My very first lessons always start out inverted, backing up is the key to the quad-line effect, how to cart-wheel the kite when grounded. The kite is not about shooting to the top of the window, although that's fun. No the quad-lined kite is about control, landing into the hole of coke can balanced on top a fence post EMPTY. Club 38 vs Wings Over Washington Kite Club...... no contest! Our teaching method you don't even need a kite, they are provided if you like how it feels keep it all day. If not grab another and give it a spankin'. Someday, when you look down the line you'll notice you aRe nOt tHe wEaKeSt flier and you'll have to get you own equipment (and share it)

HA! no big stuff for me, no single lined or stacked sport kites either, I'm out regardless, all busted-up old guy who needs physical therapy and hurts every morning. I'm in a club though and we have every kind of kite represented by one of us, for indoor mini gliders to massive inflatables. Those big-guns are managed by a crew who run together, caravan traveling, lodging... the best-est of friends. One guy could do it alone, but a few buds make it so much more pleasurable. Plus you can tangle someone else's crap up ~ besides your own! Stack multiples from a common anchor area, above and beside each other. You can dig whilst we all bury! Lugging all the heavy show-kite stuff across the field on carts or wagons, again teams can push/pull across that mountain pass if necessary. It's a worthy mission! They have trailers filled with kiting stuff depending on the conditions, creature comforts are a paramount consideration too. They will all want to park close by and have access to the flight-area early, staying later than everyone else as well. six people together generates a couple of dozen solutions to every encountered problem! Run as a unit together long enough and you've proven or not each of these solutions. Team-mates help each other in times of difficulty sharing equipment knowledge and sweat equity

Old school was the Nail, cut down to fit across the tube's diameter and the leaders larks headed to that stopping point. Covered with the vinyl end-cap threading the leader thru the hole made at the top easier for most of us is the fitting of a plastic drywall moly and holding the leader is a screw (w/o threads running to the top, I like the trumpet head personally)

Quad Sticks and the reflex mechanism most certainly "alter the glide" which has a profound impact on the technique of catching the kite. I know this because the 1st seven years I flew w/o them. Now this type of mechanism is even on my indoor kites! Experimenting over decades has proven their worth to me. please form your opinions on actual comparison experiences not what has been shared vocally or online. You should KNOW if it's better for you or not. We're not talking a huge investment or modifications which can't be undone. Take you kite off of the flying strings entirely and simply throw it out there, does it fly parallel with the ground for acres of distance? That is the glide you are after, it happens by having a curvature OVER the leading edge sleeve, like a "Speed Series" Rev. You can tune or adjust this curvature, but basically when it's all dialed in your hand fits between the frame and the sail. This is the difference between a dinner plate and a Frisbee. Both will fly, one just does it remarkably better than the other. Say you placed both of them on top of a smooth table, then kicked 'em towards the edge rapidly. Which one will fly further away? Now we all know there are two sides to every coin, you get heads up you give tails away! Well dramatically altering the glide will affect your tricks availability too. One is super easy the other darn near impossible, the glide determines which one you get (and give up!) Want a killer falling leaf? That glide is your mortal enemy, it won't catch or throw nearly as easily with that gone, but proper techniques and short lines hide many a sin. Not impossible, but certainly not FREE for the taking either. in no wind you must add energy thru use of your feet, torso and arms, that means eventually you'll have to recover you field. Now that missing glide shows it's ugly head. You can't just fly high and let go entirely to recover 300% of the release point's height down field. Imagine what you could do with keeping a light grip and walking forward instead of freeing the kite from your grasp. Some quad designs favor a glide and some do not, it comes down (for me anyway) to which way the down-spars are attached to the leading edge. If they are tightly held/bound behind (Djinn, Phoenix, Freidlein) then the falling leaf is favored. If you can turn the elastic knots and washers such that they force the sail away from the LE then you are adding a curvature (Shooks and B-Series) There may be a design technique or built-in mechanism to force that curvature (speed series or reflex kites) If you fly a full sail or an SUL most of the time the glide is very desirable (you'll work less!) If you fly vented mostly then you don't need no stinking' glide, you want it to drop like a stone on your every command. Testing and tuning are very personal. Some like it gliding and some like it falling. How are you going to hold the knots and washers behind the sail? I used string to restrict the center point attachment on the leading edge, forcing the knots where I want 'em. your milage may vary but finding your own solutions is half of the fun.

Not sure technique to accomplish, just know I like it, call and ask, many builders help each other

it can be saved, it's up to you (Eliot Shook or Paul Dugard, I recommend both HIGHLY ~ proven over several resurrection efforts each!), it will come back as stock or as modified as you desire. A tighter sleeve on the leading edge? "A-holes" instead of mesh LE? Different framing options? All spectra bridle? covers sewn over the knots? wear strips? in perfect conditions, I can walk along side of the kite during the catch, grabbing it when you desire instead of when you need to, want to dash forward and catch it behind you back, or in your teeth, sit down Indian style and have it land in your lap? This is on a 100 or 120 feet, obviously I can't throw it anywhere near that length, but it goes out "so far" and walking the rest of the slack out regains my flight. (sticks hold it inverted until then) Practice on "longer than your demo lengths" so it appears effortless, almost magnetic. Try to NOT pull from directly overhead, try 2/3 or 3/4s, fully stalled, so the kite's glide will apex during your yank and then come down towards you following the other side of that arc. The further "out there" on the top line leaders, the better during your yank to catch it. A longer pull adds more momentum, use as much arm movement as possible too. If you pulled the bottom lines as violently you'd get a flick-flak or the beginnings of a falling leaf, (walk enough slack into the violence, WAIT, step back and remove the dramatically placed slack as the last possible second to stand it back upright again before impact with Mother Earth. I love this quad line move outside and my kites are beat unmercifully doing it, decades of practice to master it fully. I've seen a 3-pack stack caught indoors, that is totally beyond this old dog though Throw & Catch rocks! You're not getting out of the first round of "Hot Tricks" w/o it!

Indoor style short and 15 feet of line

I've made and flown others' efforts as well,..... kites made entirely as "no-sew projects" with 9640 VHB bonding tape by 3M. You tape and heat seal the bond (or weight it down overnight) with a crafting iron. The adhesive is made to adhere two pieces of metal together, or holding the windows in for a high rise office tower. The fabric will fail before that bond! Super light weight quads were developed back in 1999 by KiteSquid/Harold Ames as a cooperative project, to fly in no wind but to still incorporate the SLE tubes. He made stacks of baby Ryvs too (42 inch leading edge?avia spine single pieced). All this time and they still work perfectly. When failure happens, it will be that trailing edge though, ('cause just about everything else was reinforced for brutal throw and catch poundings) Again the vibration rate is different at that doubled-up fold over edge, seamed in tape. It comes in a 1/4 inch width, so patches will need multiple stripes laid down next to each other, where to place kevlar buttons or chevrons? Only a folded-over leading edge sleeve. You could make a patch of fabric (adhered with 9460) and reinforce the entire Trailing edge, but if I were doing it, it would a scalloped edge with deep curves of several inches coming to a point far away from that edge and then repeating along the line, big U shaped abutting, thereby spreading the stress crack vibration over a larger surface area and lessening the impact. Time is the great equalizer, this too shall fail eventually. It's the point at which it is time to consider a new acquisition, after the trailing edge has been surgically repaired several times that is!

Tape on the trailing edge is a bandaid and you need a surgeon, tape will vibrate at a slightly different rate, the fabric " next to " the tape will stress crack, fail and separate itself taping the taped area will buy you so more time, but eventually all must be removed and panels replaced the trailing edge is the first thing worn out on my quads too!

flew it this weekend/1st time, all repaired, replaced, realigned, totally fixed-up. Paul Dugard did a great job of bringing this kite back to life after years of hard use (that and 3 other Zens rode that way!) Eliot has had his hands on it too, but here's it's maiden voyage as a reminder of what this darn thing can do. I unwrapped his efforts and slapped on a new "French" bridle, retied the magic stick truss lines, .... I so missed that killer glide available free! Tested first on/or about 60 feet of 50# Skybond, then to 100#/fifty pound (tough conditions at Sandy Point State Park!) It is now a lovely shade of ivory cream white with new bright blue-white panels next door and a new, tight trailing edge. All the little stress cracks or wear points have been addressed, simply fabulous work for a very reasonable price. It's likes new kite to me -plm

If you angled the kite LE towards you in high wind? Nope, adjust ALL (almost?) of the forward out, so it doesn't surge angrily away, presenting the trailing edge I'm a brake heavy pilot too, square to the wind in dead calm, impossible to reach that objective in high wind, full forward command matters not w/o total control

Paul Dugard took on a mission of resurrection for me. Zen (#2 R/W/B) has seen Eliot Shook for repairs previously (too embarrassed to engage him again!) so my flying partner spent a few nights pulling stitches and replacing panels, saved my ole mylar backed nylon leading edge though HA! Bitched about stuck together stuff with crazy glue, sail-tape (he HATES that stuff) and nail polish, End-caps temporarily held in place with zip-ties (which have sharp edges and slice the sail when stored tightly). New panels will not match the old ones, but who cares! I'm excited to see the dead raised-up from the tomb. I've no idea what this mission will cost, he's only said "less than a mortgage pymt" in jest Add some knot covers, tighten the attachment points, new French bridle ready to install, sissy sticks and LEDs IT LIVES!

Webbing, velcro and pockets work darn well, things stretch, get wet or get deformed in flight, you can yank it back into shape( tighter or loose as needed). Breaking down is not complicated. Buttons, placed into the prussik knot slider, make shaping the sail easy place corner anchor points to affix the bridle (so it could be changed-out quickly, for something lighter or heavier/stronger) just a loop you can larks-head onto each point is sufficient. Plan for impact, where does it want to break, or "punch thru" those carefully crafted pockets, tear-outs, or high wear areas need to be addressed? A friend makes the first new design out of wooden dowels and Fedex envelopes, so he can see and leave the field with examples of the stress points. Consider a "Cascade bridle" if you want a larger wind range, some legs will be slack and some will be tight, regardless of the angle of attack. You don't plan to fight (huge weakness, all those legs, what a target they'd make!) Thread wrap the highest stress areas, (joints and fittings) heck paint the frame white first so it doesn't distract from your graphic plans! Assume someday you'll add LEDs to backlight the kite and night fly. Place that reinforcement piece now instead of having to rebuild it later. Spike Ball could have a strobe inside it, reflecting into the depths of the spin provided. don't mix fabrics (nylon, Icarex and polyester) and don't forget which side is which during construction, grain, stretch. Consider a half pattern template with the spine as the fold.