Paul LaMasters

Speed brakes are your easiest solution, a little "rectangle of venting material", held/attached between your kite's bridle and the flying lines. Bigger wind? add more of these devices in-line! A famous long lasting dual line kite team is End of the line Austin, TX together for literally decades. In big wind they use a vented kite, hugely thick flying lines (300# test) and several of these speed brake devices together to tame that savage beast enough to create controlled team flying of figures and ballet movements. When you are a hired-gun you need to shoot to kill and be ready when that time comes! They have a whole trailer filled with equipment, crew and comfort requirements to make something happen, even in a dead calm or when the porta-potties are blowing over. if you want it slower, there are some solutions to consider. Shorter lines make things happen quicker, that's not going to help you out.

stacks of kites (during travel w/Friends!) are placed behind the sofa in assembled bags, ready to use. We just pull the sofa out away from the wall sufficient that everything like that fits there. Eventually you'll have this kiting crap all over deep and around your residence, ... just sayin'!

One? I guess with a few kites or less you could leave 'em flat, ,will that work long term?A rack of stacked shelving units, vs kite bags and sleeves leaned into the corner, behind a door?

honestly? I had more fun (as did my wife along side me) when nobody knew us. We heard statements like "what are you doing here?" Well we paid our own way and thought we could join you,..."nope you required to fly outside of the ropes, where the public is located!" Like I shouldn't eat in the hotel lobby for breakfast, where I paid to stay,... just 'cause you'all be there too? I've borrowed equipment plus music countless times, folks laughing because it's a ballet event and you win based upon your best interpretation of the musical score, "showing up the day of the event with a show kite(Beautiful Evil Quad by Joel Sholtz) and no planned music,... what's up with that?" ( I won!) We've paid our own way internationally, helped just like the hired guns sweating in the sun, (set-up, unloading the truck, lugging equipment across the turf, repacking) and then told I can't share a meal in the organizer's tent or their enclosed fields either! Broke new ground with establishing festivals (wife is much better as this aspect of kiting), getting people to attend on their own nickel, (a week long international gig!), then to find that after two years and six attendees, that they can invite a 6-man team who bitched and complained about everything they were offered FREE, ..... undoing all of our goodwill w/the tourism office. I've had friends help me, by explaining that THEY couldn't fly in the arena offered even though I'm the one dealing with the sponsors (Don't EVER go behind our backs like this!) We could have flown kites on magic wands (sticks) whilst eating snacks and enjoying adult beverages, knuckleheads! I've had friends complain to other vendors about the conditions offered for us to fly at the event, (like they'd care about the kiters and a sidehill lie) gig surrounded by trees, spectators crossing our field to get to parking or the entrance. Take your crap and go home dude, you're ruining a good time for everyone here. When I had no responsibilities, except my own pleasure (and the misses too!) Those we the days of old. Now? I'm like a wanted man, picture hanging in the urinal at the USPS. Folks want to see what I can do and I just want to make eye-contract with a spectator ONE of 'em and fly for them, just for fun! I'm old, I can't go sixteen hours straight anymore, not the way I'd like to. Someday soon, I'll be the one on the sidelines cheering on the next generation. Smile and share,... is that so tough? I didn't forget my roots and I will never become a kite clique supporter who belittles that next guy approaching us. Smile and share, we're all envious of someone else and we should just be happy with our own lot in life!

my understanding of that adjustment is about the stall (simplistic ease of application or more effort being required) by moving the nose towards the pilot or away from experiment, ... how does one location adjustment "feel" over the others? Only your own opinion matters! I'm a 25 yr+ quad-head, and completely untrustworthy for all opinions offered on a dualie

Does that acting gig scar me as a professional kite flier?

the misses needs to "buy in" to your new hobby/life's mission also. I will make things much easier in the future! You can learn together, knowing full well it might take one of you an hour and the other fourteen months to get to a stationary hover. Imagine you must land on top of a trash can's lid, with each wing tip as well as each upright and inverted too. You are one of us when the trash can is removed and soda pop can take it's place. The whole darn QUAD-LINED thing is about one word,...... "control". Thousands of hours of laughter & smiling await you two, together a formidable pairs group will emerge hopefully! Enjoy that spousal journey, I am envious, my bride likes the fancy single liners and those show kite fliers, cares not a bit about the sport kites. She runs our household budget, asking me to pay for something isn't reasonable (daily allowance, not weekly or by the month, oh NO), she gets my pay check and I need her permission for travel funds or a new whatever it is. I've been "on the road" for over two decades doing festivals and own about 60 quads currently. We spend ten times as much to go fly 'em with friends, compared to what we do on acquisitions too! We bought a home based upon a great shed under the deck, a walk-out basement & fenced yard full of landscaping not grass, perfect for kiters who are never home or have dirty laundry! Go fly with someone/coach/buddy, it will allow you to try theirs and them yours, feel each other's settings and tuning, flight dynamics of framing and sail choices. Explore different line lengths options, bring the misses along, get lunch for her and make it a great day (for HER) this will pay long term dividends, save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours ,most frustrated. A coach can look at you flying, touch it themselves and offer instant helpful encouragement. Correcting serious flaws before they multiply like an invasive species! Doing it next to someone else helps you both, they are forced to explain it in such a manner that you can grasp the principles. Each student is different and reaching them is a key aspect of success. What buttons work on them? Showing it and explain it (whatever it happens to be) is so much more helpful live instead of on a screen. You both benefit from the interaction.

Guy I know worked in the kite business, was contacted thru Hollywood, asked his friends to help him, movies are totally staged, .... wind and weather don't care about the plan, budget or schedule an interesting experience to be compensated for, a hundred bucks + lunch

Filmed us (10 initially) a couple hours from front, back and side , we're maybe in it 15 seconds after editing, around nineteen minute marker, I am on the Rev, Cosca on a trickNTrak from Premier super tough weather conditions, we lost five at lunchtime, including Lisa and Ian, continuity sorely lacking

the rev will do more flight-wise, whether you master it (or not) is a personal choice that first one will get beat-up learning, the Rev is more durable (all three will be utterly destroyed with a hard diagonal crash at full speed flying forward). Practice flying slow and make tiny movements to learn their effects FIRST "good lines" and a set of proper flying handles almost equals your total budget, compromising on these aspects is like trying to hill-climb with drag racing slicks for tires. Your connection to the kite is almost more important the thing at the other end of the strings! I wish somebody was close by to offer assistance, we all want you to succeed! EXP (That freilein is worth a few Katchup sandwiches necessary to justify the add'l expense if you choose to wait)

I am in, -plm

I'll look for it up here w/that guy,... thinking' I might know him!

My foam grips have let go/slipped a couple of times, ... fixed with two part5 minute epoxy

Kitesquid (Harold Ames) made this kite with Icarex for the US Navy,... only thing is he blew it up to 21 feet instead of sixty inches wide it was framed in one inch diameter Revolution tubes, 42 of 'em https://www.richmondairforce.com/Files/DTplans.pdf flew it on 12000 feet of 300 pound spectra to do testing instead of a helium filled balloon "skin"

Practice your throw with the kite off of the strings, your objective is flat, parallel with the ground and as far away from you as possible. Now angle it up slightly and try again,... where is launching too high and where is not high enough? Experiment! Maximize your distance. Magic sticks means you don't have to throw it all the way out to the end of the strings, just as far as possible and walk the rest of the slack out while the kite waits inverted on the ground, resting on the kick stand. Catching is usually done from directly overhead, but you've got it down cold as mastery when you can ride that catch up (from 2/3's height engagement) over the apex of the arc and gliding it back down to you. The less steep the arc the more skill by the pilot (or more heavily modified the kite to make this a predominate feature of it's flight dynamics, probably at a lose of something else like a Falling Leaf) Practice on longer lengths than you intend to use for your demos, ... so it looks easy and magical at crunch time. If 30 feet is easy then show me double that, still looking like a it's "your thing"? Ok, double-up again. I can catch 120s on a full sail and throw it about 70 feet. On a Zen?, in my conditions?,... well its the ending to almost all of my precision or ballet efforts in competition, even a demo unless i steer it to a friend to catch instead, sharing the glory, HA! In ideal conditions I can walk along side this catch and decide when I want to end the flight, maybe catch it behind my back, or run forward and allow the "beheader" whilst sitting Indian style. Imagine a kite that goes upwind with controlled glide, only in the most perfect of conditions, but magical if rarely known.

Watching the video sends this comment, "more brake is necessary in your leader tuning". Not adding lift for forward flight (by angling the kite's leading edge towards you), No you want it square to the wind so it receives maximum pressure upon the sail. That pressure you can increase or decrease by simply moving your feet. More brake means the kite will back-up inverted, it is NOT tuned correctly until this action can take place. Now in low wind you might "seem" to be hovering or even actually slowly backing the kite inverted UP towards the top of the window. You are walking backwards to MAKE the kite fly and do these actions, nothing is effortless in a dead calm. If the kite will NOT back-up, as it appears in the video,... you did a jerk-invert-launch to enough height to go forward and gain flight. I want the opposite of those actions. FLY the kite backwards, practice an inverted launch to shoulder height and land again, NO right back in the same location. Place an empty pop can or some marker (that you can kick or step on and not break a leg, ankle or wrist falling over!) Think about walking away from your marker and returning to it. Do that a couple of times and double up that altitude, still flying the kite backwards and inverted. Get comfortable an inch above the ground inverted. Master the kite's ability to fly backwards, slide sideways and hover stationary. All of these actions should feel easy, relaxed and comfortable. if you are straining and squeezing, fighting to make it do this stuff, something needs to be adjusted. The first adjustment if neutral flight is not already programmed in, is always to add down, not inches, just a little bit. did that improve reverse flight, it should be almost difficult to go forward. (an example? you are driving on a winding mountain road, it's snowing, the wipers don't work, there's no guard rails and it's night time. The front windshield has been removed so you can lean out over the hood and see if the road is even still in front of you, both feet are smashing the brake pedal thru the floor and you are scared out of your wits. That is how fast you can go forward flight, only an inch if you allow it to move at all. The kite waits for your command at a neutral position, you could hold it there all day, relaxed and easy. That is the secret to no wind flight. Keep adding down until the forward flight is an intense demand on your part, no wind surge is gonna get you! Imagine you have to land on a trash can, forward, inverted, each wing-tip. Balanced right up there like you owned it. Well you ain't one of us until we can remove that trash can and you can do those same actions on a soda/pop can. wanna' show off?, land that kite into the hole of that empty pop can, balanced on top of fence or sign post. We'll take your picture and talk about this amazing display of control we witnessed. ADD more down and keep practicing. This is gonna' feel so weird but sally forth, you can do it too

Frob, .... low wind skills, like anything else takes time on the lines. Managing your own movements to a minimum and maximizing the effort on the other (kite's end) of the strings, learning the techniques. For example, you "set" the kite in the low, or non existent wind and MAKE it fly, not handle movements at all, but engaging your feet to walk backwards, holding that pre-set angle stationary in relationship to the kite. You don't tune in more forward drive on the leaders, that is counter productive in low/no wind! No, you add DOWN until the kite will backup from an inverted position (you are very likely walking backwards to apply enough energy, to make the kite back-up). This backing-up will be look much smoother with feet applied too. "square to the wind, if you were holding a plywood sheet in a wind tunnel" Now you are well back from your starting location, it's time to recover your field. You can do it with the leading edge vertical, imagine you were shooting an arrow from your English long-bow, one arm punched way forward and the other drawn back all the way to your shoulder. Notice how that feels more comfortable if your torso is facing left and the LE is facing right? (than squared-up shoulders). You pull the bottom wing and swing it over the top of the original height wing, a tip rotation, done with authority too, powering it up and over, then alternate and do it again the other way. Climbing the ladder. Leaning or laying out the kite, parallel with the ground to maximize those floating capabilities when possible. Easier still is the LE facing down field recovery, remember all the Reverse you have tuned into the leaders? Well now is the time for it to be empowered and set free. Fly as high upright as you can and turn the LE down towards the ground, how fast you decent is a measure of gliding capabilities on your kite COMBINED with the pilot's mastery of angling the handles either more or less to control that decent. Descending as you walk forward. A well tuned glide should recover the field if you completely release the handles entirely,... aLL by ITsElF!!! 80 feet of height should net you about 240 feet of field recovery! Don't tell me you can't recover your field, the kite does it without you! Indoor or no wind kites are delicate, you can't just slam them around or things go seriously wrong. How much flexibility to fill the sail with energy?, how much stiffness so the kite tracks a straight line when told to? Flying alone allows more bend and a lighter weight overall, flying team you suddenly find you kite won't turn on it's wingtip, only centered rotations due to all the LE flex. You don't match-up with the others, add some weight and stiffness back in there!!! Longer throw handles lessen the effort necessary by the pilot in low wind, (they have an opposite effect in high wind, unnecessarily torquing your wrists, uncomfortable by the end of the day). Swing your short handles fully forward and back and examine how far the bottom leader travels. Now imagine if all of the braking action could be significantly increased. You'd work less and the kite could still dance thru slack line tricks! Lighter weight lines means less drag, but also less connection to the kite, they seem/feel more stretchy in flight. We use 50lbs/100 foot frequently at the Washington Monument and I have a set of 60 footers too. 100# is for those locations where little bits of crap stick up and snag you lines on the ground. When you just want to just yank it out, instead of walk up there and unhook it. Indoors is more personal, some like it not tangled (thicker) and some want it lighter (thin string) Take the indoor skills outside. You can't stand stationary, but that doesn't 't mean you need to run 360s perpetually either. Know you equipment, what can you change and put back again, just as an experiment? Did the test help your low wind skills improve or add anything? I moved from Chicago (by Busse woods/Schaumburg) to Ft. Lauderdale (Plantation) , then to Washington DC (Germantown). Upon arrival in the nation's capitol I found out NONE of my kites would even fly here. I watched others and drooled, finally joined kite club, eventually became an officer, still remember the first time someone asked me for advise (turned around to see who was actually being spoken to). Worked for 2-1/2 decades on my low/no wind skills, practice flying and testing modifications as direct comparisons with friends. Now I have the skills and tools necessary to make no wind my preference for conditions. When you go someplace and complain about the lack of wind, just know that not everyone feels that same sentiment, I want that first demo, I'll take mystery ballet too, I am ready, put me in next, no NOW! Work on your weaknesses, enjoy the journey of discovery too, it never ends. Someone is always better than you and somebody else looks up to you, share the field with everyone and don't let FUN interfere with the public's safety. Chase kids when you own your hover and approach their moms slowly and respectfully. Make eye contract and insure they are okay with your antics. It only takes one complaint to ruin all of our fun. Don't be THAT guy!

A night lighted-up special! (with a set of Mario/Lindsay LEDs affixed) here is Mario indoors at the convention center on South Padre Island, he WoWed the crowd and fellow performers alike!

Clam-shell roll-up is a technique applied on the ground, (in the beginning). It is not flying. you land the kite leading edge up, directly downwind. You step forward towards the kite as you lunge your handles forward,.... all in unison, this new found slack allows the kite to fall backwards onto the magic stick end-caps. If sufficient slack was provided, the kite will keep right on going all the way around until the strings come over the front of the trailing edge. it is rolled-up into the strings! to undo it, you step backwards aggressively as you yank the handles back towards your hips (together!). It will unroll itself from the lines and snap back to upright, ready to take off again. Now you've got style, so you know it's actually four beats of music timed to this technique. Land, roll-up, unroll, relaunch. Time to engage "crew", as the high risk is if all of the flying lines do NOT fall into the center of the kite sail (the center V) or all of 'em don't fall to the outside of the down spars. All have to be the same way, either inside the down-spars (preferred) or outside. Your crew needs to be ready as a tangle is gonna' happen if it's a mix of inside AND outside the down-spars. So you've mastered this technique (it is foolishly easy if everything is right with the length & location of the magic sticks), so do you START your routine with this high risk maneuver, or play it safe and END with it? You now own this trick to such an extent that you can throw a flat and super slow axel inches above the ground FIRST, and when it's gets half way around (leading edge is now facing you) you lunge at the kite and snap the handles aggressively (done together) to create the Roll-up from off of the ground! oh boy, now you're a bad motor scooter

Have a few things you can "throw in" as necessary. 45 seconds in for Back to the Future to begin Everyone does 180 turns up the center, "climbing the ladder", .... so I do 'em in reverse I've probably got a stop sign in reverse too, (the Octagon from precision figures), whereas lots of folks do a diamond pattern flown all forward included someplace. I've got a clam-shell roll-up as a kite with magic sticks GIVES you this technique free. I've got an axel, the lower the wind the slower I can effect it. On the Zen it is timed with a sundial and changes lanes, morphing from a half axel (or a stationary held-fade) to a clam-shell or wrapping all the way around to come back out inverted completing the axel rotation. I've got a throw & catch, but I've been working on it for 20 years. Start close to the kite and work your way up to longer and longer lengths. if you can catch 120's you KNOW you can demo 90 feet successfully. If you can throw it 70 feet you KNOW you can do fifty like magnetism, complete reliability, effortless. I've made extensive modifications to my kites to get this killer glide (live in the land of no wind, a glide is essential to recover your field). B-Series & Speed series kites OWN this technique. Make the kite walk, heck you don't even fly doing this trick! You Gotta' own this for kids around the world. I've got an axel, but I do it way better towards my right than from the center out to the left (I'm left handed, go figure!). I can do half axels and gain ground at the same time in no wind. I've got a flick-flak (super reliable) but the French Bridle gives those away free, it comes out of it all by itself too, not secondary jerk is necessary. Depending on the kite, I can do a Falling Leaf,... now you don't want that killer glide built into the leading edge, as it forces the kite into recovery mode and you want it to drop like a stone from on high! (Djinn, or Phoenix OWN it) Everybody has a dive/stop, .... where are you gonna put it so it belongs there? You ought to be able to do a bike-roll across the window, if not practice HOW SLOW you can go and it will come to you I try to hide the differences in speed when possible, the kites go faster inverted than side-sliding, and it goes faster still in forward compared to any other orientation. Don't allow the public to figure out the kite's preferred direction of travel. Smile and make eye contact with the witnesses to your activities!

nope, at least not from me..... surely everyone's best performances were missed on video. I'm never happy seeing my own efforts, my bride has repeatedly told me I've embarrassed "our family",.... or "what was up with that crap?". Wrong kite, wrong line lengths, missing my props for freestyle (OIOU), didn't use the right music for the conditions (do YOU have a slow indoor song & fast one for booking winds outside?) Feeling the performance is so much more rewarding than a score, at least to me. Many of my best efforts resulted in a disqualification for flying over the crowd, a judging station or completely out of bounds. High risk beats tight precision EVERY TIME on my score sheet! What'chew got for us?!?? The best performances I've seen have taped themselves and watching the tape CAN/ and SHOULD improve you own efforts. You're not supposed to watch the flyer in competition, only the kite. Heck I'm as much of a show as that darn wing though, just another reason demos are more fun than a structured environment! Demos allow you to screw around with your friends, including them or cutting in on each others time, stealing the handles, or sneaking under to grab THEIR catch! Passing off the handles between pilots or sharing one in each hand. Jumping over each other or laying on the ground doing antics. Not knowing what comes next is the TRUE excitement for me, it comes out in the performance but it will not win a competition. I surely enjoy a demo though, I'd like to go first and fly in no wind too, really show you what I've worked on for over 25 years.

I've heard to diagram your routine in 5 second intervals on graph paper,... you can flip thru and see it all, nothing repeated!... what can you fly w5secs? A precision figure takes about 40-45 seconds ive seen a performances where the music was assembled /edited to match the routine, 1,000 edits in a three minute musical piece i am NEVER doing anything like that, they care way more than me, taking fun crap and making it a sweaty career, welcome to the victory lap champ! you get out what you put in, mine overflows with fun, professionalism is sorely lacking dozens of years later, I'm still out there, where are those guys working their tail feathers off, GONE, on to newer challenges. What do you come back for, if you've already accomplished it all? Every time you get a score, it's perfect! There's nothing left to challenge,.... there are more people gone than still around, hence the demise of the Eastern League.

Too much credit given to guy who makes it up on site. Frob I don't think about the music, ( back to the future is an outdoor song!) certainly no pre-planned movements . nope I simply let loose and watch the crowd's reaction. Dave's original design almost flies itself, so no hard work by pilot, it glides down a wall unattended too, so trying to include that ending seems reasonable. The crowd occupies all of the wall surfaces, so I'm forced to throw the handles over their heads once contact is made. All the antics in the world won't cure a dangerous safety violation! I understand you want advise to improve,... well here's mine, be yourself with kites. Are you organized, great use that. Me? Heck no! Loose as a deck of cards in the wind, I can't apply organization, it is against everything I stand for! i am lazy, don't edit music, plan corrography, even maintenance on my wings is neglected, been described as the Charles Barkley of kiting (not a positive role model.) i am exceptionally gifted at fun, like a double PHd in it! Spectators like a friendly smile, indoors is intimate with the folks, pick one individual and focus/fly for them. A kid, cute gal, special needs individual, not someone you know. work your strengths and be yourself, listen to your music, know it well, don't follow my example, I am everything wrong with kiting!

I compete, have since 1999...... but that doesn't mean I care about how I do. I just want everyone to have the same opportunities I've experienced. See what's being done, and how. Anything I can take and make my own? Is the thing I'm after "equipment specific"?,... if so what's different, that allows this thing to take place at all? I have music, but it's the same ole crap I've had for over a decade. Honestly I do better just pulling a rabbit out of a hat (sound tent chooses). I don't usually win, only if the conditions are beyond the legal limits of competition (MMB is 3-18 mph I believe). I'm awesome under a dead calm or if the portas-potties are blowing over (under 2 mph or over 28) I've got a few things I've practiced for years to throw in,... as the music fits,..... be they precision moves or slack lined tricks. A winning routine is built on straight lines, tight corners and clearly recognizable circles. The rest of your routine has to fit and belong where you put it! On the East coast you will not receive a good score if you fly a quad with two string fitting music and flight style (almost all forward and fast). Here the quad line effect is king, you better show me what that kite can do and do so tight. 15% side slides and full hovers are possible with a dually, upright or inverted. SHOW ME quad effect, back that pig up, slide diagonally and make it match your music. Are your tricks balanced (if you can only do it one way then you can't do it yet!) across the window? Do you use the window's edge, where others can't fly at all? What separated you from all others, technique, music, equipment, routine, fashion statements? Competition has taught me so much, new friends and new techniques. Everyone should have the same opportunity that was offered me. There are plenty of things to complain about during a competition too. foremost, you WATCH more than you get to actually fly. Still it's worth it to me. What is everyone else doing?, well I'm not going to do it and that's for sure! But sharing the tricks of the trade conversations, those friendships established even the ribbing that takes place before, during and afterwards. The newest, coolest stuff will be on display with somebody wiling to let you try it out! Given a choice, I will always team-fly the last position, I prefer inverted, and occasionally I've been known to see and give chase to a squirrel too!

I'm in and wish me luck!