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garydogwood
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Long post....

hello, good to find this site. i've been eyeing kites at the store for several months and enjoy watching the various kites flying this past spring at bob woodruff park (plano,tx). was discussing with a work mate and they said they had a "really good" kite but could not get it to fly and that she would give it to me. i got it but it has not instructions or anything. looks like a 3 stack delta. i've put it aside for later.

i did buy i cheap $8 delta single line yesterday and proceeded to the park. first attempts really were pitiful. after about 10 trys, i decided to try later in the afternoon (besides it was HOT). came back around 7:30 pm and was a little cooler. wind was light (est around 7 - 10 mph). kept trying to launch and the kite would go up a little way then dive to the ground. each time it would go higher; finally after about 10 more trys, i figured it out and it stayed up. i was surprised that it took me so many trys to get it up.

i only remember about 3 times flying a kite when i was growing up. they were the cheap paper and stick.

so, now i feel somewhat satisfied with getting this thing flying. i have ordered a Beetle based on various readings i've done over the last week or so. looking forward to reading every post on this board. always been interested in things that go up (rc airplanes, rockets, ) so now kites.

by the way, i have read of a good park (breckenridge) in richardson,tx. that is fairly close to my home but i went by there sunday morning around 10:30 or 11:00 and no one was there. anyone on this forum from the dfw area and know if that is still a kiter hangout?

gw.

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:) Congradtssss to you!

Rest assured you have ordered the right kite to start with. The Beetle is great and withstands alot. I have flown mine in below freezing weather out here lol..

Have fun! Cant wait to hear how it goes.

hugs mousie <;3_)~~~~~~~~~~

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the beetle arrived today. took it to the park. had variable 8 - 15mph winds. this was a lot of fun. the winds seemed to get lighter the longer i was there. since it is my first dual line (and only experience the single line a couple days), i cannot compare it to anything. but, it did seem easy to fly and land. i've been reading a lot about flying and visualizing the takeoff and landing. pretty much happened the way i thought. felt pretty comfortable after about 10 minutes or so. did some loops and a lot of back and forth flying. this is going to be a LOT of fun. again, i have no experience but i did notice the beetle seems to flex a bit. when the wind would gust up ocassionally, it looked kind of like a skeleton. today no hard landings so all is in good shape (one semi hard landing described below).

the heart stopping thing today was one of the lines came loose from the bridle. thing started spinning like crazy and heading for the ground. i gave it a lot of slack as it neared the ground and it slowed down a lot so even then it hit fairly light.

and lucky me, there just so happens to be a kite festival this coming weekend near my place (dallas). am looking forward to meeting some other flyers and hopefully pick up some tips.

thanks,

gw

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Fly a kite and they will come. :wub:

The beatle is great, but now I'm hearing (so this is hearsay) that there is a newer kite out there that is as sturdy as the beatle, but has more versatility? Is this true? Inquiring flyers want to know. Theresa, Scott? Do you have any answers?

BB

Penny

Oh, welcome GW. Could the problems you had keeping the kite up be that there was only one line to hold it up? I need 4 strings, or they won't stay up hardly at all. :) Just kidding.

It could be the wind wasn't quite 7-8 mph, but a little under 5 and the kite was heavy... so getting up higher to find stronger wind without interruption would take some work. That's why some people run or move backwards while they launch, in order to create their own ground air.

Even when the wind is blowing fairly well, I have people reach down and feel the air near the ground. It seldom blows down there. Probably because of obstructions. I don't know. But I do believe in a power launch in the beginning.

Kiteflying is so versatile, there's something for everyone in it.

Enjoy what you can GW. Yup.. got to say it. Keep looking up! B)

BB

Penny

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Just today I was having a conversation about a car hittin a wall at 5mph and how much damage you can do. A kite will absorb an impact of far greater speeds than that and in comparison, the technology is relatively simple. The Beetle is almost bullet proof, still see them break but extremely durable. Size is the major factor here... Take a piece of steel rod 1/2" thick 8" long and bend it, pretty hard to bend. Take the same steel and make it 8' long and it so flimsy it wobbles when you pick it up. Same goes for wingspan on a kite, the smaller the stronger.

Penny is right, The Nighthawk from Premier, a little over 6ft and tricky as the day is long. A little less bullet proof but still extremely durable. Prism also has the Quantum which is pretty much designed for the new flyer in mind with some shock absorbing innovations. A little harder to trick and pulls like a freight train at 12mph though.

Welcome GW

Scott

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