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SHBKF
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Posts posted by SHBKF
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WOW! Just came in from the garden, picked up the notebook & went to my favorite forum. A PM from John is always a good thing. I'll be sure to report back on the unexpected surprise. Life's good when you have a KiteLife. Thanks to everyone who helps make this site possible. SHBKF
my little bitty 1.2 was my first foil four and a half years ago
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On 6/12/2017 at 1:09 AM, Helkbird said:
..........,,,,,Unfortunately, I am land-locked in Tennessee... with hills and trees churning up my straight winds. ........
I live in the western part of Virginia about 150 miles east of you. Flying conditions are less than ideal here in the mountains. I too bought a Zen a few years back hoping it would be the answer to light wind flying. At first I struggled with the same wing flips, even though I have experience flying a similar size Revolution One. I would also give too strong of inputs & jerk the kite right out of the sky trying to "make it fly". So I looked to this forum for help. All the above advice are great useful clues. I have adopted Wayne's frame advice & it made a meaningful difference for my efforts. Time on the lines is always a good path to follow. Handle changes can help but I have stayed with 13's. I have not tried magic sticks yet but intend to explore that modification also. When it all comes together it will be a wondrous day. You may get sore from smiling. My only bit of additional advice is to try flying the kite slowly just coaxing it along. And be persistent in overcoming your inland conditions.
Welcome to KiteLife, SHBKF
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Welcome to KiteLife. Great getting to chat with you this afternoon. SHBKF
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Welcome to KiteLife. Great getting to chat with you for a moment. Couldn't stay logged in too long at that point. Hope to catch you again. SHBKF
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Your question is about quads but the dualie SUL has the same issues across a much greater number of builders. Here are some thoughts that apply to kites in general but I am speaking of dualies.
The nomenclature of kite types is kind of murky as to precise specifications of light kites, ultra light kites & super ultra light kites. Different builders definitely have varying ideas as to what exactly is a SUL. Generally a super ultra light kite is going to have light construction throughout & will not be able to handle even six mile per hour winds as well as a ultra light kite. The SUL will have very light tubes with small connectors, the lightest fabrics, bridles made from kite line instead of bridle line & may even be slightly smaller. Some kites are said to be SUL but may be quite heavy & even have tail weights installed by design. Some kite builders don't offer much below a light version perhaps feeling they lose some desirable characteristics by going too much lighter. I have several SUL kites that I really enjoy & they can be day savers in poor inland conditions. They all weigh under six ounces. A standard kite would typically weigh more than ten to around twelve. I usually fly SUL kites on 75' to 100' line sets of 50# or 90# weight. Once you develop your light wind flying skills it will help you with flying the heavier ones in light conditions. Much more can be said about this topic. You need to have a couple SUL kites in my humble opinion. SHBKF
My beloved Sky Burner Pro Dancer SUL, a full size sail that will easily break 50# lines
R-Sky Nirvana WW, this kite is teaching me pretty much everything. We click.
And the little 58" Prism 4D, bout worn this one out. A small twitchy kite that I often fly on 18' lines, 50's are too long. Do you first 360's with this one, or 720's. Keep going until you fall down laughing.
Three completely different flying kites but all SUL
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4 hours ago, FranckPG said:
The key for me is that no matter how frustrating at times, it's fun. Even when I make a mistake I'm smiling at the fact that I even attempted a certain maneuver and the smile gets bigger realizing that eventually it will come.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkEnthusiasm & optimism will take you a long way. Be sure to add some perseverance though.
Best wishes, SHBKF
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Found myself really missing chat today. Traded PM's with Riffclown a bit regarding the issue of it not working. I always close chat when I'm done but I know others leave the tab open & it sometimes shows them still logged in for days at a time. I find myself checking it with two to five people showing without me knowing that any of them are actually actively monitoring. I wish the chat software would clear out the room after a lengthy period of no one posting. I may start posting a time in and an amount of time I will stand by. Or perhaps a time when I am logging out. It would also be helpful if the service would show a notification when someone enters or leaves chat. I know some have logged on & I have missed greeting them. I must admit to trying to get them to post for a bit. But some are just looking or perhaps a bit shy. I am a lifelong introvert & chat brought me out from under my rock.
Just a few thoughts from the field, SHBKF
EDIT: 3:54 pm 5/8/17 CHAT IS BACK ON!
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Here's an image of the first set I ever modified. I had previously tried to fly my kite one time at this point.
I was unable to keep a Rev in the air for any length of time when I made these but I understood I was going to need to "tune my kite". Had Know Eye Deer what that even meant. I was still in the launch, spin crash cycle. A few more sessions & I was starting to get it. But I still thought I needed the forward drive of the standard settings as I was flying the SLE leading edge tubes. So I did not move out to the further knots for some time. Knot spacing is 3/4" on these. The lower leaders are standard stock items. I still use this set up & have made more elaborate ones since. SHBKF
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Wow! What a great first post. Keep em coming. We all like to hear the stories from your journey along the path of kiting. Take your time or go as fast as you wish. The field of kites is a vast expanse.
Welcome to the KiteLife, SHBKF
kite similar to my first one flown on the streets of Cuyahoga Falls back in the day, way back....
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I would favor having a 150' set for those conditions where you have room for a really large window. That used to be an old school dualie length back in the day I believe. I seem to have an abundance of 85' sets. So I would not want anything close to that length. Maybe 150, 50 & 40 would be my choices. Where I fly inland any length I want to fly is okay but at the beach it is really handy to have multiple choices for the tide dictated width of the beach if the wind is offshore. And shorter sets are great when the beach is more populated in the summer. I can always fit a short set in somewhere without endangering the public.
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New chat works for me. I especially like the ability to go back & read the history. Also it allows you to delete your own posts. So now I might post hello & wait a few minutes for a response. If no one is there or they don't wish to chat I can delete my post & leave the site uncluttered with my inquiry. I thought maybe I might check near the top of the hour as a possible way of meeting up with others with the same idea. But I realize I am not too punctual so maybe five before to five or ten after you might find me on chat. SHBKF
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Here's an image of my Transformer 2 SUL. It's a little different look. Believe it is a bit larger than the original Transformer. SHBKF
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The more I fly the more my kites talk to me. And they have a lot to say. This morning I see the blue chats ribbon in my lower right corner while arriving here via Chrome. Let the tweaking continue. It is kind of neat to be watching & chatting as this switch is made. I went to the old chat box this morning & was admitted. But when I left it said I was kicked out. Kind of like "And don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out!" Well out the door & on my way to a kite fest for once. So that's one day I won't be a Solo Hill Billie Kite Flailer.
SHBKF
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Switched to MS Explorer & it is working but very small compared to what I am used to.
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Floating icon was there earlier but not visible on my system now. Running Chrome on a HP notebook.
I will try a restart....
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Three years ago I was very close to retiring from the world of manufacturing. My thought was that I would need to eventually reign in my spending in general & kites were included. So, the logical thing, two years earlier, was to buy at least one a week while I could. That made perfect sense & I went after some pricey kites I thought I really needed. Right. Thought I was done buying vehicles too. Sure. So it went. Anyway I continue buying more kites to this day, quads included. Going to do one of my larger kite deals tomorrow even. The madness continues. I can hardly wait. But actually I have not really retired completely. Still working in the family businesses so I do have some cash flow. Someday I may have to just fly what I have acquired at that point. But there is still trading instead of outright purchasing. I have it under control don't I? Undoubtedly....... SHBKF
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I bought this Sea Devil on the secondary market a while back. It was the first kite that I could easily dive to a flare then spin to a fade without scaring myself. It is my go to kite when the wind gets over SUL conditions but is not up to the strength I like for a standard kite. Lam labels it as "Sea Devil light custom 3 5". It has two choices of lower spreaders, 3PT & 5PT Sky Shark tubes. I always seem to fly it with the 3's. It is in the top five kites I would not part with but I thought a picture and some comments were appropriate here. SHBKF
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I failed to mention that the knot in the line that broke was a half knot of an accidental nature. I found it winding up after a brutal winter session where anything could have happened. I have used figure eight knots many times in climbing situations. If you are betting your life on a knot it better be a good one. Most all my preferences for line set construction came from observations of factory line sets & personal experience/failures before I started reading the forums. Then there was a time, for several months, when I was afraid to even post because there were so many knowledgeable people with way more experience than me. Since then it has been very helpful to fine tune things a bit using all that freely offered help. I continue to evolve my thoughts but I am still a flailer at heart. SHBKF
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I have had enough time, line sets & varieties to have some observations on line sleeves. Generally I prefer sleeves for a couple reasons. They give added strength to light lines that are weakened by knotting. I have broken lines where an accidental knot has occurred part way out the length at the unwanted knot. This occurred with 50# line. Knots are very hard to untie in the small diameter line & I just left the extra knot out there. Light lines like 50# are easily untied to equalize if they have proper size sleeves. Too large a sleeve can allow scrunching up & quite annoying problems. I also like to fly light lines using only the sleeves & no straps. It is a very hooked up feel. I tend to make the sleeved portion of a line set quite long which allows for in field adjustments to length by adding extra knots to shorten the offending line a small amount. 100# lines are much more easily looped & the knots can be untied using a common pin & an eye loupe to see where to begin prying it open. When you go to 150# the lines start getting to where you could forgo the sleeves all together. But I still like them. If I were going to leave the sleeves off it would be on the kite end of the lines. I have a few sets like that & they also have a small loop on the very end which allows un-larksheading (difficult kite terminology) That works quite well but I still like sleeves. Power kite strength lines are a whole nother world. Riffclown has powerful experience in that area. SHBKF
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41 minutes ago, riffclown said:
Really wish I could have made it but life had other plans.. Hope to fly with you all again real soon..
I too wish I had been there. Would have been a rare chance to meet many people from KiteLife only a hundred miles from my home. I spent a very taxing day at the accounting office while the wind blew quite nicely whooshing down main street in our little town. Wish they could somehow have the festival a bit later after tax season. Sigh. Maybe the calendar will fall a little my way next year. If so, I will show up driving my avatar pulling the kite trailer. SHBKF
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4 hours ago, John Barresi said:
I got just past 180 degrees, a couple dozen steps away from the "hook back" part of my run - so close!
Ah Ha! a crucial clue to explain some of my failures. I will have to ponder the move mentioned. Thanks! SHBKF
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I too have a Riffmod Symphony. It was sent to me to try. It was held in the Kite Dungeon for an extended period until the original mad modder relented & let me buy it. When I heard there were going to be several at the clinic I was anxious to hear about the ap prais al. As I knew it deserved praise. When I was privileged to see the raw footage while chatting the other night I recognized the little foil in the hands of the Master. There was no mistaking who's hands were holding the handles. Great stuff! Hope the modded wonder receives the ultimate compliment & makes it into standard production. But I usually have Know Eye Deer. SHBKF
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An intermediate step could be an option if you fly dualies like I do. Fly pairs of your new line set using a full size dual line kite on a day with decent wind. Enjoy them while they take a set. Then proceed to give them a final adjustment for duty as a quad line set next time out. If you fly "right handed" you might swap lines left for right from time to time as your dominant hand will tend to give harder inputs which eventually sets it further. Least that is what I notice about my line sets. I checked eleven sets of dual lines the other afternoon & had to equalize six of them. I have a swivel round eye bolt snap fence stapled to a hitching post in my side yard. It's real handy for quickly attaching a set & walking down toward the apple tree where I sit in the grass to make the adjustments. A three quarter inch correction is not uncommon on a line set that has been in use for some time. Just some thoughts from out here in the sticks. SHBKF
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Nothing quite like a 7 meter hot launch. First one I did I immediately went into a scud toward a parked vehicle I thought was far enough away. Deployed the kite killers, landing the sail. I packed it up & pondered the situation a bit. One good gust & I would have had a superman day with that 7 meter Blaze.
The Next Little Thing - Full Spectrum
in Kite Making
Posted
You continue to amaze me. My, you have been busy. They are all beauties. You must be full of KiteLife!