RobB

Maybe punch a grommet an inch or two ahead of the tow point, in the keel. It might help to pull the nose down. Also, I've found Deltas to be some of the most finicky SLKs to fly. They are tough to get to that point where you can set them & forget them, Most need attention every few minutes. I like to fly mine with l-o-n-g tails. Flow-tails and Pyros are a different story, they seem to be well behaved & forgiving.

What kind of kite? Most Deltas have at least two points to attach the flying line. I've only had this problem with deltas & the DopeRo. The amount of bow you give a flat kite also has something to do with it, if applicable...

Congratulations ! A great prize, either way... wondering if you chose door #1` or door #2 ?

Yes,... I was feelin' the fade that day. That thing at 2:48 ? It was a tip wrap ! The XXL has little battens on the wingtips that catch the lines sometimes. I wish I could claim that as a trick, but I don't think I could do it again if I tried ! ...just fly away like you meant to do it... yeah, it's a trick...

I'm in... I could use a second set of 80's so I could fly with my 'students'...

This is true. The QPro is a tough kite, but a difficult kite to fly well. It demands perfectly timed inputs to trick nicely, but is capable of all the tricks. Straight out flying ? The QPro is top-notch, but a beginner would get pretty much the same experience from the Hypnotist. The Hypnotist offers a little better durability and would keep a beginner challenged for at least a year. As was mentioned above, buying used kites will fill your bag faster. Also, think about kites for different conditions, as well as a back-up, so you can keep flying when you (inevitably) break your goto kite... Nothing worse than being grounded while you wait for a part to be shipped !

Wow, just WOW. That's why I fly quads... one word. CONTROL. Wow... someday....

Tim's pricing is very reasonable, especially considering the favorable exchange rate. I bought my Gemini when the exchange wasn't so favorable, and it was still worth well more than I paid for it. I should really get the Gem out and give it another try. I might be ready for it, now. The Gemini is a crazy tricky kite... if you haven't watched them yet, check these out... http://wardley.org/kites/movies/stoked.html My favorites are the Fall months.

Nice light wind flying ! I couldn't see the trees in the background moving at all...

Those Topas look like they have a really high aspect ratio. Not really built for tricks. The Topas 3.0 is a little under 10 feet (yawn) but the 4.5 is about the same size as the Thor's Hammer. Something I'd really like to get my hands on... maybe not to own, but just to fly for an hour or two. It seems that our European friends are always pushing the envelope in kiting, surprising, since bigger, better, faster was what I always thought of as an American mantra. Oh, well, I give in, the Euros seem to be ahead of us in kiting innovation. That's OK, I get it... I'm one of the few crazies over here that appreciates BIG kites. Tappestry Kites made a few BIG kites, 9 & 10 footers. I'm sure if anyone was truly interested, Steve might sew you one. I'll bet money, it would knock your socks off ! I'd be asking him for one, but the kite budget is shot for this year !

Agreed, that was a slick move. The slides are looking really good. 2:50 ? Yeah, good one ! Also, it looks like the Cascade isn't too far off. I saw all the pieces in the video, they just need to be put together...

Wow, thanks, glad you liked a little big kite flying.

I have to say this up front, I don't think about my flying too much while I'm flying. I found that for me, trying to remember when to push, when to pop, the right does this while the left does that... just became a jumble in my mind & I would crash and become frustrated shortly. It took me a year to learn how to axel. Many months to learn other tricks. I am dyslexic, ADD, and OCD, so my mind is jumbled to begin with. But, in looking at that, it was an axel with too much slack that landed in a lucky position. Hold it... Fly away like I meant to do that ! That was a 540 with a very short flare at the beginning. One thing that may not be evident is how little wind there was for a standard kite. At most, the wind was 5mph, probably lower. The Solus doesn't do flat 540s to begin with, and with the lack of wind, the kite tends to drop quickly when you throw a trick at it. The roll-up take off, or lazy susan take off. The important thing is to get the nose of the kite to tip towards you, almost fall into the dreaded dead launch position. Sweep your arms back & immediately slack. When you unroll, be ready to slack at the end of the unroll. That will put you into a fade, hold that or quickly roll out, but if you don't slack, the whole thing will turn into a nose plant.

Yes, you can see that move at about 0:35. It's a small 'back down', but I think it's similar to what they were doing in the Prism video. That's something I've worked with, too. Lots of good things in those Prism videos, but it takes a lot of time to work through everything that they offer. I've been on a break from learning tricks, I've spent the last few seasons trying to fly better. Back to pattern flying, working on stalls, landings, etc.

What will it take to motivate you ? Hovering a Rev is easy... albeit fun. Hovering a dual line kite is a challenge, even for a few seconds. But the reward when you get it ? Motivating... I don't know, it keeps me going. I pledged to learn to fly like 'those guys in the videos', even if it took the rest of my life. I'll let you know how it's going along the way. Hopefully I have at least 20 years left, the process is slower than I thought at first.But, still having fun !

Ah, here's the thing about the Alien. I used to think it was a 'high wind' kite until I had a lower spreader break (mid air) in high winds. I went back to the field card, and as it turns out, Prism rates it to only 20mph. OOoops... I was flying in winds gusting higher than that, so it was my bad. I always get to feeling that I don't give the Alien enough chance, and take it out after a couple years of basement exile, and give it another chance. I haven't been impressed by it yet, other than for comic & visual flying value. I still have to try it in lower winds with shorter lines before I make my final judgement...

The 'Slide' is the first 'trick' I learned, before I even knew about tricking kites. Before I saw any of the Dodd Gross or Prism videos. I had never thought to search Lycos for Sport Kites... I didn't know it was as big as it was, it was just something to occupy my time at the beach, like playing frisbee. Once I saw my first Dodd video that came with a new kite I bought, all that changed. I spent a long time trying to learn every trick that's out there, but always returned to stalling & sliding once frustrations grew. Jon, I wonder how you hold the handles... whether you use over the wrist finger-tip on the leaders grip (Mark Reed) or the loose hand grasping the handles grip (Dodd Gross). The grip might be the difference, I find it hard to believe that you have trouble with the slide, I've seen video of you flying, you've obviously spent a lot of time on the lines. The Prism videos had some amazing looking slides in them, and I tried to emulate Mark Reed's way of flying when I was trying to learn all these tricks. When sliding, I use my finger tips for micro adjustments to the steering line, and even find that tapping on that line helps for some reason, sometimes. I also recently found out that you can steer with either the leading or trailing line, whatever works. I never thought to notice until the discussion of slides came up in another thread.

When I get frustrated with trying new tricks, I always settle back with some slides.

Still looking for some footage to use for the Virtual Freestyle contest... I thought it would be fun to try using the BIG kite. It's a lot of fun to fly, but too much work to trick fast for very long. Not to mention, it's hard to keep in the frame, and the enormous amounts of slack needed for tricks quickly puts the kite & pilot too far away from the camera. It's the right kite for fun, but maybe not for VF. Oh, and the October weather... 68* and sunny ? I'll take it ! #KiteSeason

I'm still working on my slides. Every time out.

This should bring some activity to the Karma section ! Good lookin' kites !

Congratulations on the new kite. Nothing like crispy ripstop !

Looks like a nice case. It would need beach wheels for me. Looks like it could get heavy real fast. And... it needs a couple of big HAZMAT stickers on either side ! If this biggers-better trend keeps going, I might consider getting a 50 gallon Rubbermaid garbage can. With beach wheels...

Thanks, Rob. I was out trying to get some Virtual Freestyle footage. Funny that I though I would get that in the first outing... The strange thing about the Solus is that it looks yellow most of the time, but is actually flouresant green. I was really nervous when I ordered it, but it turned out better than I expected. I was trying to get a kite that can be seen against a dark sky, I had no idea that it would look good in bright sunshine, too.

Later the same day... When the wind dropped.