websherpa

Pilot error. Message received. Don't fly when you can't put enough slack in the lines to trick properly. The axles definitely felt different on this kite and throwing more slack will have to be an adjustment. Thanks for the input!

So I picked up my kites this past weekend and they both look great. It was a pretty stiff wind on friday but I couldn't help myself and took out the new toy (Kymera). No wind guage, but it was definitely in the upper range of acceptable. I flew it for 20 min or so mostly sticking to the edge of the wind window of in a full run through the wind window for fear of stretching the sail or snapping the frame. I tried a couple axles but kept getting my lines stuck on the wing tips. I didn't have the Nock covers on and I believe this was the main issue. During one of the these hang ups the kite crashed wing tip first and snapped the lower LE. I've ordered the parts and now I have to sit on my hands until the winds settle or take out my foil. Aside from the lines catching the Kymera flew beautifully even if I didn't. What a treat and it was quite a bit bigger and harder pulling than I was expecting. So much fun. Can't wait to get it in the air again.

I like loosely holding the straps but I've lost a handle before and ended up with a crashed kite and lines wound around each other several dozen times. Around the wrists with fingers on the lines is a good comprimise but I find it isn't as ergonomically pleasing. Next time I get out I want to try John's shaka style.

The owner's name is Chip. The actual website isn't updated but the facebook page is. He hasn't scheduled the events for this year but last year it was one weekend a month during the summer they would try to fill livingston's best field with kites. https://www.facebook.com/livingstonkitecompany?fref=ts 113 West Callender Street, Livingston, MT. (406) 222-5483 If you end up coming down this way give me a shout.

Fun times this week! The wind has kept up all week, if anything being on the strong side. I ended up ordering a Kymera and an ITW Swift as well as buying an in stock HQ symphony 1.3 which has been super fun in spite of the low price point. Also, still working on the beetle I've picked up tight spins to axles, backflips, 540's and when I'm lucky a lazy suzan. I'm trying to figure out snap stalls and half axles but today the wind seemed a bit strong and I'm not sure I'm using the correct inputs. I need to watch my DVD's again and do a better job of remembering the key steps when I'm out in the field. The local shop guy was pretty up front about not being a sport kite expert but has been incredibly helpful and was quite interested in making the purchases worth while for me, so we've struck up a good working relationship. He's trying to get a fighter kite scene worked up, which could be cool too. Next event he's putting together he is bringing a couple for me to demo.

Intersting. Good to know that sail depth can aid in smoothing out the gusts. There's been lots of great info in here for me to take to the shop so thanks so much all! I'll try to check in once I've made a choice and I'll be flying on a new sail sooner than later.

I'm in Bozeman, MT. It's in a high elevation valley with mountain weather, so average doesn't mean a whole lot. We definitely have long stable low wind periods with 5 m.p.h. or less. Unsettled weather can bring sustained wind from 10-30 with gusts doubling the average wind speed. Livingston sits on the other side of a ridge line in a notch, so they typically have 5-10 m.p.h. than we do in Bozeman. It seems smoother as well.

It's been such a pleasure to find sport kite flying. Every time I'm out with enough wind to stay in the air I've got a huge grin painted on my face for the rest of the day. I've been talking with the shop on Facebook and they don't have any kites that fit the bill. They have a large assortment of single lines kites, a few parafoils and some beginner dual line sport kites. They seem quite willing to from any of their catalogues which include: Prism, HQ, ITW, Gomberg, New Tech and Premier. This is a bit of a let down as I was hoping to be able to have a new kite within the next week, but I'd rather build this relationship now than go the cheap/quick route with an online purchase. It may pay off in the long run, it may not, but a local kite shop can't be a bad thing especially in such a sparsely populated area. So right off the bat the full size standards I could get through the shop which were recommended are the Kymera and the Hypnotist, with what sounds like a slight preference for the Kymera particularly in the long run. Since I'm already paying a premium to some degree for purchasing in a brick and mortar, is there a same brand UL or SUL that makes sense from one of these companies which so I could order two kites in for the shipment price of one? IE ITW Kymera and ITW echo OR HQ Infinity and HQ Shadow. I may end up holding off on the light wind kite for the time being, but the more info I have going into the shop the better. John - I like you already. You're the only one with a horse in the race and everyone has recommended your kite but you. Class act. Cyphert - I know what you mean about twitch being fun, I don't know that I could describe the beetle in heavy wind on 20' lines as anything but twitchy but... I think I would prefer a slower kite to really dial in my technique right now. No reason I can't come back to fast and twitchy later though. Thanks for the all the input already.

Ok so I'm looking for a full sized (which is how big?) kite in the $150-$200 range. I'll be looking for lines in the 80'-110' range. With pricing like that + new lines I'm sure I can afford a kite like the 4D for light wind days. Any reason not to pick up two kites right now? Will a 4D or similar kite perform better in low wind than the beetle?

Hi all brand new to the site. Warm(er) weather is starting to make an appearance in Montana and there has been wind to boot so I've been dusting off my kite and my flying skills. I have roughly 30 hours of experience on a flying wings beetle on mostly 80' lines. Through a series of poor line maintenance/high wind/loosing my mind (and one of my webbing handles) I only have my short lines which are about 20'. With the short lines I can axle consistently on the edges of the wind window and in lighter winds throughout the wind window. I've been able to side slide across the window several times, but not consistently. I can almost always hold a stall or slide for 2+ seconds unless I get blasted with a gust. My figures were decent on the long lines, although I would happily admit there was plenty of room for improvement. On the short lines I'm just not quick enough to acurately fly through any figures except loops and 8's without having issues. I can't say I don't crash but I've reduced crashes to soft crashes rather than full on lawn darts 95% of the time. The short lines have really helped with learning recoveries and I can consistently cartwheel and in heavier winds have a number of other recovery techniques for belly down recoveries. ... and now after that long winded introduction. I've recently discovered a kite shop in the next town over. They have some events which I plan to attend and I expect to solicit similar advice from their staff upon visiting. As soon as is possible I want to get new handles or possible a new set of lines in the 80' range for the beetle. I'm also considering a higher performance kite and/or a low wind kite. I've seen advice to just pony up to $400 boutique kite right away, but I'm hesitant to spend that kind of money when I'm not 100% sure what kind of kite I'm interested in. Also, I'm still quite new and breaking components on a kite that expensive makes me weary. Also right now flying time is more important to me than being able to do every trick, and I'm quite happy when the wind is heavier to just let the kite fly rather than try to get slack in the lines and see how I can make it tumble. Maybe a more trickable kite would change my mind. I've certainly caught the bug though and I'm interested in nearly all facets of sport kiting from indoors to hard pulling, precision to tricking, slow and elegant to fast and squirley... You get the idea. So first of all, when is it safe/worth while to take that step beyond the beetle? I know a lot of others start of $100 kites which seem to have better perfomance than the beetle but is it a big step up? Should I wait a little until I'm a better pilot and upgrade to something much nicer or is there a big step up in perfomance going to a $100-$250 kite? Knowing that low wind situations are common and when there is wind it can often be violent (see snaped lines) should I look at 2 decent kites which cover a broad wind range rather than 1 really nice kite with a smaller flyable wind range. TL;DR : I've got 30hrs of flying on a beetle. Am I ready to upgrade to a better kite, and if so which kite would you recommend? -Glenn