RobB

Hey there... 3 bucks to go fly ? That sucks. Luckily, my beach doesn't charge residents, but we pay almost $1000 a month in property taxes (everybody does on LI), so I better get SOMETHING for my money. I pulled up to one of our south shore beaches, and they tried to charge me $8 to get in, I turned right around. I was there to eat my lunch and have a 1/2 hour fly. I ate and flew behind a school. It's just a priciple thing... wind and scenery should be free. It seems that Murphy's law has alot to do with wind. When I'm working, the flags are all standing strait out at attention, when work's over or the weekend comes, the flags are all pointing at the ground. &%#&!*@# !!! So I figure, getting a light wind kite will help me beat Murphy and his stupid laws. I know, he'll get me by breaking my SUL kite... ~Rob.

Hey John... I think you're going to be VERY happy with the Big Bang. The weights adjust the handling of the kite. Alot of people say take 'em off. I haven't done that, but if you slide them towards the center, the kite is more nuetral, and if you slide them towrds the bottom, the kite stalls easier. It also oversteers when the weights are down, but I found it flys best towards the center. I just flew my New Jam recently, and it's a slob compared to the Big Bang. ~Rob.

What do you do when there's little to no wind for 2 weeks strait ? Housework ?!? ~Rob.

Hey There... I finally got some good wind, and a chance to fly the Acrobatx... Awesome !!! It is really going to help me bring my flying up a notch. Thank you so much ! ~Rob.

Awesome !!! Where do I get one ?!? ~Rob.

Hey John, I wish I could say that I've had enough wind to fly the Acrobatx. Like most of the country, we've been getting scorched here in NY. Usually we will get an off shore breeze here around sunset, but it's been hot past sunset, so no off shore. I got 1 hour of fly time in the last 2 weeks. Of course, when I'm working, there's wind, but it hides as soon as I'm off. I'm dying to fly that kite, too, because I've heard that it's LOUD. Nothing I like more than making some noise while flying. I'll shoot out some pictures as soon as I get a good breeze session. Take care... ~Rob. By the way, the lack of wind thing is why I started this post. I dig the name of the kite you recommend, I'm a big Stones fan. It might be my first high-end kite.

Hey Tiffie... I have the same kite. It's a cool little kite when nothing else in my bag will stay up. I find that it lacks precision, and oversteers alot. This can be frustrating if you're trying to do anything more than circles, loops, or figure 8s. I can get it to stall, and land, but no where near as easy as some of my bigger kites. I've broken it twice, but nothing a little super glue won't fix. Don't be tempted to fly it when the wind picks up above ~7mph, and you'll be fine. There's plenty of great kites out there to fly in 5mph+ wind, when you're ready for your second (3rd,4th, etc.) kite. I fly mostly New Tech kites, based on their 'Bang for the Buck' qualities. I have one called the Big Bang, and I think it's great. It will go up in 3mph+ wind, and flies like a Formula 1 race car. Good luck... ~Rob.

Hey Bill, I found your video while I was researching the Thor's Hammer kite. I believe I got it from either the http://www.aerialis.no/ site, or a link to a link from there. I figured all that stuff came from there, and no one would care if I mirrored it over here. I saw the Thor being used inside, and figured a large sail might be the way to go for light wind. I could tell that the wind was pretty light in your video, as well. I decided to get a New Tech Firestorm instead of the Thor, mostly based on price. I've flown the FS in winds lower than 5mph, and toyed with the idea of lightening it up with thinner spars, but you're right, I would just be frustrated with breakage. I am known for breaking my kites in stock form, so it's probably not a good idea. Thanks for your recommendation on the light wind kite, I'm going to have to do something, because there's no wind again today. Since I'm better at fixing kites than flying them at this point, I'm not too worried about them being fragile, I'll just fix it and fly it again. Take care... ~Rob.

Nice to see my video getting around (http://kytewidow.home.comcast.net/ThorBig.MPG) but it is usually good form to ask permission to put it on another website..... C'est la vie. See ya, Bill Rogers Sorry, just thought it was cool and that others might want to see it. It was found in a public forum from Europe. No other info was attached. Files have been removed. ~Rob.

It's legal to drink and fly ?!? Just kidding... my wife always has to drive me home from the beach ! ~Rob.

Hey Scott, The local retailer has to keep the lights on, pay the rent, blahblahblah... It is cool to throw the local a bone once in a while, otherwise you won't have them around when you want to go in there and get advice, replacement parts, or just to shoot the sh#%. I paid $120 to my local retailer for a kite that I could've gotten off of eBay for half that. Don't get me wrong, I bought most of my kites based on price, mostly online. My local retailer doesn't have a huge stock of GOOD kites, but she had a couple of New Tech items that I bought for full MSRP. Best of luck with your new flying activity, flying kites is great, it doesn't matter who makes them. ~Rob.

Hey AntMan, I like the sound of the Vapor... feeding the fix on a slow day is just what I need. You seem to be into Prism & HQ. Did it just work out that way, or are they better than New Tech ? I have a HQ Force kite, and I'm not disappointed with it, but not overly impressed. I was trying to get a Prism Mirage, but the store was sold out, so I settled for the Force. Most of my kites are made by New Tech, and that's the Dodd influence from the videos. I do want to diversify, so I think I might look around for a Vapor. Thanks... ~Rob.

Hello... Dog days of summer... it's been stupid hot here for the last week, and the wind has left town. I got to fly for a couple hours last weekend (Friday night) in a nice gentle 5mph offshore breeze, but that's all the wind I've been able to find in the last 2 weeks. So here's the Q. Which light wind stunter should I get as my first serious light weight kite ? I have a Rhombus Kamakaze, but it's small, cheap, and oversteers horribly. Not to mention it's been repaired countless times, and has really seen better days. Is there a such thing as a 'durable' light wind kite ? I'm learning to fly 4 line with a NTK Spirit, maybe I should get a light wind Rev ? I will probably end up with a LW two line and four line kite in the end, but where should I start ? I've seen Thor's Hammer used indoors and in light wind conditions, I wonder if those were modified with light spars to do that. http://www.ferob.com/kite/indoor_thor-1.mpg http://www.ferob.com/kite/ThorBig.MPG Not that I'm out to buy a $600 kite, but I do have a couple of BIG kites with alot of sail area, and thought that with lighter spars, I might be able to use one of them for light wind. Is there a ratio of sail area vs. weight that I should follow to figure out if a kite is light wind capable ? Thanks... ~Rob.

Hey Scott... That plane is freakin' awesome ! You sure kite flying won't be too boring ? I agree with Dorsal that the Spirit kite by New Tech is a great kite, alot of fun to fly. I am learning to fly four line with a Spirit. The only other four line kites I have are large foils, so I can't compare with a REV yet. I've got a kite bag that's busting at the seems, and I don't think I've spent more than $1000... yet. That's one thing... no matter what you're doing, you have to pay to play. You know, the difference between men & boys is the price of the toys... ~Rob.

My 2 cents... I use Firefox, and IE as a backup when Firefox chokes on a page that's IE optimized. It is my job to make sure things run smoothly on over 2,000 workstations, and they are all using IE (spyware nightmare). It is hard to deploy Firefox (or anything else) into the business world, because it requires retraining. My users are lucky to know which button does what on the mouse, let alone understanding the concept of a different web browser. I don't have the time to mess around with anything else, FF & IE work for me, and I haven't found a good reason to load more software on my machine. So, after reading through the other posts, Computer Geekery looks to be alive & well at Kitelife ! I was wondering what happened to all my computer club buddies... ~Rob.

Hey All... I found this article out on the AKA forum, I found it real helpful. This really helped me to make a visual shopping list for home depot. http://www.ferob.com/kite/KiteKase/KiteKase.htm If anyone knows Chuck, tell him I said thanks ! ~Rob.

I think you will want to fly your Pyro all the time if you get the New Jam. I found many places on line that are offering the Big Bang under $100. Don't get me wrong, I like my New Jam, I just keep it around as a 'guest' kite, though. When a friend wants to use a kite, I hand them the New Jam. It's big, and fun, but I find it suggish compared to the Pyro and Big Bang. Maybe that's the price you pay for a little more durability. ~Rob.

Hey Dorsal, I found build instructions for a PVC tube carrier on the AKA web site. I think I'm going to go that way, less than $20 and a couple of hours. The only problem with it is that it looks like a GIANT pipe bomb. I'm sure it raises some eyebrows at check-in. ~Rob.

I've been thinking of getting a true sea kayak with the built in rudder, or maybe even an old Hobie cat with no sail. I've seen videos of guys on a Hobie doing like 30mph with a big kite pulling them. Check this out... http://www.kiteboat.com/kb_videos.html Take care... ~Rob.

Wow, I am glad that it can be done both ways, because in my mind I could see it working both ways. It made sense to have the flying lines on the outside, but I could see that turning response would be slower. I was trying to fly with the flying lines to the center, and the brake lines to the outside, and getting the kite adjusted proved next to impossible. Every time I would try to turn, I would kill the kite, providing I got it up more than 20' to begin with. Thanks for your input, I will get out there and experiment some more.... ~Rob.

Hey John, I agree with Dorsal that the New Jam is a good solid kite, lots of bang for the $$$. Especially if you found it for less than $70. I find mine to be sluggish compared to my Big Bang, though. The nice thing about the Big Bang is that you can get it packaged with the Flight School DVD for less than $100 (www.intothewind.com). I spent over $100 for my New Jam (I bought it retail from my local store), so the Big Bang is Big Bang for the buck. I have also heard great things about the Techno, but haven't flown one yet. I don't think you can go wrong with either one, the BB just offers more (adjustable weights, snappier response, and a DVD). Good luck ! ~Rob.

Amazon and eBay have all kinds of alternative payment methods, or you could pick up a Visa/Mastercard gift card to use online. There are also lots of intstructional videos on the web... Try this one, it was recommended to me, as I'm still learning, too. http://sportkiteflyer.spaces.msn.com/ ~Rob.

Hey All... Thanks for the input... I really like the idea of the hard sided case. I have a standard kite duffle, about 5' long that holds 7 or 8 kites, with linesets in the side pockets. I just worry that it will get bent in half somehow. All of my larger kites have a two piece leading edge, so a 48" case should work fine. The Acrobatx showed up yesterday (thurs), and I'm hoping for a chance to fly it this weekend. I'll post pictures for you ASAP. Thanks again ! ~Rob.

Hello, I notice that alot of the experienced fliers have travelled all over the world to different events. My question is... how do you travel with your kites ? I would be scared to death to check my kite bag at the airport, especially these days with the 'homeland security' idiots pawing through everything. My kite bag is a soft bag, I haven't seen any with hard sides. Is there such a thing ? Am I better off just buying another kite when I get to my destination, and ship it home when I'm done ? I trust UPS or USPS alot more than the security screeners and bagage handlers. Thank you... ~Rob.

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows of an online diagram that shows how the lines should be attached from a four line control bar to the kite. I am used to flying with quad handles, and recently got a bar to try. I was able to get the kite to fly, but controlling it was not easy. I almost feel like I have the brake lines and the flying lines mixed up. Probably did, but I had no documentation, and grew so frustrated in the field that I just put the quad handles back on to save a little fun for the day. Thanks.... ~Rob.