SHBKF

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.

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

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

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

Switched to MS Explorer & it is working but very small compared to what I am used to.

Floating icon was there earlier but not visible on my system now. Running Chrome on a HP notebook. I will try a restart....

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

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

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

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

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

Ah Ha! a crucial clue to explain some of my failures. I will have to ponder the move mentioned. Thanks! SHBKF

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

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

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.

Posted this response on another site & thought it might stimulate some comments here on my kite home. People we entertain with our kite flying have a different view. Mostly they have Know Eye Deer. "About half my flying is with Revolution Sportwings. I live in the rural inland mountains of Virginia & rarely even see another person while flying in mostly hay fields. SHBKF, solo hill billie kite flailer, that's me. A couple times of year I get to fly at the coast in tourist beach destinations. The interaction with random strangers goes from one extreme to the other. One day a few years ago I had perfect conditions, low tide, warm day, steady lab grade winds & few beach strollers. It was a memorable time as I flew the best I had ever flown up to that point. I did impressive ground side slides. killer dive stops, alternating tip stands, danced above the waves dipping down between them, Spent some time flying in & out of a trash can. Landed on every object available & chased a few seagulls. When you touch down a bunch people think you are having trouble keeping it in the air. I guess only Rev fliers really are impressed by these silly antics. A lady walked up to me & said with all sincerity "Keep trying, you will get the hang of it." A couple years later I was helping someone learn to fly their new Rev. They had seen me flying mine & asked for a few pointers. After helping the new flier learn to launch & land successfully I took the handles to give his kite a go. Flew for a bit & really enjoyed myself. A spectator walked up & said, "Man, I am really amazed at how you flew that kite. Are you the inventor?" I told him no, but I was about to get the hang of it." Surely we all have heard some interesting comments as we stand on the kite field. SHBKF

Welcome bt! Good to see you here on KiteLife. I bought a blue & yellow Rev 1 sail only from you back in 2015 I believe. It is now a valued kite in my Rev hoard down in the Kite Dungeon. Thanks again, SHBKF (also known as Dayhiker elsewhere)

Symphony 2.2-4 mods by Riff2 Prism Snap Shot 2.5 with brake lines added Skydog power foil 2.6 from KiteLife subscriber drawing Prism Tensor 3.1 Peter Lynn Reactor II 3.52 Prism Tensor 4.2 Prism Tensor 5.02 Pansh Flame 7.02 Peter Lynn Venom 10 meter yellow blue , mods to Venom II specs. 2 Peter Lynn Venom 13 meter2 Rev II curved logo pre 97 pink torquoise2 Rev B2 standard purple black2 Rev B2 mid vent red gray2 Rev B2 full vent lime gray2 Rev 1.5 19972 Rev 1.5 SLE blue black white Rev 1.5 SLE blue black white2 Rev 1.5 SLE blue black white2 Rev 1.5 20th anniversary white blue3 Rev 1.5B standard blue gray Rev 1.5B med vent blue gray Rev 1.5B full vent black dark blue black center "The Dark One" Rev 1.5 Shook Mesh #152 75% blue white gray3 Rev 1 curved logo 1995 dark blue yellow2 Rev 1 Sedgwick Cool Rev Zen blue fade gray fade2 Rev Reflex red white blue early kite from second run2 Rev Supersonic standard turquoise purple2 Rev Supersonic standard black dark purple2 Rev Supersonic standard black gold2 Rev Supersonic vented black gold2 Rev Supersonic vented black gold2 Rev Shockwave blue black2 Rev Blast red white blue Rev Power Blast 2-4 blue white Rev Power Blast 2-4 red white black2 Rev Power Blast 4-8 blue white "The Big One" 2 Indicates purchased on secondary market 3 Indicates purchased on secondary market as new Two thirds of these kites purchased on secondary market. Thank you one & all. Dang! Seems I started out as a flier & turned into a quad collector. Oh well, SHBKF Image from learning to fly Rev #1 second session, an SLE with Super Leading Edge tubes in place to protect the kite from the expected thrashing I was giving it. The kite survived me.

I just came upstairs from the Kite Dungeon where I have been doing some repairs on an older kite probably about the same age as yours. Yours is a nice looking kite well worth bringing back to flying condition. Go Fly A Kite is no longer in business so you will have to improvise a bit. If this kite were mine here are the things I would do with it. First I would look at the tail & pull the sail taut by getting the spine back in the pocket or attaching whatever holds the sail in place on that end. You don't need it super tight just firm enough to lay flat & smooth along the spine. You have one stand off to help you deduce the lower spreader length on one side. You can use a wooden dowel to help you work out the length. Put the dowel in the connector along the leading edge. Place the dowel over the center T & place the stand off against it. Move the dowel into a position that makes the sail look smoothed out & a little tight. Make sure the wing tip already has tension on it to hold the sail tight along the leading edge. When you find a length of dowel that seems good mark the dowel for length at the center T assuming that the lower spreader will go nearly to the center. Make another one for the other side. With both in place improvise a stand off for the other side. If the kite looks good you now have templates for your lower spreader length. Next go to a hobby store to buy some carbon rod. They should have some tubes & rods in the RC airplane section of the store. Buy the rod closest to the diameter of what you already have on the kite. Cut one to the same length as the original stand off. If you are fortunate they may have a selection of carbon tubes that you can use for lower & upper spreaders. Buy some of a few sizes. Extras are fine as they can be used for other repairs as well. You can make connectors for the kite by cutting short lengths of vinyl tube into a shape that holds the end of the stand off rod on the lower spreader. This is the way they actually made connectors back in the eighties. Try to come up with a small plastic button that you can use to fabricate an attachment for the trailing edge of the sail. A couple of short lengths of small diameter vinyl tubes can be glued to the stand off end to hold the pieces in place. Once you have the lower spreader complete you can make an upper spreader of the correct length by just eye balling it. It will typically be a smaller diameter than the lower spreader but I have some kites where it is the same. At this point you should have a flyable kite. This will get you in the air without ordering parts or traveling to a distant kite store. It should cost very little to do this & will be very satisfying. If any of your parts don't hold up you have the challenge of how to make the next parts stronger. Or you can ask for help with the proper dimensions & order everything. But you could still do this while you're waiting. One time I used a wooden dowel for an upper spreader while I was waiting for a proper replacement. It worked fine. Just my thoughts, SHBKF

I love tails on kites. One of my favorite kite pictures is by RobB. Hope he doesn't mind my posting it here. It must have been a glorious day. I liked it so much I was able to arrange for Santa to bring one to me on his sleigh this past Christmas. SHBKF

I don't have my Quantum any longer so I can't do some ground recovery attempts to give you any suggestions there. I will eventually buy another as I really do like the Quantum. I will say that some kites respond better to ground recovery maneuvers than others, at least in my experience anyway. I have broken some expensive parts on learning ground recoveries. I would suggest that for the next while you should walk to the kite & reset it for launch instead of breaking more parts. I have been through the same thing for sure. I would use that time to contemplate why I wound up on the ground & what I would do differently to land instead of crashing. Hope I am not being too hard on you with that advice. I do not ever (anymore) attempt to recover from a belly down nose toward me position. The dreaded "Dead Launch" while occasionally doable, is a risky thing to try anytime. I am currently flying a kite that is really easy for me to crash & do ground recoveries with, The Nirvana. It is a bit pricey compared to the Quantum. More experienced fliers could give more meaningful hints I am sure. I do admire your determined efforts. Keep on flyin' & postin', SHBKF