Tennessee Flying (Nashville)

[Jay B]

I just bought a New Tech Detanator, its a started kite. I was in Florida and it worked great there but when I brought it back to Nashville, the wind here is not that constant. Are there any Tennesseans in the Nashville area that can shed some light on the Nashville winds.

Jay B.

Goodlettsville TN

[konsman]

An area close to you is the Tailwater access area at Old Hickory Dam. Its on Cinder road. It on my list of sites to check out. 

From the map, if there is wind coming from south / southeast if will be coming across the lake. 

I did a quick lookup of the kite, and it is similar to one of mine, but lighter. . My Prism Jazz  flies in 10 MPH inland winds or above (with longer line) due to the wingspan size / weight.  I tried in 6 MPH wind in Murfreesboro and it plainly showed me that it wanted more wind.... or shorter lines.

[makatakam]

9 hours ago, konsman said:

An area close to you is the Tailwater access area at Old Hickory Dam. Its on Cinder road. It on my list of sites to check out. 

From the map, if there is wind coming from south / southeast if will be coming across the lake. 

I did a quick lookup of the kite, and it is similar to one of mine, but lighter. . My Prism Jazz  flies in 10 MPH inland winds or above (with longer line) due to the wingspan size / weight.  I tried in 6 MPH wind in Murfreesboro and it plainly showed me that it wanted more wind.... or shorter lines.

You'll be able to fly your Jazz in lower wind speeds as your level of experience increases. Remember, if you walk backwards at 4mph in a 6mph wind, you now have a 10mph wind. Bingo! The distance you walk backwards can be recovered by gliding the kite away from you. Repeat.

How long have you been flying? Any questions you have about kites can be answered here. The years of experienced advice in this forum are nearly limitless.

If you are really into dual-line kites and tricking them, check out the GWTW (Gone With The Wind) forum for additional info, and there is a ton of quad-line info on the Revolution Kites forum also.

[konsman]

Thanks for the info. Stated flying in October 2016. Still have a lot to learn. I learn best when shown or taught by someone. I can read something (or watch a video) 10 times and still not figure it out until I see someone actually doing the motions. 

Flying with company will quickly increase the learning curve.  I have looked into some kite festivals within driving distance. Maybe plan a summer trip to an area with a festival. 

[makatakam]

Festivals are a great source of learning experience, and kite flyers are always eager to help (show off). You will learn 10 times as much in one weekend with others as you would learn on your own in 10 weeks. I know, because I "bin der, dun dat". Definitely worth the trip. Get to all you can reach. I used to hit everything I could that was within two to three hours' travel one way.

Most videos will show you a lot of moves, which by the time you get to the field are mostly forgotten. I found it helpful to write down one or two of what I wanted to learn on a small piece of paper that I could stick in my shirt pocket as a reference. I could never remember most of what I saw in the video. Easier when you break it down into smaller pieces. Other option, is to put the video on your phone so you can refer to it while flying, though I found that only working on learning one or two new moves per session is the quickest way to learn. 

Most importantly -- and I realize that everyone wants to do the advanced "really cool stuff" as soon as possible -- if you don't have the underlying basics down pat, (you know, the simple stuff), you will never do more advanced moves well, if at all. Practice the basics every time you fly, at least a couple of reps, and you will learn the new stuff more easily. Flying a stunt kite, whether dual or quad, requires a large amount of muscle memory, which in turn requires a ton of repetition. Devote at least 10% of your time to it.

[John Barresi]

I believe @bbailey49 is a Tennessee fellow.

[bbailey49]

20 hours ago, John Barresi said:

I believe @bbailey49 is a Tennessee fellow.

I'm in Oak Ridge, about 2.5 hours from Nashville.  I think that there is someone in Franklin working on getting a festival put together in March.  I'm still pretty green with the duallies myself, but I'm getting pretty good at flying a Rev in these inland "winds"