A couple of good outings with the new Freilein Exodus Max

[p23brian]

We had great weather over the weekend. Sunny with pre-Irma wind of about 12-15 with stronger gusts. I had the chance to switch back and forth between my full sail Exodus and the new Exodus Max full vent version I just picked up. I spent most of the time with using the Max. It was just a lot smoother in these conditions. I hadn't been flying for several months, but I was able to pick up pretty much where I left off. I worked on hovers, figure 8s, side slips, etc. and felt like I had pretty good control. I did find that even with 12-15 wind the Max was a little more difficult to launch than the full sail Exodus. I moved the upper lines in 1 knot on the leaders and made it much easier. It occurred to me that having some kind of handle setup that allowed adjusting the top lines on the fly would be pretty cool. Have no idea how to make it work, but it might be something to spend some time noodling over. I can definitely see that flying quads is like many hobbies where you can learn the basics fairly quickly, but spend years developing skills and fine-tuning.

[makatakam]

On 9/11/2017 at 9:35 AM, p23brian said:

I can definitely see that flying quads is like many hobbies where you can learn the basics fairly quickly, but spend years developing skills and fine-tuning.

Yes it is! And once you think you have learned it all, someone will invent something new to do and you're learning again. 

Vented kites always feel smoother than full sail kites because of the smaller area being affected by inconsistencies in the way the wind is blowing and because the kite moves slower. Same force, smaller surface. That is also the reason it is a bit harder to launch. However, the launch and overall speed are the only things it affects. Once you've launched you should be golden. Remember that when you come in one knot you give up some percentage of control over reverse flight and hovers. I don't think that adjusting the top lines on the fly would be enough of a benefit to justify the time to develop a method of doing it. You can simulate bringing them one or two knots in by putting your index fingers over the top leaders. Most flyers just get used to having to give it a little extra "pop" when launching. Now as a method of very, very fine tuning it might be interesting on the fly.

Half the fun is modifying or building variations of things that exist. That is how great discoveries are made. Go for it, but make sure you're having fun. After all, that's what kite flying is about.