Breezin Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Rough week on the kites. PDSUL, Zephyr and Widow were a little mistreated. Thought I had holed the LE on the Widow Monday. Did a nice patch job and with 1 day low winds the next high and repeat didn't fly it again till today. About 45 minutes in I went to adjust my rollups and noticed a zip tie was broke on 1.Low and behold the hole I patched was for the zip tie.Hey I am a rookie. Very happy though slightly embarrassed . 1/2 hour later winds around 8 I tried to cascade in the center. Got about 1/2 way down and got a wing tip wrap pulled that line trying to flare a bit and rotate out. Pulled to hard and started to nose dive. Freaked even more and instead of throwing slack on both lines then yanking opposite line yanked the same one even harder. Kite proceeded to the ground even faster. Even while yanking I knew that I'd made a bad mistake. Not sure how but I avoided a total nose dive but hit pretty hard tail about 2 o'clock, nose forward, belly down . Thought I'd jacked the TE from the way the kite was sitting. Nope broke female spreader completely in half at the outside edge of inner spreader connection. Had a spare so kite is ready to fly . Maybe at times I'm yanking to hard hence the broken zip tie. YA THINK !! Mon.Tue,Wed all 3 issues were at 4 pm. Now I could be come superstitious and not fly then. Maybe blame it on the fates and become deterministic. Maybe figure it out. I usually quit around 4. I start pushing harder knowing the day is coming to an end. Looking back that is the time of day Iv'e had a lot of problems. Not all but most.From failed tricks to broken kites. So having reasoned this out sorta, I spent the next 2 hours on the Hydra. Got close to the end and what the hell. It's to much fun. So off to stoopidville I go again. Set up to land as close as I can to the kite bag in window center.to end the day. Came in from the right about 3' off the ground nicely powered up. Snap stalled just about perfect at the bag and went into a turtle. Was going to float down a bit thinking tip stand landing. Decided to 360 1st. Got to the fade, lost it, nose dive and lost spines c clip. Got a spare and it's in place. This week I think Iv'e gotten to level 2 out of 10. Still hanging out at mostly 1 but really starting to see and feel things better. Combos are coming a little more on purpose. Weird thing is the last month Iv'e noticed it takes longer to transition to another kite. On another post someone told me that opinions of a kite will change over time. You learn more and more what a kite is designed to do and most importantly why. My muscle memory is starting to develop but the connection to my brains not quite there. Some things transition well others not so much. The more I learn the more diverse my kites are becoming. When that connection happens I think I'll be reaching level 3. Man this stuffs fun broken kites and all . 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Every kite has its own special personality, just takes time to figure out. Swapping out kites so much, means it is harder to figure out any single kite. Spend as long as the conditions allow on one kite and only switch if you really need to. That way you learn that particular kite well. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Wow 4:30 getting ready to quit and epic fail. Trying to do cartwheels to the bag blew the 3rd one and broke LE above the ferrule. Apparently it's a common thing trying that trick so I'd better get better.This run of damage needs to get over SOON. Starting to get a complex. Poor Zephyr will be going thru hell the next year or so . Nice winds today, mostly between 3 and 6. A few drops to 0 and some gusts to 8. As i'm getting better on the kite i'm starting to leave the weight in and the TE tensioned no matter what the wind. Seems to be less floaty and more graceful. Flips are easier but the turtle seems a little harder to hold. Got to thinking if I take a 2 day break I might settle down and break this curse Iv'e put on myself. Naw life's to short. Only the z is down for now. If I break the rest tomorrow I'll go to ITW Wed. Get what parts I can [hopefully all]and buy another kite . Ha there is the answer. Surely a new kite will fix my ham fisted flying. Wonder what the wife's going to think of this theory . 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kansas Flier Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 1 hour ago, Breezin said: Surely a new kite will fix my ham fisted flying. It's worth a try. A new kite won't "fix" my skills, but there something to be said about getting to know a new kite. 1 hour ago, Breezin said: Wonder what the wife's going to think of this theory There are many more "hobbies" that are more expensive than kites. And remember it's for the grandkids, if all else fails. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Ahh the heirloom angle. Must explore that further. The investment for the future went away when replacement parts started showing up LOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted March 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 Well I am pretty convinced that this is not a hobby and more of a sport. Mainly because for more then a week Iv'e been updating injury reports. Yesterday winds around 10 for a few hours and then started hitting 15 for the last hour. Flew the Nighthawk for a good 2 1/2 hours and had a great time. Been a couple weeks without it. Really like that kite. Once again nose forward belly down I pulled the kite forward and put a small puncture in the upper sail. This is the 7th time Iv'e done this. Ya think I'd have learned not to do that by now.I get a little excited.Good thing is repairs are really hard to see. Got out the Jewel. Some gusts started the kite shuddering but had a lot of fun. At the end low to the ground got a tip wrap and hard nose dived. Popped out spine, broke 1 c clip and the rest came loose. Tough kite and no damage. 2nd time it's happened. Going to get some tubing today and replace all the c clips with it. Was getting a little angry with myself and a song popped into my head that I haven't thought of in years. Sonny and Chers The Beat Goes On. Got to laughing a bit thinking about future days. Pretty soon I'll be good enough to walk out of the house debating if I'm going to fly my Fearless lite vented, Widow Maker Pro, Pro Dancer or Super Nova UL or something like them. I'll look back on these days beating the hell out of my first batch of kites with a skip in my step and a grin.In the meantime I'll fly on . 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezin Posted March 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2018 Yay no damage today. What a relief.But then I didn't fly today . Think I would have rather had to fix something. Winds are going to be 20 to 30 mph tomorrow. Maybe I'll get the stones to punch holes in the Addiction and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted March 15, 2018 Report Share Posted March 15, 2018 Where do you live? You seem to have the fastest average wind speeds on the entire planet in that area. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khsidekick Posted March 15, 2018 Report Share Posted March 15, 2018 Where do you live? You seem to have the fastest average wind speeds on the entire planet in that area. Eastern Colorado. I’m in in Western Colorado and have relatively no wind [emoji100]. Moving to Oregon coast in 2 months. Sent from my IPhone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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