NWkiteluv Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 Hi all. I'm considering trying a vented dual line for when the wind gets to be past 10mph or so. I like slack line tricks and was hoping to extend my wind range a bit. Does anyone have any recommendations or opinions? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadge Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 I've heard a lot of good things about the Flying Wings Silver Fox vented and it's not too expensive. I haven't tried one, I missed out of one last year and they are pretty rare over here in the UK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I don't think you can get a tougher vented kite than the QPro VV. I used to fly mine as a heavy standard kite with the vent covers on. It was good like that up to ~15mph. Flying dual line kites, no matter how much venting in winds over 15mph becomes just flying, very little tricking. I've had around 10 different vented kites, and gave them all up in favor of quad line kites. Save the tricks for when the wind is under 10mph... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkieRob Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I borrowed a Silver Fox 2.5 Vented from a mate. Never really got on with it. Don't get me wrong, it's a nicely put together kite. It's big at 2.5 meters, over 8 feet. Looks pretty cool too. Didn't try any tricks with it. Just carved around, fade it pretty sweet. As an alternative, there are a high wind standards. Lumokites has the SkyKiller and Vital who both go way past 10mph. L'atelier has a few too. SKD has a Vented in the final stages of development. R-Sky have some venteds too. Soul, Q-Pro, Sky Sport Designs (Lam), there are quite a few really. What kites do you have? Might do well to try and match to those is you can. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I'm looking at the vented Deep Space. I also considered the Silver Fox and vented Soul. Qpro seems like a good option as well. Just wanted to hear opinions from people with experience with vented kites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I use an X-Masque VV from l'Atelier kites in high winds. It doesn't feel "mushy," even with the vents wide open, so it's very trick-capable. Of all my kites, it probably also has the best precision, at least in the minimum- and medium-vent configurations. With any dual-line kite, however, be prepared that you'll need to really step up your game to do tricks in high wind. The vents help a lot to keep the kite from being over-powered when it's in a normal flying position, but you still need to be on your toes to maintain slack through the tricks. I have a few photos of the kite here: http://kitenotes.net and here: http://kitenotes.net/faq . Good luck with your search, Brian 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 So the dark side...I've been considering getting a mid vent for when the wind is too high for dual line. Does that seem like a reasonable plan or should I go full vent? It's a whole other can of worms that I'm sure I will open before too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 That's a pretty kite Brian. Nice Aura SUL too by the way. I love mine as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkieRob Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I'd go full vent Rev if you want to fly if it's too windy for duals. Having said that, I fly my B2 Std all the way up to 20mph. Then I put in its 3 frame... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkieRob Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I will be getting a Seven VTD for my vented dual though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 As far as a Rev is concerned - what is your normal wind condition? Forget all the written specs - if it's 15 mph or up - get a full vent for sure! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 This is how a Rev got in my bag... wanting something that was fun to fly in 15mph+ wind. I got a full vent 1.5b and flew it when the winds were past the fun range of dual line kites. The Rev turned out to be more fun than I thought, so I ended up eventually getting a mid vent, a standard, and a Zen. Although the full vent is good past 20mph, I'm looking for an Extra vent now, since the wind around here over powers the full vent once in a while. I have since sold off all my high wind duals except for the Prism Alien. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I usually have light and variable wind half of the time when I fly. (less than 5) The other half would be probably a split between like 4-7 with the occasional storm coming where it's 8 gusting to 15. I think it's rare that it's a solid 15+ here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 I'm confused?? (no cracks from the peanut gallery) The typical wind speeds you just gave seem right in the ":sweet spot" for most dualies. Why the need for something vented? Those are also great wind ranges for a std Rev. The mid will smooth out gusts because of the venting, but you still need enough wind to get it flying! Maybe telling us what you have now might help solve the problem? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3wrapframe Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 QP, Team Cutting Edge made half vents for the larger vents. I don't know how much tricking you could do but its a really great option as it has several venting options. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 There is nothing to be confused by. The low/mid wind range is absolutely great 3/4 of the time. I want to fly all of the time! (within reason) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I have all my dual line kites up to 10mph I would say. At this time dual line is my focus. Main kites are Widowmaker/ WM UL/ Aura SUL. I feel my indoor to standard range is very well covered. With a vented my hope is that I might get a couple more mph on the upper range like 12 or hopefully a little higher. I actually have two questions here. Is a vented dual line kite worth investing in? The second is which Rev for when it's time to put the dual lines away? At this time I don't see myself flying quad when the winds are sweet for dual line. Not to hate on quad line but for my purposes I'm not trying to get all the Revs just yet. What Rob was saying about how a rev got in his bag really resonated with me. I guess I'm trying to decide between mid or full vent for my first Rev. If a full vent is 15 just to fly then I'm guessing a mid vent would be right for when I would fly a rev. I'm perplexed a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfish Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 No, a full vent Rev is not 15 just to fly. An experienced Rev-er can probably fly a full vent in 5 mph or possibly less. A beginner would probably want 10mph or so before going to full vent. (Note my use of vagueness terms, I'm not the best when it comes to estimating wind speeds.) I think what Wayne meant was if you have 15mph+ when you want to fly a Rev, you shouldn't really be considering anything less than full vent. Regarding dual line kites, maybe the confusion is between flyable wind range vs. trickable wind range? Sounds like you're thinking trickable wind range whereas most of the rest of us are probably thinking flyable wind range. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Yes I'm definitely thinking about the trickable wind range for the most part and thanks for the response about the full vent. I was having difficulty finding much discussion on vented dual lines when I asked this question. Everyone's experience and opinions on these questions are appreciated for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Joanna is right! I tend to fly anything vented more than others. I just don't like being pulled around! You can fly a vented much lower in the wind range than most would think, but it does take a bit of skill to do it. While I'm not up on high wind dualies right now, in the past, the trend was use a smaller kite of similar style, ie a Psycho instead of the Stranger, an Alien over an Illusion or Prophesy, etc. Now there are some vented dualies but don't ask me. It's just not my thing right now. But my Alien was a pretty good performer in high winds, just nothing to compare it to now. Old school kites were limited in some stuff that now seems so easy. Liked linked tricks. My Stranger could do stand alone, one off tricks, pretty easy, but try linking stuff together - no way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Some pull is fun. Enough to get some "lean back". I also don't like getting pulled to where it feels like a struggle. I like graceful flying ideally, doesn't always happen though. I think I'm gonna try that vented Deep Space. Not a cheap kite but if I don't end up liking it I can always sell it and put the money towards a Rev full vent. I'll probably end up with both + several Revs. Also some single line deltas and a couple of gliders! I really just need some more kites! Lol I am hopelessly hooked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 These discussions about "trickable wind range" come up a lot. I've seen some amazing tricks in strong wind. I'm reminded of an event last summer when I was flying in ballistic winds at Crissy Field with the X-Masque vents wide open. I handed the straps over to John Barresi and challenged him to fly straight down and do a nose-down yo-yo in the middle of the wind window. Of course he did it...and made it look easy. (My kites can do some amazing things when other people are flying them ). There are a couple of guys in the area who almost exclusively focus on dual-line tricks. Since we get some pretty strong winds in the summer, their solution is to fly with really short lines of only 30 to 40 feet (!). Their logic is that for tricking in strong winds, they're spending a lot of time at the edge of the wind window, so the short lines allow them to quickly get across the middle of the window so that they can get back to tricking at the edges. The question of whether or not it's worth investing in a vented kite is difficult to answer. When John B. pulled off that amazing yo-yo-from-a-nose-dive in a 22 mph wind, the vents probably helped him keep the speed under control. In those conditions, however, that particular trick was beyond my ability level with or without vents in the kite. The guys who fly at the window edges with the short lines seem to do just fine without vented kites. If you decide to go the vented route, be sure to choose a kite that's been tuned for doing tricks. Many of the vented dual-line kites have an unfortunate vent placement that gives them a mushy feel and makes them somewhat unresponsive to the slack-line trick inputs. Sadly, it's not always possible to test out other peoples' kites, since the vented dualies aren't very common. Since 15+ mph winds are very common around here, I feel that a vented kite is a valuable addition to my bag and I wouldn't want to give it up. If the strong winds were just an occasional thing, I'd probably just get by with putting the wind screens on the Widow Maker, setting the bridle adjustment on the top knot and avoiding the center of the window. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I had a similar experience with John by the way. Not quite as dramatic but I watched him do some pretty hot tricking with my Widow in some pretty strong (for me) winds. I know my skills are coming but I'm still working on being more efficient in my inputs. I'm not quite there yet! More wrist snapping inputs (like a whip is what he described) I was having to run forward a lot to get the tricks and he was just snapping through with minimal forward steps. I do change the bridal for higher wind and stay on the edges especially for tricks like you suggested though have yet to try the wind screens. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Oh yeah, I'm also trying to concentrate on that wrist snap. It's a work in progress. We should fly together sometime and compare notes. I was flying with the wind screens yesterday when I just wanted to slow the kite down to help practice some new skills. I'm not sure how it's possible, but they have remarkably little impact on most of the handling and flying characteristics of the kite. You'll feel pretty much the same amount of pull on the lines. The biggest thing you'll notice is that they slow down the kite. At first, it's a bit awkward to get them on and off of the kite, but you get the hang of that pretty quickly. I'm not sure I would've ever tried them, except that one of the other local Widow Maker owners gave them a strong recommendation. It's something you might want to consider -- they're inexpensive, easy to tuck into the kite bag and give you one more adjustment option on those days when the wind is starting to get a little bit aggressive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWkiteluv Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks for the tip. I think I will give it a try. And yes we should fly together and compare notes. Do you go to any kite festivals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_(on-light)110px.png.f871ac6915a5dfb149c2fb26bbaf0493.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.