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A True "Newbie"


dprod
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I just purchased a Prism "Nexus" after reading about it. The only experience I have with kites is with the singel line ones. And, I have had a blast teaching my nephew and his friend, but I want to move on to real kiting.

Any pointers on where to start on this site for tips, and if I can find somone near my area that may be able to help me. I live in N.E. Indiana.

I love the videos and tips I've read, I did subscribe to the magazine as I want to support this site. Thanks for any help.

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REAL KITING??!! :huh: That's so funny to hear!! And I was one that thought the more lines, the more fun!! I have to admit, I'm at both ends of the spectrum on this one! Mostly I fly Revs outside (quads), but indoors I fly a Rev and indoor single line gliders! Who thought there would be so much fun to be found at the end of just one line?? Caught me totally off guard to find so much pleasure flying a SLK (single line kite) inside!! It's not so much "real" as serious kiting!! Tricks take some time to learn and there's an investment you have in learning what you and your equipment can and can't do! John's put together some very good tutorials and there are others on learnkites.com that will get you started!! And if you get the chance to meet and fly with others, go for it!! Shortens the learning curve a lot!! Real kiting!!! Cracking me up! :ani_yahoo:

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Hey stroke survivor, I sure hope you weren't taking me seriously...I guess I just got a little carried away. haha Please remember I'm new to this new world of kiting especially the UL indoor type. You mentioned "John" is he foung here? So he's in the tutorials? Under any specific heading?

Thanks for the leads, and I am happy to have given you a laugh with my comments. Looking to fly a dual tomorrow after I'm done with a seminar. :)

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Hi dpod. Welcome.

I started off with the Nexus a bit less than 12 month ago. I got use to flying in all condition, light wind to heavy winds where the leading edge starts to flap like chicken when flying across the window.

Once I could keep in the air I started to try and do some tricks. One it can do is a back flip and a lazy susan with a bit of luck. I could get an ugly axle out of it to but not much more. It didn't stop me trying though.

The next kite was the 4D for when the wind is a bit to light.

I than move on the a Sliverfox 2.3. The first thing I notice was the pull. It wasnt drag across the park type, but a big step up. The other was the twitchy ness of it. I was always over steering it for the first few sessions. The main thing is tricks can start to be done on the a better kite. I been flying it for a few months now and it's good fun trying to learn all the tricks. But if you can find some one to learn off it speed things up a lot.

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Hey dprod! Welcome! Hope you are having fun anyway! My only suggestion is to find some local kite stores (even if not in your immediate area) and ask around for local events and / or resources...you might be surprised whats out there! I did the same thing you did and had a lot of luck with the responses I got...good luck to ya and happy flying! :)

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... I live in N.E. Indiana. ...

You might check this website for a kite club near you. Kite clubs are a great place to get hands-on guidance. Kite folks are always friendly about allowing you to test drive their kites ... try before you buy!

MacKite sponsors the Great Lakes Kite Festival in May each year. That's a great festival to see a broad spectrum of kites and kite fliers. Ben DeAntonio (Revolution General Manager) and iQuad will be there ... great opportunity to try out a Rev kite. Prism is also scheduled to attend ... a great opportunity to fly a dual line kite.

It's worth the trip just to see Lee Sedgwick and Sam Ritter flying their large Rev I stacks like they were nothing. If the wind is just right, Sam has been known to fly a 360 with his stack ... very impressive.

Good luck,

Tom

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Another website to check out is the AKA regional map. Click on Region 5 for Michigan and Region 6 for Indiana.

IKE is an active club in the Illinois area, but draws members from around the world. If you live near Dayton, one of our members lives there and is very active in kiting.

Cheers,

Tom

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Hey dprod :)

Welcome to this fabulous world of kites..

Whether single, dual, quads, or any sort of kite you can think of, have fun with it :)

For the Nexus, it is a little rapid fellow and like the medium winds better. Rapid here means not only in flight but in tricking. I managed myself some backspins and 540 with it but thing get really rapid and sometimes not enough time to appreciate the tricks..but it is really nice to fly it on the supplied lines. I would advise you get the LE tensioners off and replace them with a bridle line..not to tight but enough to tension the LE. This will help you deal with tips wraps that you will encounter in your learning curve and unwrapping will be easier too.

Have fun and good winds to you

B

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Hey stroke survivor, I sure hope you weren't taking me seriously...I guess I just got a little carried away. haha Please remember I'm new to this new world of kiting especially the UL indoor type. You mentioned "John" is he foung here? So he's in the tutorials? Under any specific heading?

Thanks for the leads, and I am happy to have given you a laugh with my comments. Looking to fly a dual tomorrow after I'm done with a seminar. :)

No problem with anything!! Just had to laugh about it!!

John is Kitelife!! He owns the mag and has made a bunch of tutorials for dualies and quads!! Look them over and learn some great stuff!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks to the help here, I'm heading up to Michigan for Saturday at the Grand Haven Kite Festival. My wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law are going with me. Can't wait, I've gotten my new Nexus out 3 times and really finding it a "fantastic" flyer. I even managed to take her to the outside of the window, pointed her up walked in and set her down softly. My wife was pretty impressed, lol, she thought that was really cool. I told her wait till you see the pros on Sat. Thanks for all the help here, I'm enjoying my journey.

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Hi dprod, I've been on the road since Friday - just getting caught up now.

Looks like you got a lot of good info already, we have some passionate and knowledgeable members on this forum. :)

Alas, we have only one dual line tutorial (assembly) on www.learnkites.com at the moment, but have plans to add many more as time and conditions allow.

You might also try a simple search on YouTube for "kite tutorials", there is a lot of good stuff out there, although not much with picture in picture like ours (hands + kite action).

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