Jump to content
KiteLife Forum

Beginner Quad Question


pbcoole
 Share

Recommended Posts

I've recently gotten back into kiting. . . I bought my kids some $3 parafoils at the supermarket checkout and quickly realized 1) That flying kites was something I always enjoyed and would like to get back into, and 2) I needed to buy some better kites.

I've been flying an old stunt kite that belongs to my wife, but I would like to buy a quad. (I also have some better foils for the kids and a Prism Stylus in the mail for me).

I am curious about power kiting, and I would like to buy a kite that I could fly in the park, or possibly use as a traction engine, though I'm not sure there's a field big enough around Santa Fe for Kite Groundboarding.

I was looking at some three meter Quad Parafoils. Is that a good size?

Would it also be easier to start with a Revolution? I like the packability of the parafoils because we are carfree and have to haul our kites by bike trailer, but we can always have a bigger kite sticking out of the trailer.

Also -- one more thing -- are there any good websites for beginning Kite Groundboarding? I just want to get pulled along by a kite; I don't care that much about doing jumps and tricks.

Thanks,

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Paul,

First of all, welcome!

Someone else will have to answer your questions about quad foils because I don't own any. However, for Rev's, I have an opinion.....

My first Rev, a little over 2 years ago, was a 1.5SLE. It was suggested to me as the best to learn on and I wouldn't outgrow it for quite a while. I believe that the suggestion was good. That original 1.5 has a lot of miles on it, and it's still probably my favorite. I bought an EXP to teach others on (picked up pretty cheap) and I have it packaged by itself -- handles and stake in the bag with kite, and lines rubber-banded to the bag. The whole thing is only about 3 ft long and 4 or 5" wide at the widest. Certainly portable. Not as small as a foil, but quite portable.

I really hope you try a Rev for controllability. They sure are fun!

Later, Doug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on your wind, the Prism Stylus can provide plenty of power to pull you around on a mountain board. Spend as much time as you can flying the kite and learning to control it before strapping wheels on your feet. The more control you have on the kite the easier it will be when you do finally move into a Buggy or Board.

Buggying is much easier to learn than mountainboarding (in my opinion). :) Biggest difference between the two is your center of gravity. In the buggy you are low, when the kite gets downwind of you you will side drag, sliding the buggy towards the kite while still pushing it forward some. On the board the footprint is very narrow and your center of gravity is very high (at your waist with a harness or on your shoulders if using handles). A downwind pull on the kite can yank you off of your board and getting the board to side slide is very difficult without a lot of experience. Still.....it can be pretty easy to learn once you have good kiting skills.

We have a couple of pilots who use the Stylus for a buggy/board/rollerblade engine and it does work quite well. Another option for a beginner foil is the Ozone Imp. The new IMP comes in three sizes now - Small 1.0 meter, Medium 1.5 meter, and large 2.0 meter. The IMP is the beetle of ram-air foils as this kite can take some major abuse without sustaining any damage at all and it flies incredibly well! My kids have beat this kite into the ground on numerous occasions on grass, hard pack dirt, even asphault and they still fly awesome without any damage.

We are currently compiling an online lessons area and will be uploading a mountain boarding section soon (if the wind stops blowing we will probably get it done quicker). You can read through the buggy section and it will give you some good pointers that will work with the board as well.

Buggy Lesson Info

Hope this helps you out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the replies. I took the small Stylus out this morning. It was my first time flying a nice kite. I was having a blast with it, when a gust hit the kite; both lines snapped about six inches up from the handles, and the kite got sucked into a dust devil :) . I had to chase it for a long way before rescuing it from a neighboring backyard.

After that, I flew it near the edge of the wind window. I don't know how to judge gusts, and it is almost always gusty around here.

I'm still trying to decide between the largest Stylus and the QuadTrac ProFoil.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Scott,

For your first traction kite, I would highly suggest going for a quad line over a dual line. The quad lines are only slightly more money than the duals but will give you a lot better performance and the ability to depower the kite. Quad line kites are also very simple to learn so dont worry much about the learning curve and difficulty. Most of the time you can fly a quad line ram-air foil kite just the same as you fly a dual line kite, you just have brakes on it now. Advanced pilots will incorporate the brake lines with the main flying lines to help with turning and also controlling the power and depower of the kite.

For starters, I would look for a kite in the 2-3 meter range, you dont really want to get much bigger than that to learn with because the power can be very difficult to handle as well as dangerous when learning. A 2-3 meter kite had plenty of power for you, so dont get too discouraged in the smaller sizes. At 225 lbs, a 2 meter kite can still get me off the ground in the right winds and is a total riot to buggy with.

As far as brands, the Ozone brand is one of the best built and most durable kites we have used. The Prism Stylus is also a great kite. There are also many others Flexifoil, PKD, etc.... and also the Revolution Power Blast 2-4 is also an excellent traction kite to play with and to buggy with.

Hope this helps with your search.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm one of many who only get to enjoy bugging once or twice a year. It's still worth it for me to have my buggy. You never know, I could get to buggy 3 or 4 times a year. :wub: It could happen. The kids love to sit in it and watch tv. the week I drop my buggy in the living room.

I want to go buggy again.. at the same time.. I am itching to get indoors for practice.

I heard Jeannette and David's new house has a property big enough to buggy on. I'm going to have to call those two.

Good night. :blushing:

BB

Penny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I finally got to go try out my new rev exp today!!! There's a field behind my house I tried out for the first time and it was just big enough to get the kite going when the wind was good. I took my 4 kids with me while my little one napped so I wasn't out for long. I had no problems launching it but getting it to stay up for long was certainly tricky! I don't think I kept my hands up high enough on the handles like the manual says. It seemed the kite always wanted to turn or come back down. Can't wait to try it out in a better field with better winds!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thing that helps with this is to make pigtails on the handles. Look here:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/451923...451935667KBPQEM

Mine don't look like that any more, but you get the idea. Make lengths of line (150#-200# dacron or bridle line) and tie knots around an inch or so apart. Make sure that the knots are equal on both sides!!

The top and bottom don't have to match. I currently have 4-6 knots on the top, but only two knots on the bottom (and I still only use one knot anyway). But the tops have to match each other, and the bottoms have to match each other. Make sense? You need your right handle to match your left handle. This is even more important if you're new.

When you set the kite up, you larkshead your flying lines to the knots youve made in the pigtails/leaders.

What this does is allow you to move the top line closer to or farther away from the handle, adjusting the angle of attack for wind conditions. If the wind is low, attach to a knot closer to the handle. This pulls the leading edge closer to you, effectively giving you more "gas".

In addition, longer handles will help with low wind performance. My homemade handles in the photo above have a throw of 14.5".

As for hand position, I hold my handles with my index fingers resting right at the tops of the grips - with a very relaxed grip. You steer by gripping and releasing the handles - not by moving your wrists. If you really like flying quads, I highly recommend Revolution's Advanced video with Dave Shenkman. It's a great instructional video.

Hope that helps.

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jason,

Good information,

Since you said you don't use the pigtails anymore are you using the slip knot that was passed around at AKA from Sam Ritter? Love it! It has the adjustability without the knots to get caught on.

You said:

As for hand position, I hold my handles with my index fingers resting right at the tops of the grips - with a very relaxed grip. You steer by gripping and releasing the handles - not by moving your wrists. If you really like flying quads,

This part made me laugh when I thought about giving lessons and some of the funny things people do. Pushing with their thumbs up and down on the handle like there is a magic button or remote control. Or gripping the handles tighter and tighter like it will pump the kite up in the air. I've seen death grips! lol

I explain they have to change the plane of the kite, or the angle for the wind to change it's action, thrashing my arms and up and down while the kite does nothing other then come down lightly in no wind.

How do you change the direction of the kite in low wind or high wind with just gripping your handles? Not changing the direction of the handles without using your wrist at all?

Something else I say in my lesson, Is that everyone has their own style. Learn to fly and don't let anyone tell you your doing it right or wrong. We can show them our way, but there are other ways.

Precision flyers can come after they learn to stop the kite in any direction without crashing it. lol

NO wrist?

BB

Penny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Penny,

I still use the pigtails and larkshead to attach the lines, it's just that mine look different now. I've got about 18" of plain dacron before the knots start. This is so I pull on dacron rather than spectra for catches.

I've heard rumors of the secret ninja knot for attachment, but I don't know it. :shifty::D

And sorry - to clarify - I didn't mean to say NO wrist movement. I still use my wrists. What I mean is that most of my control comes from relaxing and gripping my hands. This is rather than holding a steady grip on the handles and moving my wrists up and down to control the kite. Dave's video explains this - and of course it's much easier to understand on video than in text.

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand. Wonder if Sam has a picture of where to get his knot? It's one of the best improvements on the kite adjustments in 10 years.

I do work my hands up and down on the handles, however, it's not a strong grip. Sometimes I fly with such a light touch I accidently let go of the handle. My hands are not very big, or my grip stong, so I do like flying with my hands lower on my handles.

Most people will change how they fly over the years. The evolution of the Revolution is not complete by a long shot. It will be interesting to see what new generations bring to the kite.

BB

Penny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Paul

I live in your neck of the woods (or is that sage bushes? :shifty: ) I'm in Albuquerque.

I have been flying for Revolution for many years and would love to give you some hands on experience. I have all but the Super Blast for you to try before you buy.

Lets set up a time to fly. I'm retired so my time is flexible.

Send me your contact info.

Elizabeth

Revolution Kites

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Penny,

I was flying my Rev here in central Illinois when I met a guy who said you had shown him how to fly a Rev (a few weeks ago?) at a festival in Seattle.

Anyway, I let him fly my Rev for a couple hours and I think between you and I we have brought another person into the groovy world of quad-line flying.

Scott,

if you can hook up with another flyer it can really speed up the learning. I learned on my own, so it works that way too. Just takes a little longer.

-Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the tip Jason! I wish I could've made good use of the nice wind this weekend, but alas, my children come first! Twas funny, one of the neighbor kids asked me when I was setting up my rev to fly for the first time why I'm so obsessed with kites. I was thinking though I could ask him that same question about football!! While we may never see sport kite flyers getting paid millions to play with the wind, we sure to see lots of 'other sport' players getting paid that to play with a ball. funny. :shifty:

Mike, I wish I DID have fellow flyers around here to learn from! But alas, I know of none.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Father of 4. 1 and 4 yr. old, one in heaven and one on the way. Currently fostering 3 siblings whom are soon to leave. Hey I got to fly my rev for a good while today at the park cause I only had my 2 girls with me most of the day. My 4 yr old got some good time in with my prism 3d as well! The rev is awesome!! Being my second time out with it, I finally got the hang of controlling it. Now I just gotta work on getting precise with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That -will- come with time as you work on it. Sounds like you have reached the first major milestone, keeping it in the air consistently. You'll spend a lot of time just getting using to moving it forward now and slowly, you'll begin holding it in positions and slowly, little bits of reverse flight will come to you.

Keep it up!

;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...