RobB

The first funny thing I saw was the clump of seaweed (or pond weed) on your bridle. It's funny when that stuff takes a ride, and falls off in flight... as long as you don't catch too much. The next thing I saw that was odd was in the last picture... you're running the hose, but the cat's still in the picture and not running away. The only thing you'd see of my cats would be a poof of dust & fur where they were sitting... Nice pictures... it will be a while before I attempt water flying with a quad (on purpose...) ~Rob.

Yes, I do like my rainbow kites. The Prismatex just takes that one over the top. It is a custom Sabre by Wayne Knott of Dreamweaver kites. I've never been able to capture the effect of the Prismatex in video, but it looks like a fiery opal in the sky. ~Rob.

Exactly what I thought ! Here's a picture of my favorite 'LSD' kite... ~Rob.

Here's the KAP of my flying area... not available on the Map.

OK, here's my thoughts on the AKA... nice magazine, but are the issues worth $10+ each ? Really, the only thing I can tell my AKA dues go for is the magazine, and a bunch of political BS. There are NO AKA events in my area, local clubs, or members. I've corresponded with my 'regional director' many times, asking for any local info, and he's come up empty over the years. He was unfortunately too busy to attend Wildwood last year, so I haven't even ever met him in person. Nice guy in emails, though. I'm going to give AKA one more chance next October in Wildwood, attend, and see if I continue to belong. I don't know, I guess I'm a cynic, or maybe I don't see the big picture... but I'd rather support Kitelife than AKA at this point ! ~Rob.

Oh, I'm excited about this one... The most recent of Dodd's designs that I flew is the Big Bang ! I was kind of embarassed when I met him that I didn't have any of his kites in my bag, not even my prized Firestorm (not that it fits in a bag...). Well, he was more interested in flying my Fearless, anyway... Fingers crossed ! ~Rob.

Very cool... Reviewing 'NEW' posts, I thought this was the current prize. I was thinking it would go good with my big flying frog. Glad the winner posted a video, it was cool to see it in the air.

Those are the winds that I bought my vent for ! I would need a 25mph breeze to keep me cool in that heat... I really wouldn't mind skipping summer all together. If you need more vents, I saw that Rev has an extra vent kite now. Some of the pictures from KTAI showed it. Pretty nice looking kite...

OK, let me get this straight... the vertical spars don't go on the bridle side ? Sorry for a stupid newb question, but I've never even seen a Rev up close. I was impressed with how big it was, BTW. Luckily, I watched John's line management tutorial before I headed out, but the lineset was wacked from the factory, and needed serious attention to sort it out. I finally got it right, and rolled them up using his sugggested method, although I think I'll disconnect the handles the next time, so everthing fits back in the case. I was thinking of clear packaging tape over the vents, as it's pretty low tack and would come right off. most of my vented duallies have velcro to adjust or close the vents. Just a thought. It was fun, but I can't see wanting to fly four lines in good 2 line tricking wind. I think it worked out perfect to have the four line vent sitting there, waiting for the wind to come up... when it did, I'd land the duallie, and fly the quad for a while, until the wind came back down, and then switch back. Now I won't be dreading March, at least... ~Rob.

Well, I flew the B series vent... THANK YOU, Dan ! I need alot of work, as I haven't flown a quad line kite in over 5 year, and never flew a Rev. I would've helped if the fresh lineset wasn't tangled from the factory, that cost alot of time & frustration, but once I got the mess straightened out, the kite flew great. Now, if I could get the same control I used to have over the Spirit Quad... I had a dual line kite out as a crutch to fall back on. Also, the Rev vent wasn't too happy with winds under 10mph.... maybe I should've tried the 3 wrap sticks. Crazy thought... does anyone put tape over the vents when the wind goes low ? ~Rob.

Well, I do agree about longevity through doing what you love, and loving what you do. People need something to do, I think there are so many people on depression medication because no one does anything anymore. Kite flying fills the need for me, it will take me the rest of my life to learn to fly like some of the people I've seen fly, and that's just with dual line kites. I'm going to have to be re-incarnated to spend the next lifetime learning to fly four-lines. ~Rob.

Hey All, This was brought up in my other 'taking the plunge' post on the Quad Line board... flying in & out of the water. I found that the wind got too high for tricks at the end of my session this weekend, so figured it would be fun to do some submarine flying. So, I got out my all mylar QPro, screwed the big weight to it, and messed around in the waves. I caught some of it on video, even though my angle wasn't the best... enjoy if you've got time... ~Rob.

Well, I went with the B series vent. I'm sure to have a lot of questions once I start flying it... It's been over 5years since I've flown anything with more than 2lines, and never flew a Rev....

Come on down anytime! OK, Mr. Sunny & 70... I'm planning to head out tomorrow and take advantage of our tropical forcast of sunny & high of 35. Winds forcast to be out of the north-northwest 3-10mph. Sounds like a 3-4 hour session in the making... Well, we are having a beautiful Sunday, here in NC, today. It's not quite Sunny & 70, but would you take, Sunny & 62. Sounds great, right ? Unfortunately, the winds are a blistering, "0" mph ! Yep "Z E R O"................. Oh, you guys... anything over 50 degrees is bliss, short sleeves weather. Those pictures & video of Jockey's Ridge look like a great place to fly, but the winds look really high. 0mph must have been a welcome break. I have a few kites that fly in 0mph, and they rarely make it out of the bag... but when they do, wow, what fun. I flew in beautiful sunshine today, 38 degrees. I was sweating my tail off ! They key is wearing all black, and a few layers. I brought gloves, didn't even need them. Oh, the winds were 5-15mph over the 3 hour session. I'm more for the 5mph stuff, especially because my favorite vent is in the shop, and I only had standards in the bag today. I'll post some videos once they copy off the camera...

Hey Tom & John... I land the two liners in the water purposely, submerge & take off again. It's just when a trick goes bad that the relaunch isn't possible sometimes. During the fall, Long Island Sound is particularly angry, and even though the waves are less than 5 feet, they are very violent. Crush, Crack, Smash ! My little experience with 4 lines gives me the impression that the unintentional landing is less common than with 2 lines. I think I have a clip with my Elixir landing & taking off submarine style... I'll have to poke around... ~Rob.

Come on down anytime! OK, Mr. Sunny & 70... I'm planning to head out tomorrow and take advantage of our tropical forcast of sunny & high of 35. Winds forcast to be out of the north-northwest 3-10mph. Sounds like a 3-4 hour session in the making... Glad you found some people to fly with... were they flying anything good ? Flying alone isn't so bad, BTW... you get alot more flying done, and it's nice and peaceful with just the sound of the wind, waves, and birds. Believe me, after being stuck in the house with a 2 & 3 year old... it's just bliss ! Are you on the east or west coast of FLA ? Planning a trip down there to visit family south of Tampa soon... ~Rob.

Well, I like to fly on long lines when I can, and I figure it will be different with a quad, being that they're more controllable, it won't matter that half my wind window will be over the water. I fly on a narrow beach most of the time, and tricking a dual line kite over the water caused me alot of time in the repair shop this fall. I think I broke half a dozen kites in two months from unexpected landings in the waves. 85' lines are long for my beach, and only at dead low moon tide can you fly on 100' lines without a considerable amount of the window being over the water. It would be nice to be able to fly with people when I do make it to a festival or two per year. So, it sounds like the 120s are the way to go... ~Rob.

Hey Duane... Funny thing I've found about darker color kites... they're hard to keep track of when they're low to the ground with a dark backround like trees, bushes, or the cliffs that we have on some of our beaches. Also, in the winter when the sun is at a low angle (up here) a light colored kite is easier to track. Some of my kites are all black, or mostly dark, and when you're tricking them it's sometimes difficult to tell which way they're pointing... As far as low wind flying, doesn't Rev make an SUL ? Or is that strictly for indoor ? ~Rob.

Hey Duane... I know whose kite that used to be, but I don't know who bought it. Lucky person, imagine what that kite must look like backlit by the sun... Mine has a less striking design, but I like it... ~Rob

Well, I flew a couple days ago on a snowy field with next to no wind. Not enough wind for the Fearless SUL, so I switched to a PBSK Vanishing Point. That gave me my half-hour fix before sunset. The field was Q Gardens in Queens, NY, if anyone knows where that is. ~Rob.

I can totally relate to being the 'Lone Ranger'.... out there on the beach when it's 10 F ( a few days ago) or at 6-9am to avoid the beach crowd in the summer. Oh, yeah, to avoid the heat and sun, too. I did drive the 5-6 hours to get to Wildwood kite festival last year... what an experience, to actually see & fly with other dual line fliers. I am one of the few if only dual line fliers at local festivals, so it was a real treat. The strange thing is that there aren't even any Rev fliers near me... an occasional ToysRus single line, and kite boarders... that's it. The glory days of kite flying in my area was the 90s, there were groups that met at different beaches every weekend to fly their stuff. I don't know what happened... ~Rob.

Thanks, Duane. Glad you enjoyed it... I had to get out and fly, no matter how nasty the weather was...

Some January flying from New York. I recently bought the Widow Maker, and am pretty impressed with it so far. Can't wait to get it out in some smoother winds and about 30 degrees warmer ! ~Rob.

Wow, glad to see the full vent gets a universal thumbs up. I have some quad line experience with a Spirit quad and some 4 line foils, and have hoped to find an Airbow before someone beat me to it... still not successful in that... I know Revs are the most popular, probably because they're the best at what they do... I've just had trouble up until now with the flying bowtie design, to me the only thing visually attractive thing about a Rev is the way they can be flown (in expert hands) and sometimes, I've seen nice looking custom sail prints. I might have a chance to fly with others once or twice a year, so is the 120' line length still important ? I really only want to buy one set of lines & handles, because I plan on keeping this to a 1 kite simple diversion, and still spending the majority of my fly time on dual line. I have just gotten lazy as I get older, and don't want to run full speed down the beach to do some flic-flacs anymore... Just need something that's fun to fly without risking a twisted ankle or a faceplant in a pile of beach debris... Thanks ! ~Rob.

Hey there... I fly 2 line kites 99% of the time, and SLKs and quads the rest. I've been thinking lately of plunging into the Rev world for those days that the wind is over 15mph, and dual line flying isn't that much fun. I've been thinking about a Rev 1.5 SLE vent, as it will only be used in winds over 15mph. Wondering what line length/strength to look for, and which handles. This will be my first Rev, so any advice would be helpful... Thanks, ~Rob.