How to convert away from a swivel/clip bridle?

[gilrain]

Hello folks, you've got a new, absolute beginner, here. I've long been vaguely interested in kites, and now intend to turn my interest into a full-blown hobby. Frustratingly, I just moved away from San Diego, to western KY. Yeah, so, moving from the ideal to the barely adequate. I think the wind here will be okay, but very light and more turbulent than ideal -- around 4-6 MPH, most summer days, with heavy tree lines surrounding every nice clearing. I'll make do, but might need to fly lighter kites?

More to the point, I have a Go Fly a Kite "Storm Typhoon":

This has been in the closet forever, and never actually flown. I attempted it a few days ago in 4-5 MPH winds, and couldn't get it to fly longer than ten seconds. Today, I adjusted the bridle forward, to (apparently) point its nose more into the wind and allow it to fly in lighter winds at the expense of responsiveness... I'll try it out this weekend.

I also have a Prism Quantum on order, that should arrive on Monday, to serve as a more serious start in the hobby. I can't wait, but am worried it won't fly in these light winds and I'll need to wait for one of the rare days we get higher winds.

Anyways, my Typhoon, and, I think, the Quantum, use a swivel-and-clip setup on the bridle to attach the lines. I understand this is less than ideal, and one should take those off and convert them to a lark's head setup. I haven;t seen an easy-to-follow explanation of how to do this conversion, though. Any help? Or should I just not worry about it, yet? I notice the lines for these kites are a not-insignificant amount of money, so I'd hate to break one if it's avoidable.

I'd appreciate help with that, and any other advice you folks can offer based on my circumstances!

[TheKatKiter]

On the kite's bridle ut the clip off so that both pieces are equal the tie a Figure 8 knot equadistant from the first bridle knot. Also braze the end of each line so it won't unravel.

I like the Figure 8 over the overhand knot because it's bigger and won't slip away. It also causes less stress on the line.

You can then connect your flying line to the bridle with a larkshead loop.

The link below will show you how to tie a Figure 8. The entire site is great for the different kinds of knots.

http://www.iland.net/~jbritton/figure8.htm

Good flying,

Charlie

[gilrain]

Thank you very much. That's what I needed to know.