Dave362

So I'm going to be in Gomberg's Seaside store in a couple of weeks. I wonder what hipness will find its way into my bag?

yeah, looks like a real smoothy.

yes it is.... I saw a Quantum with a tube tail recently. looked great. I've got a couple of E3s I plan to stack and would like a third, but whenever I have the money to put into the project, I always spend it on a different type of kite. Stacks are awesome. If I ever finish mine I'll never sell it. Too hard to put together.....

stack the Quantums! They will easily pull the tails and look amazing. you MUST do this!!!

great job! Love it!

This morning I was working on putting a flic flac at the fade position in a JL. I like to use the Jacobs Ladder as a study platform for inserting other elements, goal being to get better at stringing together combos. Anyway, the kite I was flying wanted the nose a little higher than normal to get a good flic flac. Once I saw this, when I would pull to unroll the half lazy I would move my hands a bit toward the kite, providing a bit more slack and allowing the nose to rotate past level for the fade. Instantly the combo became smooth and easy. So watching the kite, or in other words paying closer attention to where it is and what it wants allows me to figure out why i'm having trouble with a given sequence. Some great comments in this thread, some implying intuitive flying and flow. Beautiful stuff. My ( hair brained) opinion regarding watching the kite more closely is, it is a tool to use when you want to get past a problem, push through to the next level, that kind of thing.

Beautiful kite!!!!!!!

I enjoyed it too. I was hoping for another shot now that my foot is healed.. Maybe a private lesson sometime? Gotta learn that French turn.......

I'll be looking forward to the next dual line clinic. These workshops are worth anyone's time.

John, are these Rev clinics or dual?

Congrats Karen!

Rob's post pretty much says it all in terms of build quality. He's right about the difficulty scale too. To add to that, the QP isn't as good at roll ups and pitch based moves as many other modern kites. Since many modern tricks have gone in this direction, its a consideration. On that note, some other options are the Nirvana, Deep Space, and anything by Lam Hoac of Sky Sport design.

With your adjusted wind range (5-15) I would really recommend the Widow Maker. Top class hand made kite, and great for learning tricks. At a lower price point, the Kymera would be a great choice. I own 4 QPs and really like flying them I think they would be a great choice for Precision or ballet competition, but for all out freestyle, you might want something that is more accomodating in the pitch department. Best of luck and welcome to the forum!

Traveling bicycle? Rob, did you say traveling bicycle? If I live to be a hundred.......... That stuff is just tooooooooo hard

Good stuff Really watching the kite for when to hit the next input is most helpful for me when working on new tricks. This spring I started working on the comete. When watching other flyers do it, the inputs seemed fairly evenly spaced and really fast. In Randys tutorial he showed images of what the kite should look like for each input. When I began using those postions as cues I found I could get one rotation to end with the wings level. I also found the third input for me came a little later than I thought. So then I began examining a cronic problem I have doing JLs. I always get the nose out of alignment before the lateral roll to start the next rung. By watching the kite closely, I found I never let the half lazy fully complete its rotation, bringing the "spine in line", to quote John. So then when I pulled to unroll, the kite would unroll off center. So now I wait until I see the spine pointing straight at me before pulling for the unroll. Looks much better. Obviously, this is different for eveyone, which is what makes a discussion like this so interesting.

I think this (at least for me) applies to Revs as well as duals. I've been working on some new stuff and have become aware of an element that is for me critical and I'd like to submit it for discussion. I can shadow practice the inputs for bicycle rotation and have a feel for the timing, but trying it wiith the kite I always fall out of the sky. I've done the slot machine enough to where it feels natural, but unless I'm looking for the exact position of the kite for the second input I always get a tip wrap. One of the very early comete tutorials suggests closiing your eyes and just banging out the move. I've never had any success with that approach. So watching the kite for the timing rather than trying to internalize the rhythm has gotten me a bit further lately. What do you folks think about this? Any moves you can think of in which the timing is variable enough to where you really have to watch for position?

Yeah, the one in the photo is really stunning. Seems like the bottom of a lifting foil like this is the perfect place to advertise. I hope it works out that you get the larger one back!

+1 to all the above. Until this spring I hadn't been to the beach in well over 10 years. Flying inland is kind of like surfing. Instead of waiting for the perfect wave, you wait for the perfect moment to work on what you want. You have to take into account what the wind will allow you to do at the moment. I find i can get to what I want to work on enough times to make progress each time out. The difference flying inland is you can't work on the same thing over and over in succession. After having been at it so long, I can honestly say there are things i prefer about inland wind as compared to coastal.

Where did you get that black foil? That thing is so cool! I must have details! Like I said, pig greed........

Dude! Beautiful kites! Love the photos too. One thing about these SLKs, they sure bring out the pig greed. In me, at least... I mean, buy a rev or a dual and the issue is, "I fly like a weanie." But with SLKs, if one is beautiful, imagine how ten will look!

You guys are funny Spot on, Mark! Revs aren't for sale, Duals aren't for sale, I just found another way to have fun with kites

Gosh Alan, I just don't have the expertise to offer much, but the crease doesn't sound good. If thats the problem, shortening the bridle lines on the right side as mentioned above seems like the easiest fix. Its either that or send it back for replacement. I'm betting the Gombergs would make good on an issue like this. When my 30 shipped, it was a few days late and Sue put in a free spinner just to thank me for waiting. Good folks, for sure. Please keep us posted on this. I'm curious to see how it plays out.. .

Thanks Rob. You are the one that inspired me to try single lines. I saw how cool your 12' DDC looked and just had to give it a try. I'm very appreciative of all the help you've given me on this forum. Yeah man, just holding on to this thing is a rush! I had a bunch of duals in the car but once the Skyform caught some wind, that was it! Love this kite!!!