RobB

Bump, I'm still not flying the Zen enough. Maybe flown twice in the last 6 months. I might be tempted by a nice Full Vent, too...

Congratulations, Rob. The Gem is a wild kite... enjoy !!!

Eli, that is amazing ! I had the time today to full screen that & HD it. Wow... just awesome. That would be a true life experience for me to get to fly in a spot like that.

Thanks for that, the new nose looks really good ! Let us know how it holds up...

I never thought the forum ran slow, there are many corporate websites that run slower. A good portion of my job involves getting users connected with big corporate websites & implementing the fancy functions of their websites, and I would say that Kitelife has better response, compatibility, and stability.

We'll all help you the best we can remote, but you need to get some video. If you ever travel to the NYC area, I'm usually looking to fly !

Anyone who enjoys tricking a dual-line should be 'IN' on this one. The Gemini is one of the most radical kites I've flown. It's not easy to fly because it's so radical, but it is a ton of fun. I'll be getting my Geminis out this summer to see if they've learned anything during their hibernation of a few years. If you haven't seen these Gemini Movies, they're a must watch for anyone inclined to learn some tricks. They are my inspiration, years ago I set my goal to learn to fly like this... still working on that ! http://wardley.org/kites/movies/stoked.html

If I had a question about an HQ product, you would be the first person I asked ! I would steer away from the 4D because it's so small. It moves really fast and anything more than a finger-tip input is too much. It is tough, though, considering that it can easily fly in 1-2 mph wind. Usually, the lighter the wind a kite can fly in, the more fragile it is. Another note... I learned the most about flying in light wind by trying to fly my standard kites in too little wind. By the time I got a real SUL, I really appeciated how easy it was to fly.

Hey Ben... What Wayne said... adjust the nose more towards the pilot. That might help a little. What he said after that will probably help more.... get an UL or SUL kite. The Skyburner NikNak would be the best bet for someone starting out over here in the US. Shipping & VAT might double the price to you, though. I'm sure HQ has something that would work for you like the Shadow. The Shadow might seem a little pricey, so I should let our resident HQ expert (Hadge) suggest something more cost effective. Try to stay away from the low-end (cheap) kites from China, 9 times out of 10 you're just throwing your $$$ away. Both of the kites you have sound like decent kites, I've heard of them, but never flew either. Get another decent kite from a known manufacturer, and try to stay away from small kites, they tend to be twitchy and tough to learn on. Good Luck ! ~Rob.

Fingers crossed on this one... I'd love to have another lifter !

Thought this might help if you haven't seen it yet... http://ferob.com/kites/howToStackSportKites.pdf

Glad you guys liked them... If you were there, and I missed you, I'm sorry 'bout that. I met a few people, but didn't have enough time to get around to say hi to everyone. @ Dave... the DDC is the Barbara Meyers version from Premier. Really good, stable, and wide wind range, big bang for the buck ! This is what it looks like closer up...

Andy will know exactly what to do, I'm sure. How I wish I had a kite store like his close to me ! I remember that my QPro VV was super tough, could take 30mph winds without the wingtips shaking one bit. Not that you'll need the weight, but the QPro center T is much better than the stock E3 CT, it doesn't slide up & down the spine, and it will never break. I think Andy was instrumental in the Micron mega-stack, be careful he doesn't try to talk you into stacking 10 or 15 E3s ! It would look awesome, but I think you'd need a harness...

I took the entire frame out of an unused QPro for my E3. The QPro has a 2 piece spine, I think it was p200/p300, but it may have been just p300. I think the biggest improvement was using the 5pt lower spreaders. If you're looking to make a stiffer frame for the lead kite of a stack, you might consider building with QPro VV parts, I used QPro std. parts for mine...

Don't feel bad, my GoPro has brain farts like that at times. Nothing more disappointing that using the camera all day, and to come home & find nothing on it !

I usually fly by myself. It's good to clear the head. And yes, I know that feeling of almost running from the car to the field, can't get set up fast enough !

I think they're called stacking lines, but forget the formula to determine the length. I think it's a ratio of the length of the leading edge...

Just got back from the 30th Wildwood Kite Festival. Tired... still have sand everywhere. People make fun of the rocky beach that I fly on, but I'll take it anyday over that fine powdery sand down the Jersey Shore ! The turn-out was kinda light, especially the first two days. Maybe most spent their time doing something else since the wind wasn't that good. Gusty & swirly off shore the first day, a little bit lower the next day with many lulls that brought most kites to the ground. I didn't fly on the third day, of course, the day with the best wind. It's tough when there's great flying to be had, but family & friends want to do other things. There were 12 of us, but I'm the only one with kites. Anyway, I did get some pictures... My double DC looked nice next to this monster. The wind was so poor on the first day, that the DC actually crashed twice. I have never seen this kite crash before, and I've been flying it for a long time. Luckily, still in one piece ! So, with all the room in the world, the guy with the big red lifter parks it right over our heads. You'd think he would've moved it or shortened his line after the first time it crashed on our spot, but the next time it crashed, it hit me in the head ! Luckily, it didn't rip my head off (it's a big kite), only sent my Tilly 1/4 mile down the beach. The next time it crashed on our spot, it scooped all our stuff up (chairs, kite bags, my camera) and threw it into the wind. I have no idea how these 'experienced experts' could be so irresponsible... I watched some Rev fliers for a while, enjoying their Meshes & Full Vents. Really missed my Full Vent with those high gusty winds. I did fly the Alien a little, but forgot to take a picture of it... We were able to enjoy some dual line kites, and even the Zen the next day. Winds totally died out at times, but we had a good time with the XL when the wind came back. The Ghost Deltas made the most of the lighter winds. This guy had every color in size large. Awesome, I have to get some more of these... they look so cool as a group. I took some more time to watch the Rev fliers. I could watch them all day... Finally, some good wind on the third day ! Around 10mph off the water... Everything was flying nicely. I think there were more kites a few years ago, but this was still a pretty impressive display ! Just a nice bunch of kites on a perfect day ! Some cool ground displays all over the place, too... Looking downwind at some of the kites... I got up on the boardwalk to try to get them all in. I don't have a lens that goes wide enough ! I really liked this Gomberg lifter & tail. The guy said he was using 1200# line. Looked like rope to me... My son was enjoying the kites, too.

Took a little time to goto the beach this morning... with the wind forecast to be onshore 8-10mph, I couldn't refuse. Well, by the time I got set up, the wind had dropped to less than 5mph, and it was quickly turning into a light wind kinda day. First up was the Prism Prophecy. I love flying this kite, probably my favorite Prism kite of all time. It's not much of a trickster, but just flies so gracefully. It's pretty good in low wind, but the wind soon dropped below 2mph. Now that it's above 60*, I needed something that wasn't so much work to keep in the air. My blood is still thick from the winter, and it feels mighty hot out in the sun with little wind to cool you off... So, out came the Skyburner ProDancer SUL. I had a major discovery with this one. I had always thought that the kite should have more forward drive and be less twitchy, as it turns out, the uphaul legs on my bridle are too long, and didn't allow the nose to pitch far enough towards the pilot. I wrapped the bridle once around the upper spreader connectors, shortening the uphauls by about an inch... what a difference ! The kite jumped into the air with barely an arm sweep (by this time the wind was next to nothing) and the kite could easily do side slides now without much bobble. The twitchiness was totally gone, but one bad side effect was that punch turns weren't as sharp as before. Well, that's pretty much it, hope good weather and wind is finding everyone else, too !

Lookin' good, Dave ! I can see that the new Lam kite flies like the ones that I've flown. The Yo-Fade looks good, that's one trick I always forget about. Fades on that kite look strong, as well as the reversing backspins. The tough part is the catch from the backspin back into a fade. It all comes down to the universal suggestion, more slack... I have a tough time with slack, because it goes against the primary impulse to keep the kite in the air. Looking forward to more videos !

I was just clicking around a little bit on the ol' interweb and came across this new thing that they're doing on the SportKiteDesign site called Sequence of the Month. http://sportkitedesign.se/latest-news/21-sotm-january I'm pretty sure this is the same pilot featured in the Seven promo video, I am just amazed by his flying. I dream about flying like that, but I'm afraid my mind doesn't work that fast. Flippy & Floppy, but doesn't look sloppy !

Yeah, but out of the 332, how many are Moms ?

Some nice looking kites, and what a festival ! You guys over on the east side of the Atlantic sure do kite flying right !

My best guess would be that your odds would be better than 1 out of 10... Tell you what... if for some silly reason my number comes up, I'll send it south after giving it a try. I've always wanted to try one of these, but never got the chance. Have a Happy Mom's Day !

Good to hear the Zephyr is treating you well. As you said, if you ever do have a problem with a Prism kite, the folks in Seattle are usually pretty good at helping you out. As you found out, the Zephyr is a pretty tough kite, it took me a l-o-n-g time before I broke mine. I didn't actually break a stick, but the ferrule that connects the two lower spreaders together. If you need to get the kite in the air ASAP, you can retrieve the ferrule from the broken stick, and glue it into the new female stick that they sent you. With the Zephyr & Hypnotist, you have most wind conditions covered. Two kites that will last you years ! My Zephyr (now 9 years old) is still plenty flyable, although the trailing edges are pretty tattered. I gave my Mirage (Hypnotist) to my nephew after years of flying it.