SHBKF

Where are you Ralph ? (where ever - have a great time) Lakewood Campground, Surfside Beach, South Carolina Even with choppy, gusting west winds it was still a great kiting day. Flew short lines & used my inland experience to fly in tough conditions. Today will be in the forties but the wind will be out of the north blowing straight down the beach allowing smooth wind & longer lines.

Will be enjoying the bird with maybe 200 other campers. Then out on to the beach with the young kids flying their kites I hope. Joy to all. I am truly thankful.

The kite seems alive, an entity all it's own. Just getting to the point with Revs where I can do playful things as I fly. After pasting the beach trash can a few times, then dipping in & out of the top, a lady walked by & said, "Are you starting to figure it out?" She has "Know Eye Deer" of what the little kite can really do. Actually me & that trash can go back a long way. My wife did a screaming full speed lawn dart into it many years ago. After we put the kite back together she said "Want to see me do that again?" We're still laughing about that great day. A life with kites, love em. Thanks for the inspiration. Waiting for more. SHBKF

Shine on my friend...

It is very interesting to review these videos. After two years of flying quad I can appreciate the skill exhibited even more. They inspire me to try harder & attempt more. Early on flight seemed almost hopeless. As time went on confidence grew. While my efforts still seem feeble, I can at least attempt flying in more difficult conditions. Last night I launched the 1.5 B off a sand volleyball court, crossed the dunes walking & flying, finally getting to the dark beach. Flew in gusty winds with temperatures in the thirties for an hour & crossed back over the dunes. Wanted to fly on a road parallel to the beach for a bit but would have to maneuver through a line of palm trees. On 65' lines I flew up over the trees & walked through. Turned the kite to cross above & caught the lines in a tree top. Kite crashed on the far side as I ran toward the tree. Got lucky. Loosened the lines from the kite, went back to the handles & pulled the lines through the top of the tree. Lessons I have learned from the Masters on KiteLife came into play. I have many favorite videos. Still here watching, rock on, rock on. SHBKF

Was up early the morning this question was presented. I was tempted to give the first response but held back because I knew there would be better answers from my KiteLife friends. Not only did they confirm my experience but they explained it better & took me a bit further in my kite knowledge. Thanks to my friends I can fly more often, fly a bit better & understand what is occurring. I enjoy flying when the lines are singing & have a good selection of broken tubes. Thank you all again Kite Masters. SHBKF

That is the exact pulley I was thinking of when reading this post earlier. I have one from my caving days & have personally bet my life on it several times. But most times it was used for a mechanical advantage while hauling gear up or down vertical drops. The fact that it can easily be opened & added to an already anchored line is an important feature. Great choice Nick. SHBKF

Just tell her you've already been offered more than you've paid for them & I'll confirm if needed. Plus, she may have to help you launch this long stack. Spectators love em. I have more people comment on my stacked kite sets when I fly them than all my other kites combined. Lean back & enjoy these beauties my friend....SHBKF

Oooo! Ummm! Looks very interesting. When I got my first six TRLBY kites they were not really assembled as a stack. After the first flight in fifteen mile an hour winds, & gusting higher, I realized I needed to strengthen the frame of the front kite. When flying low & straight down wind the tail section of the front kite would fold under a bit. While it was kind of disturbing I kept flying the new stack anyway. Back in the shop I replaced the fiberglass spine with a slightly larger diameter pultruded carbon fiber tube. Had to ream the fittings a bit but it was a successful modification. I also noticed that I did have a heavier bridle so I also added that change. I have since added three more TRLBY kites to the stack & all is well. In my five stack of Nexus kites the frames are all the same but I did add a second bridle to double up the one on the front kite. If you get these kites & decide they're not your cup of tea, send me a personal message. I would love to have a stack like these & would make you a good offer.

When you're hiking & someone leaves a gift along the trail for you to enjoy it is called "Trail Magic". It might be food, or a book, or even a special favor. But the best ones seem to be the anonymous ones. The wonder of the mystery allows a freedom of thought about the moment of joy. So I suppose you might call this "Kite Magic". Best wishes for your enjoyment of the newly bestowed gift.

Really like the lighting in this view. Great to see the action of the lines, the shadow of the kite & the lens flares in the clear blue sky. Love your style. Thanks again master.

Just a couple years ago I bought my first Prism kite. Had seen them before but the pretty little Flip kite snagged me that day. Several more Prism kites followed eventually leading to a large number of these fine kites. Shortly after my first Prism I walked into a kite store that had a video showing Revolution kites in flight. I had never seen anything like the quad Sportwings. A few months later I began my journey on the Dark Side. Now both of these brands dominate my kite collection. It is great to hear they are both supporting this kite program.

May the force be with you. SHBKF

Sometimes I need a tiny winder for short lines carried in small cases. Here's one made out of a decal application squeegee. Cut out on a band saw, drilled on a drill press & sanded into submission. This one fits into the small mesh pocket in the Prism 3D case that I carry my 4D in all the time. I no longer use any straps on short lines & smaller kites. Here's another one showing it being placed in the Micron case pocket SHBKF

I have broken at least five kites in the last two years. Most were in the first six months. First one was a broken leading edge spar that was caused by a sudden unplanned "landing" on a beach in fairly smooth easy conditions. Just thought the kite would turn a little more sharply. All of the others were in conditions you have mentioned, at or past the limit of the kite's intended range & a bit past the flier's skill. But it was all great fun & luckily no sail damage. But breaking a kite with the raw force of the wind was the best. Anytime your kite seems to be flying a little funny it is time to land & check it. You may have a loose standoff or even a broken spine. If it is shuddering, quivering, shaking or something like that consider it fair warning. I have experienced a few sessions where landing was hard to accomplish because of the short narrow field & the high wind. Regardless, sounds like a great session. I call it makin' memories. Rock on, Rock on! SHBKF

I had always wondered about your avatar image Mark, very nice. I truly appreciate all the suggestions. I enjoy thinking about kites nearly as much as flying them. My thought was to use my in stock parts without changing them so I might still use them in their original application. So far I have not cut any tubes or purchased any parts. After I thrash the kite around a bit I may decide that the aluminum rods aren't tough enough to survive my flailing. Plastic extenders could be machined as an alternate choice. Of course the purchase of more tubes & ferrules would be the ultimate logical conclusion. One thought that has finally occurred to me is I might as well purchase the longest tubes of a particular type & just cut them to length for the kite I need them for at the time if the cost is the same per piece. I also like the trick line suggestion. I had just noticed it in an earlier post by Paul. My Rev flying is not to that stage yet but I hope to get there eventually. The path I tread on the Dark Side seems long & full of thought.

Actually I have been considering that very modification except in order to allow me to use the Blast SLE in the Rev 1. It would just be one more frame option available to me if I did that. All I would need would be an extra center tube for the normal Blast SLE leading edge with 4-1/2" trimmed off. Today I have realized that the tip extenders could use a little further modification. I need to machine a small groove in the smaller diameter of the rod to hold an o-ring. That would keep them secure in the tube instead of slightly loose as they are now. I may cut a couple more to a tighter fitting tolerance at the same time. I cut these slightly loose to allow the tubes to flex a little bit over the 1.75" that insert into the tube.

So I have had my Revolution Zen for several months. I have only flown it a few times as I have been trying to learn to fly some other kites. But despite reading many comments about the standard Zen frame being mushy I was trying to fly it unmodified not wanting to buy a new frame for an already specialized kite. A recent post from another forum got me thinking about parts I already had in my Revolution collection. Late last fall I bought a Blast & it came with an extra leading edge, a black race set 112-1/2” long. The Zen & Rev 1 use a leading edge 108” long. I had considered trimming the Blast race set to 108” & trying it. But I came up with another idea. Use a shorter center tube from a 1.5 Rev & the two end tips from the Blast. That gave me 106”, very close to the right length. So all I needed was two more inches to get the proper length. Here's what I came up with. Two pieces of scrap aluminum rod were machined in my metal lathe in just a few minutes. SHBKF

Wow! That may be more hours than I have flown in the two years I have been an active since my kite reawakening. Sounds like you had an epic time. Maybe there is something to attending these festivals....SHBKF

As a solo flier in the mountains of Virginia I look forward to perhaps a future memory. But for now.... "There's a high flyin' bird, way up in the sky. And I wonder does she look down here as she flies on by. Riding in the air so easy in the sky..i..i. Look at me here, I'm rooted like a tree here. I got the sit down, can't cry, can't fly, gonna die blues." 1968 H. P. Lovecraft II - High Flying Bird SHBKF

Hmm, only 1,200 miles from here.

Rob, the kite I chose that day was a Prism Quantum Pro Superultralight that I had just received from another KiteLife member. Some have commented that the kite is not as light as other SUL kites. But it is a full sail & I have had plenty of time on smaller kites in the light summer winds here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I had begun dreaming of having a set of these fine kites a couple years ago & this one completed the set. Each kite seems to have something to add to my progress as I travel the path of the kite enthusiast. The little Prism 4D I have flown so much has kept me flying when nothing else seemed to work for me. Now what I have learned allows me to move on to larger, slower kites while staying on short lines. The smiling continues unabated.

Thank you my teachers. And the next day: So I just returned from a late afternoon inland mountains light wind session. Tried to duplicate Rob's session. Tried the Zen for a bit but the tall summer vegetation complicated the four line effort. Queen Anne's Lace & red clover blossoms snagged the lines repeatedly as I launched in the light puffs of wind. I was trying to use a narrow road as a landing strip to stay clear of them but the wind was at an angle to the road. So next I got out a SUL dualie & 50' lines. Went to an intersection where I had enough clear road to stay out of the weeds & get aligned with the wind. That was the solution. Flew the big dualie for about an hour. It was mostly an exercise in stepping back to turn & climb, then gliding out to gain those few steps back. Many times just being able to fly at all is a major accomplishment for me. Watching Rob's video I concentrate on how he's moving & not so much what the kite is doing. Been watching his videos for some time. It's starting to click, finally. It's not likely some of you think about it but a few of you are my kite flying heroes.

Already have this exact same kite. Have had many hours of pleasure flying it. When I first saw this kite on the Prism web site a couple years ago I thought "Who would possibly want a contraption like that? Don't gliders just get launched & slowly fall from the sky?" Six months later I was conspiring to get a Zero G & was able to buy it from a KiteLife member. In fact, during the transaction he invited me to become a member of KiteLife and a short time later I was a subscriber. It was a breakthrough for me. A way to learn about kites & share the process with all the friends I've met. Thanks Nick & thanks all in KiteLife. Even if you just read this forum & never join I thank you for being part of the kite world. This is a great glider, hope someone who really needs it wins.

One technique I've learned from inland light wind flying, that sometimes works, is to do the following. When the fickle summer wind is erratic, light & fading, set up your light wind dualie, lean it back & stake the straps down. Next assemble the Zen & lay out the 50' x 50# line set. Park it in the proper upside-down position & go back to pick up the handles. Stand there for some appropriate amount of time waiting to feel the lightest puff wind on your neck, then attempt a launch. After you run out of room to move backward, walk out to the kite & put it in the leading edge up back in it original location. Back to the handles & wait some more. Flail the Zen around a bit then pack it up,. As the wind picks up don't be tempted to fly the Zen. Take it back to the vehicle. This should give you at least a few minutes light puffy wind. Enjoy your dualie kite remembering to glide out as much as possible to gain ground. As the wind fades to nothing set up & take down additional kites to tempt more wind to come. Trying different types of kites may help. If all this fails, fly the glider.