RobB

The standard is on the left, standard light on the right. This 'matching sails' thing only works as long as your wife doesn't see them both together at the same time... if she does... you're twice as crazy in her mind !

Yup, I'm ready to go out & fly, too !

Two words.....matching sails. Like these ?

Are you looking to sell them as a package, or individually ?

The best inexpensive SUL I can think of is the SkyBurner NikNak. It was my first light wind kite, totally by accident. It can be flown in zero wind on short lines, or it will fly on 50'+ lines in 1-2mph. It can't do as many tricks as a modern trick kite, but the biggest trick is to be able to fly at all in conditions like that. BTW... it's staying light until 7pm now. Put your kites in your car & make a half hour stop on the way home from work. Does wonders for your calm...

It's still March ! More video flight reporting... Storms hit us hard this year, there was a big change in my flying space. It used to be 125' wide at the lowest tide, and shrink to ~50' at high tide. Well, the storms re-shaped the beach, took away most of those big rocks & left soft sand in it's place. The only problem is that at high tide, the flyable space has shrunk to ~10 feet wide. The upshot to the situation is that from mid-tide down, the beach 150'+. I've been working at clearing the tons of debris, there are uprooted trees sticking out of the sand everywhere... not a good place for fabric ! Almost High Tide... A little past mid-tide... At least the wind's still good ! While I was flying my Micron stack, I found this piece of driftwood , and tied the handles on. It worked great to control the kites with one hand, although the pull is a little much in higher winds. Sorry if the video's a little shaky, flying with one hand and filming with the other is a bit of a challenge... I did fly the Rev, but can't film and fly that ! It might still be a little bit cold, but what a great month for flying. I even attracted some interested people with a big SLK today. SLKs are definitely people magnets !

The E3 isn't the easiest kite to fly. You need at least 6-8mph of wind, and once the wind goes over 15mph, put it away before it breaks. Mine broke in mid-air in ~15mph of wind, don't believe the 20+mph rating that Prism puts on it. You don't need the weight, by the way... but it does help when you are tricking. My E3...

Yeah, but do you put the full sail in the front or the back ? I always thought a stack had to be identical kites... BTW... one more post and there are 250 !

I'll let you guys know the next time I head down south. It's such a nightmare just to get off the Island, I haven't made it further south than DC in over a decade... C'mon up to check out the big Fest in Wildwood on Memorial Day weekend, we just finalized our place to stay... Looking forward to meeting up with some forum folks then.

Sounds like we'd have a good time if we met up on the same flying field, that's exactly my outlook. And ripstop in the air makes (Rob) Barden very happy, too !

I figure that I all ready have one with holes, and I don't see the use in the mid-vent, either. So if my lucky number comes up again for some crazy reason... Flew my full vent today while the wind was ~15-20mph. Once it dipped below 10mph, I put it away and got the duallies crankin' !

Hey JP... if you don't mind driving out to the Island, I'll be happy to spend a few hours with you going through the basics, and maybe send you home with a few tricks !

Oh yeah... like you guys are going to get past the quads to fly duals... Especially if one of yous wins the B2 package.

So, all I need is the full sail ? Who wants the ones with the holes when I win these ?

I'm always interested to hear about kites for sale... what do you have ?

There's a big festival at Wildwoods on the Jersey shore at the end of May. There's lots to do for the whole family, with the kites & just hanging out at the beach & boardwalk. Otherwise, if you ever get out on Long Island, I can tell you of a number of spots that are good to fly.

It's always a good day flying when you bring your kite home in one piece. Sounds like you need to come down to the beach and get some smooth winds... the winds along the river can be a little funky. Liberty State Park isn't too far from you, there are lots of kiters there on the weekends. What kind of kite did you end up getting ?

Sunday is flying day ! Winds predicted to be 9-11mph... a little light for my full vent. I'll bet one of these B2s would fly nicely... What would yous fly ? The full sail or mid-vent ?

Those are some of my kites, I haven't updated Flikr in a while, and I don't even have pictures of all of them. I have to buy kites to try them (nobody else flies near me), so I ended up with a lot because I want to try every kite that I see ! BTW, where are you in New York ?

While I agree with you about the Hypnotist being a great choice (nice nuetral handling, big 8'+ wingspan, and tough as nails...) I would disagree that the E3 would be a good choice. The E3 is a more radical handling, challenging kite to learn to fly. I'm sure in the right hands, it might fly beautifully but I couldn't learn to fly mine, I gave up on it. In contrast, I was able to fly the Kymera the first day, right out of the bag, and it's much more trick capable than the Hypnotist. I think the Hypno might be more durable, but I've never had a problem with my Kymera. Of the two, the Kymera will hold your interest longer. The Kymera is a little bit smaller of a kite and 80' lines would be the longest I would fly it on, my flying space is pretty narrow, so I'm used to flying on shorter lines. Long lines are good for figures & precision flying, but I like shorter lines for tricking. I've seen nice Silver Fox videos on uToob, but I have no personal experience with them. I would steer away from the 4D, and look for something bigger, like the Skyburner NikNak. It's only a couple $$$ more, and it's a larger wing, less twitchy SUL. The Airwave UL and Zero also have nice videos on uToob, but I've never flown them either. I would choose either of those over a 4D, though. This is why flying Other People's Kites before buying one blind is the best option... certain people get along with certain kites, while others don't. If you've got that option, it will save you a lot of D'oh ! ($$$, too ) Search the kites that you're interested in on uToob, and you can at least get an idea of how each one flies. ~Rob.

Yes, it's time to upgrade. A Beetle would be good for the first few hours on a two line kite, but once you learn the basics of control, it will leave you wanting more. It is a good, tough little kite, but a full sized kite is what you want if you want to progress to flying nice patterns & tricks. There are so many good kites out there that I hesitate to start suggesting this kite or that kite. I think you should try to meet up with your local flying group (you're lucky to have other people who fly nearby) and try theirs, and get their opinions. BTW... 80' lines for a little kite like the Beetle seem a little long, I would use 50'-60' lines myself...

Actually, my crew is plenty happy flying the Ghost Pyros. They refer to them as 'their' kites now. I would share the B2s, but really want them for myself ! Who am I kidding... my number's not going to pop up for a while, so good luck to the rest of you !

Hey, it's all good, 2 lines, 4 lines, whatever. Fly what you like... I like kites that can do tricks, so I fly 2 lines most of the time. If you like precise control, fly 4 lines. My bag has both, and it depends on my mood. If I'm feeling lazy, I drag out 3 bags of single line kites... which is ironically more work ! Being that you're from the other side of the pond, you should also check out the HQ Shadow, and they've got a new cheaper version of the Shadow that sounds interesting. I have a Shadow, and aside from being a looker, it flies in no wind, and can do some tricks, too.

Here are my potential B2 pilots, hopefully they'll bear some influence on good 'ol RNG... Little kites for little people ?

I have a few Gomberg kites, my favorite is the DoPeRo. They seem to be pretty decent quality kites. Also note all of his handy accesories, like the sand anchors. I don't know if you fly at the beach, but those are priceless for holding down hard pulling kites. Have fun shopping !