Jump to content
KiteLife Forum

SHBKF

Kitelife Subscriber
  • Posts

    900
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Everything posted by SHBKF

  1. My radio station interferes with my kite addiction
  2. SHBKF

    SHBKF

    images from Solo Hill Billie Kite Flailer
  3. SHBKF

    My New Djinn!

    By the time I had enough spare parts to repair all my crashed kites I did not seem to need them any longer. I suppose I learned the trick of controlled crashing. SHBKF
  4. I tried to post image of one of Rob's old Widowmakers. It does appear in my image gallery but I made some error trying to show it here. SHBKF
  5. In the video, from 1:10 to 1:30, the flashing highlights on the kite are wonderful. What a beautiful sight to behold. Just makes me want to get out and fly a kite. Thank you my friend, SHBKF
  6. Sigh..... I was there, on GWTW it's last few years. Read many topics, posted a bit, bought a few kites (well more than a few) & generally had a good time. I was just learning about forums & I made some mistakes that were a bit rough. I don't mind that some of that is gone. I have participated in many hobbies over the years & have seen the ebb & flow in most of them. Support the sites you love. Ride the wave while you can. We are like a vapor. We are here then we're gone. SHBKF
  7. One thing I have learned while in the pursuit of many hobbies over my lifetime is this. You have to ride the wave while you can. So glad I acquired some R-Sky kites. Like Rob said the Nirvana was legendary. My all time favorite image that I took of a kite is from the first flight of my Nirvana WW. Into the sun 73 from SHBKF
  8. I flew a kite today. It had been some time since I had. The winds of Spring were calling & I had an old friend with me. The Zephyr knows me well. It was my first good kite. I am not a great flier but modesty is a good trait for someone always learning. Don't know why it had been so long, probably over a year. Maybe life seems tough at times or has too many distractions but there is really no reason not to indulge. I had missed the wind on the back of my neck. I did seem to still remember how to not crash. Pulled off a few tricks, made some blunders but did some successful ground recoveries. I enjoyed the concentration involved that allowed me to focus & zone out into the moment of flight. The winds were fickle as the usually are here in the mountains. Varied from dead calm to gusts that made me park at the top with the lines whining. Love the whine. Hope I don't have such a pause again. If I always carry some kites with me I will surely fly some more. Best wishes from SHBKF
  9. A few of these kites seem very familiar.... SHBKF
  10. I really like the white leading edge. After flying the Blue Diamond kite I realized that the white leading edge sort of disappears when the kite is in the sky. My eye seems to only see the main body of diamonds & darker blue stripes. The white is close to the brightness of the background sky. When the kite is inverted parked on the terrain the white then shows up very well. Your new Midnight Blowing Snow is another amazing product of your powerful kite fab mind. Wow, you're killin' me, SHBKF
  11. Thanks for all you do John. KiteLife has been a part of my life for some time now. It is everything kites for all kite fliers. Pure & fine all the time. The prizes are just icing on the cake. I have been fortunate to win several times. It is a surprise, a joy & humbling all at the same time. The B series have a special place in the world of kites. I believe I have nine in the kite dungeon now. I guess I have been around just long enough to see some changes. Rock on, SHBKF my beloved B mid vent
  12. I lost the upper spreader for my Prism 4D several years ago when I had no spare tubes or rods for any of my few kites. It was a bad feeling thinking I would not be flying my little superlight kite until I could order a replacement part. No kite shops anywhere in my area & I did not know at that time that hobby stores stocked small diameter light carbon fiber rods for RC control rod use on the little planes. So after a bit of useless anguish, I used my Swiss Army knife to whittle a replacement twig into the guessed length. Later I thought I would make something without bark. At home I went into the shop & found an eighth inch wooden dowel to make a prettier one. I just tapered the ends a bit to make the fit a little better. The kite flew just fine. But still I wanted the proper part. Thinking about the afternoon I lost the part I remembered hearing a distinct "ting" noise as I loaded the kites into my truck. On a hopeful thought I went back to where I parked that day & there was my carbon fiber spreader laying in the gravel. These days I have spare parts, spare kites & still keep my little dowel too. I also know most dualies will fly without upper spreaders & I have flown them without any spreaders just to see if they would do it. SHBKF
  13. Always enjoy topics about wind range of specific kites. Also glad to see the discussion of alternate tube choices for Hadziki wings. There was a time that I feared appropriate tubes would no longer be available & I did not think I could make satisfactory ones on my own. But now more choices are obviously available & the originals are less important. When I got involved in quad sport wings I was impressed that you could change frames so easily. That is not so easily done on dualies. But in reality I am like Wayne, I change kites as the wind conditions warrant. That is a luxury I did not have when starting out with only a few kites. Times have changed in that aspect as well. Just some thoughts from out here in the sticks, SHBKF
  14. A very inexpensive tail can be purchased at your local building supply store, surveyor's tape. Check out the bright colors. Just roll out how much you like & tie it on somewhere on the trailing edge of your kite. Do several if you wish. They are reusable and disposable too. I have used other materials scrounged from various sources. The most amusing one was a eight & one half inch wide piece black ribbon from an older fax cartridge. But that was used on a larger single line kite. Have fun! SHBKF
  15. I get touchy if people at a gathering expect me to wear a name badge, sigh. SHBKF
  16. SHBKF

    Crazy Quilt

    Just threw it together from scraps in a couple days, You continue to wow us. rd
  17. SHBKF

    The Hive

    Riff my friend we have all watched you grow into a full blast kite maker. Congratulations on this made to order custom beauty. Ralph
  18. Hello, welcome to KiteLife! This is the place you need to be for friendly kite help. Keep posting about your journey. Your experience sounds very similar to my own. We are all very interested. Cordially, SHBKF
  19. June 10th, 2018 Revisiting this thanks to Exult. I am still amazed at the total connection. It just makes you want to do it. SHBKF
  20. SHBKF

    First look!

    With just enough personal flying ability to understand the flying in the videos I will humbly say it brought tears to my eyes. Ah, the joy of understanding the beauty of superb controlled flight. Thanks, SHBKF
  21. Glad I'm not the only one with a staked handle unintentional launch. Had that experience a few years ago with my five stack of blue Nexus kites. Staked 'em carefully, well I thought I did, but had a similar result. The kites were leaned way back but as the gusts came & went the kites would move a little bit. Each time they moved a little I guess they straightened up a little more until the angle of attack was right for a self launch. My well equalized lines gave them a nice straight trajectory to the top of the window. Soon as they got up high enough they pulled the stake. The stake pulled part way & was bent by the pull of the stack. They kept climbing until the stake came out completely. Then they drifted off to the right crashing to the ground barely missing a parked Rev Power Blast 2-4. That could have been a disaster. But no harm was done & I was very glad I was the only one on the field as there could have been injuries with the out of control kites & the dangling kite stake. Many lessons come the hard way. Be careful out there. SHBKF Not a great image but the kites right before that unintentional launch. If you look closely you can see the golf ball stake.
  22. Just my opinion here. I have all three of the Tensors. If I were to buy again I would start with the 3.1 & maybe that would be the only one I would keep. You will have plenty to deal with flying the 3.1. Also, being a smaller sail than the others, it turns more easily than the larger ones. Do not try jumping with the 3.1 as it will lift you then let you down hard. Do not park the kite at the zenith. A gust can happen at any time. Stay safe. Forget the bar, fly with the handles & use the kite killers. You will have much more control with the handles. I hot launched a big foil one time in some changing conditions. The kite went up, the wind changed directions & I was being pulled straight toward my vehicle. Kite killers saved me for sure. I think Riff covers all this stuff in his excellent post. But do enjoy whatever your choice as the big foils are great fun. SHBKF
×
×
  • Create New...