SHBKF

Walked into a small kite shop in Mystic, Connecticut with my Tilley hat on & the owner immediately said "I see you're a kite flyer by the hat you have on."

I recently flew a Prism 75' tube tail pulling it with a Quantum. I used a short 65' x 90# line set. For fun I held the end of the tail in my hand for awhile after launching the kite. The wind speed was pretty high, maybe twelve or so. The kite flew around the window with the tail slowing it due to the "third line" drag. I finally released the end of the tail & watched it travel toward the kite. Was hoping it would do something quirky but it just started following the kite as you might expect. Flying a kite with a tail longer than the line set was no problem at all. Well it amused me anyway.... Got to keep up my flailer image, SHBKF

Fun kite to fly. You don't have to leave it stuck in one location. Give a little tug on the line & it tumbles down for a bit then zooms back up. Long pulls can direct it to head off in new directions. Never had much luck with paper box kites back in the day but this little box kite flies well & is tough.

Been raining for days now. But the Wala in the queue for some air time after a slumber in the kite dungeon.

Whew, I was beginning to worry that you were clearing house completely. So much cool stuff at once. But it looks like it's going fast. I was going to make an offer on all/any that did not move fast enough to suit you. What was I thinking! Still some real goodies left though. SHBKF

Revolution B2 kites were received from Nick yesterday & as usual they exceed my expectations. Kites are as new & actually improved. Perfectly rolled up, sand guards for each connector in place & bridles perfectly symmetrical. Also the sleeves are cleverly coded with subtle marks at the openings. He included an explanation note in case I missed them. One dot for standard sail, two dots for the mid vent sail & 3 dots for the full vent. The eleven inch handles have been customized into no snags with very nice extended leaders & one lower handle tube is neatly painted red. I have received some single line kites from Nick with useful information neatly written on the sleeve, the name of kite & wind range. When you get a kite from Reef Runner it is better than stock & has been in expert care. But then again all the kites I have received from other fliers have been very nice. I like to think of the adventures each one has experienced. Some still have videos on the net so I can see what they are capable of in expert hands. SHBKF

If you have not flown a mid vent in low wind you may not realize the skill illustrated by Scott. Quite a demonstration in my humble opinion. My hat's off to you Master Flier. SHBKF

Best wishes Bill. If you have not flown a kite like this you are in for a treat.

PM sent

Great kite! Introduced me to gliding in light conditions & flies well as an SLK in higher wind. I have had mine out on five hundred feet of line & it appeared it would have carried more. But it's ability to do a backflip really entertained me when I accidently did my first one. Kite has adjustments to the spreader & bridle for different flight characteristics. Glide slope can be adjusted with a nose weight. This kite can be flown in areas that you normally would not be able to fly & let you get air time when otherwise you wouldn't. I need to go get mine out right now.

Wifi had to be reset upstairs near where the lady of the house was sleeping this morning so I did not see the post until she stirred. Then I hesitated about three minutes. I thought someone else might need them more than me but just could not resist. The force stirred a bit. Nick had sold other full sets before but I never thought I might get a chance on his B2's someday. Nick sold me my first kite from the forums a few years back & invited to join the KiteLife® . He put me on a path to great joy. Thanks again Nick, you're the best.

PM sent. Wow! SHBKF

A few years ago I was going through some tubes at an alarming pace. I believe it was the second flight with a new kite that I was trying some ground maneuvers & broke the upper leading edge at the ferrule. I was at the beach, near a kite shop, but the pultruded carbon tubes I needed for a repair were quite long. The kite shop did not have any long enough to get me back in the air. I did not have enough experience to know how to make due with shorter ones at that time. The shop was busy with shoppers & handed my kite back with the bridle unattached which caused more issues for me later. I then bought a pricey kite which was a much better one anyway. Eventually I bought an identical kite to get proper parts for the first one but then never flew either of them much after that. When you get better kites you tend to not fly the lesser ones. Later, at home in the mountains with the second kite, I broke a lower spreader in gusty winds, CRACK! Did that to several kites & broke a leading edge on a Rev I too. I had spent quite a bit on parts & shipping. A few months later, on my third or fourth order, I ordered numerous spares for most the kites I owned at that time. That did the trick. I stopped breaking them. Now I break one rarely. But if I don't I figure I'm not trying hard enough. Oh, your question, it is hard to go wrong with Sky Shark tubes. SHBKF

Won a three stack in awhile back in July 2014. Here's my comment a few months later. SHBKF http://kitelife.com/forum/topic/5997-peter-powell-triple-sky-stunter-7114/page-6#entry48402

I have successfully launched a few times from belly down nose toward me after quite a number of attempts. I have the broken parts to remember it by. Some kites seem bounce up the small amount needed more easily than others. I used to be self conscious about walking to the kite & if someone was watching I would make bridle adjustments to somehow justify the walk. Now I just don't care & use the time to contemplate the next effort along the path of my KiteLife®. After the walk comes the comes the joy of the launch. SHBKF

Yes, the shuddering right before the "CRACK". Seems like I saw kites shake several times without heeding the warnings. Finally I learned to fly to the side & land. Wind ratings for kites remind me of temperature ratings for sleeping bags. They are a guide to help you choose what might work for you. There are many variables to consider, sleeping pad, tent or bivouac bag, clothes, hot drink as you retire, wind, humidity & so on. I have a thirty eight degree bag that I am easily comfortable in down to twenty five or so. But my twenty degree bag barely makes it to twenty. I have a forty below bag "just because I can".

There is a disturbance in the Force.....

Welcome to KiteLife, glad you joined & are posting. Many, including myself, had our first sport kite experiences on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Had some trouble even launching that first day. Not from lack of wind but too much. But after some repeated trying we got our Premier Aerosport in the air & then learned about scudding. Little did we know that day that we should not fly in high wind. But what great fun we had. Still carrying the memories with a big smile. Still have that kite. Know Eye Deer, SHBKF http://kitelife.com/forum/gallery/image/5704-/

You probably don't need this one right away. http://kitelife.com/forum/gallery/image/5612-/ I really love my mid vent B. http://kitelife.com/forum/gallery/image/5611-/

I like your last post because it reminds me of exactly where I was three years ago. I had purchased & flown a medium quality sport kite back in the eighties but the high cost was a major turn off. I flew it for a few years infrequently & eventually moved on to other hobbies. But just a few years ago I bought an inexpensive Prism single line kite on clearance & it got me interested again. Next I bought a Prism Snapshot 1.2. Flew it a bit & decided I needed a framed kite but did not seek advice of a forum or really investigate kites available. Bought a new old stock one at Hobbytown & destroyed it on my second session. I progressed from there to other kites. Kites I have flown similar to your choice are a Prism Nexus, 60" & a Premier Vision, same size. I started reading some forums & got my nerve up to start a topic even. I did some lengthy posts of interest to me & got my tail feathers burned a bit. That was on a less friendly forum. This forum seemed like it was professional kite fliers & it intimidated me. It was some time before I joined this forum. The fifty to sixty dollar kites are a good value & can do amazing things in skilled hands. My Nexus kite turned into a five stack which I still fly today. I gave my Vision kite to someone hoping they would fly it. They have not so far. The people responding to your topic are people I hold in high regard. They have helped me immensely. So what does SHBKF mean? Solo hill billie kite flailer, that's me. Still learning with the help of the Masters. Please stay with us, SHBKF

I can almost see your smile from here. Kites have brought me such great pleasure. Most of the time just having one in the air is enough. There are so many cool kites to fly. Enjoy the journey, welcome to the KiteLife.

That sounds a bit more reasonable then some of my fantasies.