RobB

My favorite state ! Have a great time, and stop in Telluride for a spell. You won't be disappointed !

I think I may have learned that trick from you, CV. I do the same. Just have to check that they're seated all the way when you're setting up the next time...

Spectacular shots ! Even on this small screen, the Grand Canyon looks amazing... Did you guys find any interesting wildlife when you were camping out in the desert ? The River Verde kinda looks more like the River Moreno, BTW. Bet it was cold...

You are lucky you caught that before it cracked your Lower Leading Edge. Another nasty thing about the 'loose ferule syndrome' is that when it does fail, you usually get a nasty hole in your Leading Edge pocket.

Yeah, there was a lot of back & forth on this issue on the Prism site, too. I flew with a guy who used to move above the limiting knots, he liked it adjusted there. It does decrease sail pressure and gives the kite a floatier feel, but I was used to the way mine is adjusted. I never move the knots away from the top limiting knots. High wind, or low. Two linesets in the hard case, one 50' 90# and the other 85' 150#. I used to keep the Zephyr in my wife's car, stashed under the seat. It was like an emergency kite, it would pretty much fly in any wind, and always be there if I got somewhere with the wife & kids & the opportunity to fly arose. You are right, though, if you have an SUL in one hand & the Zephyr in the other, fly the SUL when the wind's under 3mph. Like you've been doing, flying the NikNak. If you only have the Zephyr in your hand, it will fly in SUL wind with effort.

Bob, it sounds like you had the tail weight in... I forgot to say 'no weight', as I never fly mine with the weight in. 75s are also too long to fly the Z in light wind. I know this combo works on my Zephyr, but our Zephyrs are 7 years apart in production. I can't imagine that Prism changed the kite for the heavier, but who knows... Another difference could be technique... I haven't seen how you fly, but it sounds like your inputs may be a little heavy. When you're dealing with light wind, smooth, controlled, long arm sweeps are required with walking backwards. Feel the pull in the lines and always try to make up ground when the kite gets up there... point it down and walk towards the kite. Push your hands forward whenever you can, so you're ready to make another arm sweep when necessary. It's all smooth, slow motion moves that coax the kite into the air. Strong inputs will just pull it out of the air, or cause something like a backflip.

It is difficult to fly the Zephyr in 1mph of wind, but possible. Remove the top spreader, move the knots all the way up towards the nose, and fly it on 50' lines. It's not an SUL by any stretch of the imagination, you have to work for it, no doubt. The Zephyr is happiest in 3-10mph wind...

I'm not a pro, but I do have all three. The Zephyr is the best bang for the buck and is the easiest to fly, the QPro is more demanding of proper inputs, but you can't beat it for precision flying, and the E3 is best left on the shelf at the store. The only thing I like about my E3 is the way it looks...

The two sets of 'shorty' lines that I use the most are 50' for really low winds, and 60'-65' foot lines for low winds, like 2-5mph. I switch up to 75' when the wind is 5-10mph and then it's Rev time when the winds are over 10mph. My flying spot can get quite narrow at high tide, so I don't really use lines that are over 75'-85' ever.

Nice looking Glider, DF. It has much more visual appeal than the iFlite, I wonder if it flies as well (or better).

No problem viewing the site on a PC. Maybe it's a DNS problem with your provider...

If you make something fun... They like to do it. It took getting hit by the out-of-control Jolly Roger to really get them laughing !

I'm in ! Love it, Marshall... very unique. And yeah, I'm guilty of having the sharp pointy thing looking to pierce my kidney !

DId someone say SnapShot ? Found another picture of Mick flying the SnapShot 1.2

A Snapshot 1.9 would send my son flying ! I don't think he weighs more than 70 lbs....

Awesome... looks like a Snapshot. We flew the Snapshot 1.2 after the Jolly Roger took a considerable beating !

After almost a full day of yard work on Father's Day, we dropped our rakes & clippers and headed to the local town beach. With only a few hours left in the day, this is what we managed to get in the air... As the kids are getting older, they are showing more interest in kiting... much to my relief. The kids got me a Jolly Roger kite for Father's Day ! My boy is learning to fly duallies, but still thinks it's just as fun to do a massive crash as flying around ! Just wish we had done less yard work and more flying, but that's just something to remember for next year...

I'm sorry guys, wish I had 3 of them !

Thanks ! Yeah, not much room with the kid stuff & the garden, but at least I don't get hung up in the tree branches anymore... had a massive cutting a few weeks ago. The big building in the backround is a gymnasium that is available to village residents... just never took the time to sign it out to fly truly indoors. I'll have to try that someday...

I've been doing a lot more gliding since I found my larger gliders... thought I'd start a June thread to see who's gliding in the summer heat... Starting off... this is my Guildworks Tetrafoil S, backyard gliding with one of the tails attached. It was a little windy and the kite behaves better with a tail. It can still glide & be controlled, but with a steady wind, it will fly like a regular SLK. Smooth Winds !

Bob, just wait for the day you get your hands on a Widow Maker. I will be very interested to hear your comparison then. I think Ofted42 made a great choice... Hope it shows up soon !

Jump all over that... $75 for a Z is a great price. More than enough kite to get you going !

If I had to choose one kite that I could keep out of all of the kites in my bag, it would be the Widow Maker. Not to say I don't like the Solus, I do, and have a hard time choosing which kite to fly whenever I get out. The Widow Maker would be the kite that could take you the furthest, though. It can do every trick in the book, fly precision, and is VERY forgiving. Not to mention tough as nails and a work of art as far as build quality. A cheaper kite becomes more expensive when you realize 6 months down the road that you need a better kite...

Post a wanted add for a Dodd Gross Firestorm. There are a few of them floating around out there, I'm sure you can find someone willing to part with one for less than $200...

The only two kites mentioned above that I would give the thumbs up to would be the Kymera and QPro. You don't need to be an expert to fly a QPro, it is rewarding to fly at any level of proficiency. When you get to the point that your attempting advanced tricks, or combinations of tricks, it is more demanding of proper inputs & timing. Kites like the Widow Maker are much more forgiving of poorly timed inputs. The Kymera is also more forgiving, and a little more radical in the tricks department. Quality-wise, I would rate the Kymera higher than the kites from HQ or Flying Wings. It really doesn't get much better than the QPro, especially if you can get a QPro for the price of a factory kite. Kites like the Widow Maker are a little better, but you have to weigh whether the extra quality is worth $100 extra to you.