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websherpa

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  1. websherpa

    E-cigs ? Vaping ?

    I was hoping this was a post about using e-sigs to create vapor trails while flying kites... Anyone do anything like this? To address the issue at hand thanks for sharing the information. As a non-smoker I hadn't put much thought into the issue. Sounds like the e-cigs can play a really positive role in folks lives. Congrats on the health improvements all...
  2. Has anyone flown commercially with a kite in a carry on piece of luggage? I don't know if I will have a chance to fly it so it's not worth the check baggage fee. Kite will be broken down along the leading edge to fit in rolling luggage. Carbon frame with dynema line on plastic winders.
  3. Any hilltop meadows? Even in bad areas there can be a few sweet spots.
  4. Is this your first dual line? I feel like it took me 40+ hours to really get a feel for flying at the bottom of the wind range and I still struggle as my stalls aren't as stable as they could be. If you feel like you can fly other kites near the bottom of their wind range but not this one I would suggest the bridal needs some adjustment or something else isn't configured correctly on the kite.
  5. Were you pushing both lines while flying down to regain ground or to maintain consistent speed? Also what kind of sunglasses do you wear flying straight into the sun?
  6. Always love your vids, these two were no exception. Thanks and nice work.
  7. Not specific to kite lines but for rescue lines using the same materials (dynema/spectra) suggestions are always to use a very mild dish soap, hand wash and air dry. I would say you can start with that but since failure of a kite line is not life or death you could potentially be a little more aggressive in the cleaning.
  8. Kites seem to resonate with some people and not as much with others. My girlfriend can fly dual lines just fine, but after 10 minutes or so of flying she is usually done and ready to move on with her day. On the other hand I spend hours in a field flying kites. When I was 13 I made a delta-conye single line kite in algebra class with dowels and tyvek. I flew that kite whenever I could for years until one fateful day I the line broke in super heavy wind and the kite floated off into obvlivion. Well actually it was a farmers field. He was nice enough to let me look around for the rest of the evening but I never did find it. If you're son has the bug he's going to love anythign that gets in the air and the better it flys the more fun he will have. In my experience the foils fly great. If there is enough wind for them to inflate they are stable, predictable flying machines. The inputs are the same as flying a rigid kite so the skills will transfer. At $35 my foil was so cheap I didn't care if it wasn't fun, it was worth trying. I keep it with me every time I go fly in case the wind gets really big and I don't want to break the good kites. I also use it if random kids/adults want to try flying a dual line. I'm happy to let a stranger repeatedly crash my $35 kite. Not so with the more fragile ones.
  9. I'm not sure you would even know what the stretching feels like unless you had good lines and budget lines to fly. For me it's most noticeable when trying to make square turns but it shows up all over. It's like using a slinky to control the kite vs rods. One lets you pull without doing much for a while then over exagerates your input a second or two after you made the input. The other is instaneous and precise. I own a beetle and have mixed feelings about it. It will take an absolutely massive amount of abuse and it's cheap. That said I spent too much time on it trying to learn to fly better when the kite was a major limiting factor. With that said I think small foils offer the ability to drive a kite around and develop basic skills in a package that can be cheap, user friendly and lacks rigid parts to break. They need a little more wind to really be fun though, so as Wayne mentioned it may create a disparity between your desired wind speed and that of your son's kite. I own an HQ syphony 1.3 which sold for $35 and flys (no tricks) around on budget lines far better than the beetle ever did on perfomance lines. There are a number of other kites from nearly all the manufacturers making foils around the same size that I'm guessing would work just as well.
  10. Best wind range is usually at the bottom of the kites wind range where it is EASY to stall it. The easier the stalls the less work doing slack lined tricks. Some tricks like a little more or a little less, but in generally on the verge of not flying seems to work the best for me. I'm not sure what lines you are on, so can't say for sure. Even as a novice I can tell a huge difference between budget line and the perfomance synthetics (dyneema/etc). The stretch is the biggest issue. You're stock line should be appropriate weight for your kite though. For very light wind applications you may find lighter line helpful but tackle that issue when you get there.
  11. First trick I learned was the axle and it's by and far the easiest to learn because the inputs are simple and you can be extremely ham fisted and still get good results. I'm far from an expert but I feel the snap stall while difficult to get right is more of a building block and worth working on early. From my experience the wind will let you know what your bridle settings should be and what kind of tricks are available. I started a thread not too long ago asking about yo-yo stoppers and roll-ups and the general consensus was if there aren't yo-yo stoppers you can do the tricks but the sail probably isn't re-enforced and may suffer from line chaffing on the back side.
  12. Not sure what wind speeds you are dealing with but the HQ symphony 1.3 foil is awesome as a beginner two line kite. It doesn't trick but it does track and turn much better than the beetle. With that said it needs a little more wind than the beetle so it could be a nice compliment rather than replacement.
  13. The Nocks I have are better described as slip in.
  14. Any hints for visualizing the catch phase better? I'm getting my kite to more or less consistently lay on it's back but I either never got the slack out of the lines in time before it falls out of the fade or I catch it too violently and it snaps out of the fade. I probably did 75-100 attempts today and stuck was successful about 5 times. I know more time on the lines patience and smooth sensitive inputs will get me there but was hoping for some mental tricks to help me along.
  15. So after what felt like eternity I've finally got my Kymera flying again after crashing it on it's maiden flight and breaking a leading edge spar. I put everything back together and had it flying sort of flying today. The first 10 min at my spot the wind was O.k. then it dropped to 2-5 m.p.h. for the remaining 2 hours until sunset so I flew my ITW swift. Smiles all around. When putting my Kymera together I didn't bother with gluing the end nock in place since the fit seemed snug and if I break the Nock I won't need to replace the spar or vice versa if I break the spar. Anything wrong with this logic? The broken spar had the factory Nock glued in place so I wasn't able to re-use.
  16. So where does one find out info on whether a kite is or is not yo-yo "rated"? Any other basic tricks I need to be aware of that could damage the kite?
  17. Oh I've got the flailing down but I'm not sure whats happening on the other end of the lines is as impressive.
  18. Trying to backflip into turtle I've over rotated a number of times and I've got some questions about this configuration. First of all I've been flying my ITW swift when winds are right and sitting on my hands when the winds are too strong until I get parts in for my Kymera. The Swift doesn't have yo-yo stoppers. Does this mean I can't shouldn't roll the kite up or is it just less ideal? Would it be wise to get yo-yo stoppers for it? I've also noticed the lines digging into the trailing edge of the sail. Is this bad or am I worrying about nothing. Most importantly, what is the most beginner friendly way to fly out of a roll-up type scenario?
  19. When I was winding like JB demonstrated in the vid I didn't have any binding or excessive wrapping between the two lines. I saw some threads on the web asking about the need for line swivels and someone noted you don't need them if you wind correctly and then demonstrated the figure 8 method. Every time I've tried I think I end up with 1 line a full wrap ahead of the other with one line terminating 8 or more inches earlier than the other. The lines can't be more than 2mm off in length. I've tried to be careful but every time (or close to) I end up with messed up wraps. Yes I still get to fly but un winding when they are mis-matched like that takes forever and is downright frustrating. With the advice to wrap and unwrap in like manner it sounds like I don't need to worry about lines twisting on themselves.
  20. Perfect. I will abandon the figure 8 pattern which I think was causing 1 line to drop and the BIG difference in line lenths by the end.
  21. I've got about a 10% success rate at winding my lines so they end up even at the end of my winding, and no clue if I'm adding twists to the lines. In general my lines are wound around each other no more than 2 times. Any simple advice on how to wind my lines properly?
  22. FWIW I'm a new pilot as well and just picked up the ITW swift and it's been forgiving and fun and more kite than I am pilot. I've only had it out once in 3-6 MPH winds and I would easily take it out with less. I would easily default to the other opinions here but thought I would throw the option out.
  23. For sure. I guess I should have said only trick when I can put slack in the lines. That said, I was still pretty nervous pulling the kite through the center of the wind window and that seems to be the place I most like driving kites, whereas the edges are more fun for tricking. I thought the Kymera tracked wonderfully, and the figures I try to fly every time out were just crisper. I have no aspirations for comp flying or anything like that but well balanced flying is so much more beautiful watch than grinding out tricks one after another. I definitely want to grow into a well balanced flyer... as soon as I get my kite fixed Will do. I know crashes and breaks are a part of the game. I'm certainly disappointed in myself for only getting 1 20 min sesion before blowing up my new kite, so maybe I've got a bit of a altertered perspective on how I need to fly in the future. I'm buying some spare parts so hopefully the next break doesn't involve shipping and handling time. Thanks for all your help though. What a great asset!
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