RobB

Whatever I choose when it's my turn will certainly come with 2 lines !

Dude, it sounds like you've got Toys in the Attic ! (my favorite Aerosmith !) I never fly to music, unless you count what's in my head. I'll just play something on my way to the beach, and it keeps going around in my head while I fly. IDK, I like the sounds of the waves, wind, & birds, too. My wife even got me a pair of Beats for my iPod, just for flying. Just never got around to taking the extra time to remember that stuff when I'm running out the door to fly...

A friend of mine does this with a Rev, I think he just zip-ties the camera onto the kite... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLuF3pncfl0

When you're stuck in a Turtle, you could try to tap both lines and step forward at the same time. This will cause the kite to roll up if you get the tap & timing right. The key is the step forward to give the right amount of slack. Most tricky SULs will do this...

Although I'm flying on Shanti Speed line mostly, I also like Laser Pro and Berry Blue. The stock Prism line isn't too bad, either. Lines that bind after 5-10 wraps aren't necessarily a bad thing, because the other side of that is finding yourself with 30+ wraps in your lines, and it takes a while to unwrap them once you figure out which way they're wrapped !

OK, Rex, I'm in. I could use some short lines... I'm busy thinking what I could use as a forwarding prize ! Nice idea...

The Magnum is also a good choice. The important thing is that the kite is full sized (8 foot or bigger) and it has a robust frame. There's no getting away from the fact that you need a strong wind to lift a long tail & lines, though.

You're going to need at least 10mph of wind to tow a 100' tail with just about any kite. Also need that much for lines that long. That being said, you can't buy a much stronger kite than the Hypnotist, unless you look at a bigger kite. Something like a Thor's Hammer comes to mind...

Well, beyond stalls & side slides, the first tricks I learned were the turtle, lazy susan, and then the flick flac. It also happens that I learned them on a Prism Mirage, which was renamed the Hypnotist. One thing I did early on was to add a little weight to the tail... my beach is very rocky, and I slid a flat stone between the spine & the sail. It seemed to help. That was the first year with the kite. I spent a good part of the next year trying to learn to axel... I eventually got it, but what a struggle ! My biggest road-block was learning to give the kite slack. My gut reaction was to keep stepping back to keep the kite in the air, and that was the opposite of what needed to be done. When you initiate just about any trick, it helps to at least take a step forward, if not to keep walking forward. Like was mentioned above, you want the kite to be right on the edge of flying vs. falling when you're tricking. When you get frustrated trying to learn whatever trick you're working on, take a break and go back to the basics. Try to make a bigger side slide. Do tip-stands or practice landings. Fly box turns. It helps to clear your mind, and those are all skills that you're always learning, and can always be done better. I took a whole year off of learning new tricks and concentrated on learning how to do what I knew, better. Now I'm trying to learn new tricks again. I learn so slow that I'm happy with one or two each year. If you can find someone to fly with & learn from, you'll learn a lot faster, but if you're an isolated flyer (like me), take in every video you can. There are a lot of tutorials on uToob and different kite forums... http://v2.1.kiteclique.com/tutorials/randygs/ http://v2.1.kiteclique.com/tutorials/mama74/ http://prismkites.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=Stickies Those should give you plenty to digest ! The Hypnotist should be a fine kite for both you & your son to learn on. Maybe get him one just like yours so you can fly pairs...

10mph-20mph. I'm not sure of the upper wind range of that kite, but I'm thinking it will need at least 10mph to get going. Have fun with that !

I watched them fly the Manta when NOTHING else was in the air. It was at a festival, and all the big stuff was totally deflated, laying on the beach, the Rev guys were just hanging out, and I wasn't even able to get my duallies flying for long without getting bathed in sweat ! The Manta just hung in there, like it was filled with helium...

I've seen the original Focus Manta flown in barely any wind. Very impressive.... I'm anxiously awaiting the ITW mass-produced version !

It's there, Matt. You gotta scroll a ways down and look carefully. It took me a while to find it, too. It has a little video next to it. BTW, I think the kite might be a Skyburner Wahoo.

M. Welcome to the friendliest kite forum on the net. Kitelife & JB gave me my first push into the hardcore kite addiction. You're in good hands here, if I don't win the vent, I hope you do. When I win, it's going to Pete for his milestone BD, but if RNG screws up, I hope it's in favor of Kansas !

Now I know this kite is destined to come to Long Island. It matches my midvent perfectly !

It looks like an old Skyburner, but I could be wrong. The tail is a 100' tube tail, looks like about 3" or 4" in diameter. Any robust, full sized duallie will perform like that. A Prism Hypnotist, Quantum, or QPro would be good choices. Also, the 20mph wind seems to help !

Wayne, I didn't use the 4 wraps until I had to steal the 3 wraps for my standard sail. I put the 4 wraps in my full vent, and don't really notice much of a difference. I guess it helped that the wind was over 30mph at times while I was at Wildwood. I haven't taken the Black Race Rods out of the midvent yet, the one time I flew it, the winds were 10-15mph and it didn't bow too much. I plan on swapping the 3 wraps from the full sail into the midvent and put the Race Rods into the full sail. Winds were 0-3mph today for my Sunday fly, so the Revs stayed in the bag. Wow, am I rusty at flying duallies now. I flew a couple of SULs and the biggest trick today was keeping them in the air ! Hoping for some more wind the next time out !

Anywhere on the water is good for me. You just have to have a warmer coat where I am for 6 months out of the year !

Thanks for the pictures ! Looks like a kiteflying paradise !

A friend in Buenos Aires puts a GP on his Rev 1.5. The videos are pretty cool ! I'm sure you could contact him through uToob if you had questions...

Well... my next time out was a quickie fly at lunch time. My office is less than 10 minutes from the beach, so that leaves 1/2 hour to fly on my lunch break. So, there were 10-15mph offshore breezes, and the midvent flew with a respectable amount of control and little oversteer. I know the full sail would've been all over the place in the same wind. I just flew it with the race frame that was in it, it didn't seem to bend too much, except in the highest of gusts, and I would just fly quickly to one side or the other. Like SR said above, I need to experiment. I was just hoping to knock some time off the process. Something else has flown back to me that's going to be competing for my kite flying time... My defective Solus was rebuilt by some of the kite gurus, and I'm now enjoying what a year's worth of testing & tuning can do for an all ready good kite ! I need to quit my job so I can pay these kites the time & attention they deserve !

Sorry you decided to vacation at the beach just in time for the first named storm of the hurricane season ! Stick around, ride it out ! Storms are a real adventure when you're right there on the beach... I'm glad to hear you got some flying in. Looks like a great place ! Post some more pictures when you get a chance...

Thanks for the replies... what would my effective wind range be with the midvent and the black race frame ? I see that the race frame should be swapped out at about 10mph in the full sail, but is the limit raised with the MV ? I am assuming that 4 wrap is stronger than 3 wrap is stronger than 2 wrap, and each being respectivly lighter in weight, enabling lower wind flying... but I found no noticable benefit from swapping my 3 wraps to 2 wraps as far as better low wind performance. Both seemed to be able to fly in the same low wind. Now with my UL and SUL dual line kites, there is a noticable difference between 2pt and 3pt sticks. You have to work to keep 3pts in the air, while the same kite with 2pt will float around in the same wind easily. Is there a corralation between 2pt and 2 wrap ? I know with dual line kites, you don't want the spars to bend, the stiffer the better. So many questions...

OK, question of the day... my midvent 1.5b came in with a (what I believe) black Race frame. Well, it has black flames on it, and says 'Race". What winds would be good for that setup ? I now have 2 wrap, 3 wrap, 4 wrap, and a black race frame. Which sticks should I put in which kite ? I currently fly my full sail with the 3 wraps, and can't tell much difference in light wind performance between the 2 wraps. Should I put the race frame in my full sail, and the 3 wraps in the midvent ? What are the trade offs between 2,3,and 4 wrap ? I was flying my full vent the other day in 8-12mph wind with the 4 wraps in it, and had no trouble keeping it in the air. It doesn't seem to be a weight issue. Also, is it worth tracking down a set of pro handles ? Are there any advantages to them other than being snag-free ? Thanks !

Matt, it sounds like you might not have had enough wind. Just a guess... Too much brake could do that, too, I guess. You definitely don't want the brakes to be too loose, they help greatly in turning the big sail, and you should be able to fly up, apply brake, and fly back down. I can fly my 3.2 meter foil in reverse just like a Rev, just a lot slower. I don't have much time on my 7 meter foil, as it's too big and scary for me !