Ejay Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Been lurking here a while and decided to pass along some of my experiences. 4 or 5 years ago we took the boat across the sound and went to the beach in Corolla, I saw a guy flying a weird looking kite that could back up and do weird stuff, watched for a while and was intrigued, the flier said come try it,, so I did ,, didn't go well , i had flown only duel stunt kites and nosed in his kite, I asked about buying one and he referenced his shop in Corolla. As it turns out I think it was Eliot Shook whom let me try his kite. I did not pursue quad flying until recently, covid and search for a new hobby played a big part. I purchased a full sail then a vented, from online venders and am currently thrashing them around, (at one point today my anemometer said wind 2.8 gusting to 17 mph). The tutorial videos here have been a big help, and a member named Riff Clown who happens to live very close to my mom, has given me some good pointers and was generous enough to lend me one of his vented diamond kites, which I am practicing on also. He also let me fly some of his other custom builds which all looked great. I will own a Shook mesh at some point and probably a Riff custom also. Something that seems strange to me: when watching many videos of the master fliers (will not mention names, because I would leave out someone) it seems as though most of the passerby people are uninterested, I would be awe struck and taking videos like crazy, guess the old phrase different strokes for different folks makes more sense to me now. Over the last few weeks ( got first kite DEC. 26) I have learned the very basic flying skills, still having a hard time with inverted hover but I am persistent and think I will get better. Any way havin fun and as long as I am slightly improving will continue to enjoy it. Ej 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonFibonacci Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Welcome to the obsession! Keep working on that inverted hover. Someday it will just click. I had the same thought about how no one seems to realize what/who they're watching! I would have been floored if I'd seen a master in action before I had quads of my own. I'm floored even now. In my case, most passersby are completely uninterested in my flying. Some are interested, but if I acknowledge them, they quickly pretend they weren't watching. A very small number will actually shout something positive. Then there was the one guy who shouted... "let it go higher, a**hole!". And finally there was the only person who's ever asked to try my kite; he was COMPLETELY hammered and unable to stay on his feet when he tried to launch 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmond Dragut Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Dark side be with you !!! I started with a Chinese copy of Supersonic and trust me was a fast kite but after i pass the point where i figure out the crashing of the kite everything started to make sense. back hoover, turns, reverse launch, sudden stop and from there...by passers start to look at the kite. on that moment because of the knowledge and control over the kite you may provoke then to look making close passes to them, a dive where the kite is buzzing or simply 10 spins right followed by 10 left. A more dramatic impression will be if you add a small tail to the kite, a fuzzy one or simply buy 2 colors of ribbons and combine them. with more control over the kite you will be able to use 35-40 fits lines that will make you to be closer to people and may engage them with basic conversation lines like " what a beautiful day" while keeping the kite in to a hover at a low level. From that moment people will start to engage you more and more with different questions and information requests and some will ask you to try it. Be prepared to elegantly decline now when corona is still very active and a close contact may not be avoided for a first safety fly. good luck and mostly have fun enjoying yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonFibonacci Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 Ironically, just this weekend a family of four came over and was very interested in my kite. I had hoped for the wind to pick up just a little right before sunset and had set up on 120 foot lines. No luck, so I ended up playing my first game of "kids chase the kite" on 120 feet in 0-2 mph. That was a lot of work! I talked to the father a lot about the control (he'd been a glider pilot). His favorite "trick" turned out to be the ground recovery glide. Good thing, cause I was doing a lot of that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frob Posted February 16, 2021 Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 On 1/22/2021 at 7:26 PM, Ejay said: Something that seems strange to me: when watching many videos of the master fliers (will not mention names, because I would leave out someone) it seems as though most of the passerby people are uninterested This is normal, and not just kites. There have been tons of social experiments around it. World-class violinists performing and ignored, sometimes a person will stop and listen. World-class singers out busking, singing at the corner. Groups like the Harlem Globetrotters play around by a crowd, but are either ignored or asked to move along. Without the context most people ignore others, don't give them a second thought. Occasionally some people notice and comment it is good, but it is rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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