BobL Posted May 31, 2020 Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 great choice Blue, i'm looking forward to hearing about your Mamba, from what ive read its one of the best. its definitely on my list of kites to get...in the mean time my wife, 4 sons and 9 grandchildren are all eyeballing my A-bag so im committed to putting together a B-bag, hence the Hydras. if i ever find a real Hydra made by Focus Kites (Paul DeBakker) it will go in the A-bag. words of wisdom, Exult, bonding with a kite might be more rare than we think...best to hang on to them and try again later... khsidekick: i'm just north of you in Longview, wa...hope to get down your way this summer (RV-trailering) maybe meet up at WSIKF if they have it this year mebeatee, i'd like to hear more about the Mamba and BMK/Aerie kites 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mebeatee Posted May 31, 2020 Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 I'll keep it "Mamba" mode....here is a pic on this iPad....more on another unit. (I have a Mamba, Killer Bee, Mantis, Mongoose, Mojo ul, 3 Air Fx (2 standard, 1 vented), K2, and K3. The Mongoose and the K2 needed some time for me to appreciate....but woweee!!! The Mantis and Mojo also needed a couple of sessions to figure out as well....(not that I will ever figure them out and don't want to). I remember Ken saying on his site he made the Mongoose for "him" and his style of flying, so I learnt pretty fast I don't/can't fly like him.....I am a total old skool flier btw, fwiw. Just for fun I went to BMK to see what was happening these days and to check out the 61/49 kite.....I'll be saving for quite a while for that one...lol.. I noticed some new variations on the Mamba and went....wtf.... Here ya go....my Mamba was inspired by a Killer Bee that I had acquired. I was also interested in Ken's evolution as an independent kite artist/maker so as they came up for sale I bought what I could when I could. So for fun here's my Mamba and Bee side by each. bt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarbonCrusher Posted May 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 Those are so nice. All these photos of his nice work really make me glad I went the way I did. It got moved up in his que to later this week was not supposed to get made for 3 weeks, great for me. I will post a pic, maybe a video if I can get it in the sky. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exult Posted May 31, 2020 Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 20 hours ago, BobL said: words of wisdom, Exult, bonding with a kite might be more rare than we think...best to hang on to them and try again later... I stick to them as well, but actually I meant more of evolving by learning to deal with the kite and adopt to it. Take the three kites I referred to in my post above as an example: The HQ Maestro felt funny initially, but paved the way to to my deserted island DLK, the HQ Infinity. Before I was more familiar with older types of kites. The HQ Jam session felt “at home” and I had similar feelings for the Prism Elixir. Not being used to smallish low wind kites, the Prism 4D didn’t feel as a real kite for the first ten sessions. I’m sure that a similar (size/wind range) kite also could have provided that. Before the 4D I was very dependent of the larger inertia of “normal” standard wind range larger kites. The 4D was a medicine against the tendency I had from the Jam Session days to do tricking with a flick like input. The Rev Indoor felt like (and was) a total failure – constant unintended ground contact (*). I put it away for (one, two years was it?) after about five sessions. Since I returned to the Rev Indoor soon 3/4 years ago, it has provided: Much improved use of heavy brake (in normal flight) in no/low wind (and feeling of pressure) allowing the kite to do most of the work instead of you (and I thought that I already knew this from before…), not being so dependent on a soft LE in low wind to propel the kite and offering a (third**) flavour of quad axel practice... * The feeling is like a caricature of piloting a bridle-less 1.5 quad. ** The other flavours of axel practice I tested are 1.5 Revs and the “toss around forgiving” Skyburner Fulcrum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kite Girl Posted May 31, 2020 Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 Hello. I am new to this forum so I apologize if I am going about this the wrong way. I am looking for a jam session for my husband who is dying of cancer. He use to fly kites back in the day and had a jam session that he dearly loved. I would like to bring the joy of flying that kite back to him. Is there anyone here that would be able to help. I will buy or trade. Kite Girl JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exult Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 18 hours ago, Kite Girl said: I am looking for a jam session for my husband who is dying of cancer. He use to fly kites back in the day and had a jam session that he dearly loved. I would like to bring the joy of flying that kite back to him. Is there anyone here that would be able to help. I will buy or trade. I’m sorry to hear that, but no this kite is an item of affection for me and is connected to a certain phase of life (and transition to another). Since this was the first ”real” kite (and at the time the main among few kites) it has taken much beating and has had much of the parts replaced with what parts that were available. In addition to the previously repaired sail damages (one was actually so large that I could crawl through the hole) there is also a more ”recent” rip (that needs to be repaired) through two panels where they connect to the dacron. It is simply the most worn kite that I got. If you want something similar (at least in appearance, I have never tested one so I can’t say anything about the properties) you could go for a Skydog Jammin’ ( http://www.skydogkites.com/stuntkites/jammin.shtml ). It should be by the same designer, Dodd Gross, as the Jam Session (was Christoph Fokken also involved in Jam Session?), but certainly of a later model. If your husbands mobility is an issue and he happens to know how to control a rev-like quad line kite, it could be an alternative to a dual line kite. Quad line kites can be flown with less footwork. Whatever you decides, good luck to the most possible extent given you situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frob Posted June 1, 2020 Report Share Posted June 1, 2020 On 5/30/2020 at 9:05 AM, khsidekick said: I was amazed at how Paul’s feet were constantly moving, and that’s what I learned from him that day. Keep your feet moving. I’m no trick flier by no means but have learned a few over the last couple years after attending the clinic. Agreed. In good winds you can fly a quad easily from a beach chair. Dual lines can be flown from one spot only if you are doing little more than steering. The moment you want anything more advanced it becomes athletic with legs involved. Speed control on dual line, and slack line techniques on any kite, both require leg work. On dual line whether you are doing a two point landing or a series of acrobatic tricks, the footwork ranges from a slow dance to a rapid sprint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted June 2, 2020 Report Share Posted June 2, 2020 There's something to be said about flying a quad from a chair.. Especially on very long lines.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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