New to Quads !

[Kite 259]

I am beachfront at Ft Myers beach FL and excited to kite with this solid wind here. My wife loves to sunbath and I don't so I figure we can both be together doing our own thing.

I have been lurking here for a month reading all the great postings about quads hoping to figure out the best purchase. I see some say don't buy for two years but I don't see any locals to learn from and if I destroy a kite I want it to be mine.

I messaged JB for input and info on a new Djinn but his current stock is sold out and it will be several weeks wait.  I did order a new REV 1.5 Classic yesterday to use as a starter and will buy a new Djinn in the near future if the quads are a  success for me. 

I bought the standard sail since wind speeds will be 5-12 mph with average around 9mph. Hoping this was the right choice for the wind speed here, and I will add more kites to the fleet for wind change down the road.  I also bought the 90# x 80' Line with the stainless handle kit to start with. 

Any input from you experts is always welcome and my choices were made from reading your advice to other new guys on here.

Hope to meet some of you guys in the future!

Thanks Guys and Gals

 

[JWharton]

I went down the exact same route didn't have anyone else's kite to try, just went and bought one spent 2-3 months on my own trying to figure it all out, enjoy your journey it's a source.

 

[makatakam]

You only missed about 8 festivals within an hour and a half of you in Florida in the last two years. Google kite festival Florida. Not to mention other states within reach. Watch the tutorials on this forum until you're sick of them. Then watch again a few more times. They are GOSPEL and will serve you well if you do exactly as instructed. Even then if you are learning on your own you will encounter a difficulty or two. Don't let them frustrate you. It happened to all of us at the outset. Take care of it and carry on. Once you have control of a quad the smiles come easily.

Good luck. Smile, have fun and don't forget to breathe.

[Corey Bell]

Awesome and welcome. Have fun and take your time learning your kite. If you have any questions this is the site to ask them. A very helpful group. I find if I listen to some tunes while flying I can get really get going. Fly like no one is looking!!

[Kite 259]

I am sure I will find some fellow kiters sooner or later, and thanks for the info mak. I spend my summers in IL so  our paths may cross.

I am just waiting for it to ship so I can give it a whirl. I left my E3 back in IL and the wind here is much better for kiting.

Thanks guys.

 

[oapbillf]

19 hours ago, JWharton said:

I went down the exact same route didn't have anyone else's kite to try, just went and bought one spent 2-3 months on my own trying to figure it all out, enjoy your journey it's a source.

 

And then you met me !

[JWharton]

8 hours ago, oapbillf said:

And then you met me !

It’s all your fault😅

[Paul LaMasters]

my experience is somewhat different, used to live in Hoffman Estates, IL.... then moved to Ft Lauderdale, HA! but upon my arrival in Washington DC ('93) none of my kites would even fly!  I had to watch and learn all over again.  Spent two years alone on a crappy Chinese "Backtracker" quad before I even knew they can be adjusted.  Met a guy who flew 'em magically, paid him for a lesson to meet me at a park known for decent wind (Jeff Burka).  At the end of the lesson he gifted me one of his custom Rev2 indoor, outdoor/up-wind one handed kites.  That was 1996 and still can't fly that darn thing like Jeffery!  

Wait a few more years and someone actually asked me for advise,... wow I turned around to see who they could be speaking towards <LOL>. Since then I've worked for a couple of decades on mostly quads and I'm particularly proud of how I can tune a kite to my liking, any quad!  Wife said I had too many hobbies so I gave up Golf and Martial Arts, that's like saying you don't love the 1st two kids anymore, only the 3rd one can stay home!

In 1999 I teamed up with Harold Ames (Kitesquid), we took the SLE and made it fly in a dead calm,... with the big fat stick in there!  Our kites were "no-sew" printed inkjet graphics and locked together in flight with rare earth magnets.  That set a hook!, as an improviser paired with an implementer.  I'd say what I wanted or offer a cocktail napkin sketch & he'd find a way to make it work for us.  This was the end of the stock revolution bridle.  It's got to be tighter, less sloppy for our town.

2003 we took on a new cooperative effort, adding in David Ashworth to our mixed up group.  We converted the Spirit into the Tirips. I flew that kite design for about 3 years as everyone used Revs and I didn't want to be"that guy".

Did a few more self-building projects and a few official workshops, where we'd ignore the offered project and make our own quad stuff. Stole all their best tricks too <HA!> Alas my expectations suddenly soared as well, being around all this grand talent.  Doing it to my expectations took longer than I was willing to give, instead buy it!

I gave up building, instead convincing myself that "commissioned" kites would reside in my A-bag.  Kites that deviated from the approved design, where the build was constructed with my furnished materials, my way, I'll make the bridle and I'll choose the framing specific to each kite. A master craftsman just make the sail, or in some cases you just make a PART OF THE SAIL and somebody else will be paid to finish it so nobody can complain about what I want.  Naturally you pay extra for this level of attention, and for me anyways....  I got what I paid for!  I beat my kites unmercifully until failure.  On a full sail that is about 18 months of life, on a full vent that is about ten years!

You can do as much or as little as you choose with your quad-lined kite.  My own personal rewards come best from experimenting and tuning.  I've spent more time on the ground fiddling with stuff than flying.  "What happens if?" is one of my favorite questions.  I love to stick my handles into someone' else's grasp so they can experience a difference (not better) choice.

Got into a local kite club, there's a whole variety of interests covered thru our membership.  So you can play with a glider or a fighter, battle a mega-inflatable as helpful crew, fly sport kites and see grand national champion single- lined kites.  Our conditions are more challenging, so you will have all-around skills.  For 5 months out of the year we have "indoor conditions with an unlimited ceiling".  

I prefer no wind, dead calm and have plenty of kite choices for this weather.  When our members travel to other parts of the USA we KNOW we can fly anywhere/in any weather conditions, owning the right stuff to sleep in a snow drift of wade thru ankle deep mud.

Oh gosh, how to explain all the friends you will make across the country and even around the world flying quads.  I've been to Canada, Tobago, Galapagos, Machu Pichu with invites to the Mid-East which the wife's scared of quite honestly.  Flown around the states at some spectacular locations too!

Enjoy your journey and share your experiences, they are joyful to us all.  Each of us started the same way, my face is permanently wrinkled from smiling and laughing, and I like it that way.

[Breezin]

5 hours ago, Paul LaMasters said:

 smiling and laughing, and I like it that way.

I was hooked watching videos before I ever got a kite. The HUGE bonus is at times my cheeks still hurt .

[Corey Bell]

Keep us posted on your progress. ask a lot of questions! There are a lot of beginner level videos on this site that are really helpful.

I am not an expert by any means... I will say the first thing that helped me A LOT is lengthening the top leaders if you are getting the Revolution stock leaders. The best $6 bucks I have spent, got them off this site.

Good luck and have fun

[Kite 259]

On 3/13/2019 at 6:26 PM, Corey Bell said:

Keep us posted on your progress. ask a lot of questions! There are a lot of beginner level videos on this site that are really helpful.

I am not an expert by any means... I will say the first thing that helped me A LOT is lengthening the top leaders if you are getting the Revolution stock leaders. The best $6 bucks I have spent, got them off this site.

Good luck and have fun

I am learning and trying to choose my wind rather than learning to adapt my rev. Just so I can learn the control well first.  I am at that point and looking for additional upgrades. Are these new leaders longer ? 

I also need a colored line that I can see in the white sand here.  Beach walkers need to see it too so they can avoid it.  Any thoughts? 

[Paul LaMasters]

new leaders are a must, it "tames the savage beast", making the kite wait for instructions instead of demanding you apply brakes to gain the slightest FOOTHOLD OF CONTROL.

Colored flying lines?  I've seen Red spectra but the best is Skybond Yellow

[Corey Bell]

If yours has the stock leaders, ie... about 4 inches long, than yes longer with a lot more knots for adjustments, which in time you will use these knots to adjust the top of your kite,  towards and away from you, according to the wind and as you want it to fly.  The stock leaders are just too short causing the kite to have too much forward/up flight, by lengthening them you will have a more controlled, neutral, flight.

I typically do not let my lines lay for long, always watching when I do. The longest is to park it for a drink then right back at it, on my feet flying for 2 to 3 to 4 hours. I don't think beach goers for the most part are going to see the lines no matter what color!!

Enjoy and keep us posted. If you need any more help, don't be afraid to ask.

[frob]

5 hours ago, Kite 259 said:

 Beach walkers need to see it too so they can avoid it.  Any thoughts? 

After someone tripped over and broke some lines, I went to home depot, bought some stakes and some spools of neon flagging tape .

String up a line of that on waist-high or knee-high stakes between where you land your kites and where you stand. Make sure to keep your kite lines as close to that string of neon tape as you can.  I found sometimes people will climb over it but at least then they're looking at the ground and notice the kite lines.

The tape also works to block off an area instead of just mark where you keep your lines, I've used it for that when parking started extending on a beach over to rope off my own demo areas.

It also makes a good lightweight tail that you can make as long or short as you want; I will occasionally add some neon yellow flagging tape to one of my neon-colored kites (see my avatar picture to the left of the post) and it adds some interesting visuals.

 

[Corey Bell]

Kite 259... I don't know if you saw this yet, "" Ok quads, I want a quad clinic on the east coast. JB said to get 5-6+ and we can talk dates. Who's up for some real time!? I'm in Ga. Ill drive wherever. FL, NC, SC, MS, AL? Let's start talking..."" from a facebook post and the last I saw it was going to be in Florida. Probably East coast. 

Would you be interested?? The tentative dates are Aug.3rd and 4th.

[Paul LaMasters]

We demarcate our field with the neon yellow/orange paint bucket spill lips from a home repair store,... kind of like safety cone, but much shorter, more flexible too  and you won't trip over em either stepping backwards. Typically they are laid out in a circle, with the music and our base camp at the center. As the wind shifts you just move around the circle, keeping the center point common and holding an area (w/o a permit!). Not even holding an area, just encouraging the public to respect our boundaries for their safety purposes. 25 or 30 of em fit into a backpack, or just a long bread wrap type of twisty-tie.

you drop them 25 or 30 feet apart, using the staked-out 120s from the center as your guide as you walk in circle around the parameter.

[Wayne Dowler]

We usually use short soccer cones and form them into a wedge shape on the beach. All  the handles close together at one end of the wedge, then all the kites down at the other. No matter how well you mark it out, seems like someone will still walk through - oh well.

[Paul LaMasters]

walking thru is fine,

....remember though, "we are allowed to chase spectators on the grass, just NOT the sidewalks" at the DC national mall, per the Park Service Police!  So thanks, for making it so easy on us and entertaining the onlookers as you try to escape a group of dedicated quad-heads giving chase.  few of us actually stake down the handles, but a stroller pulled thru a half dozen unoccupied line-sets is surely to be avoided

I'm more concerned with those folks who perceive a slightly open ground area and feel they can drop their picnic basket and enjoy the day right there with the kids' strollers lined-up! Or frisbee, football, kick-ball, soccer  invaders seeking an opportunity, HA not on first Sunday!!!

We can't show the uniformed officers a hard boundary we have imposed, that prompts a request for documentation on a permit. No stakes in the ground or tying-off on trees, signage or heaven forbid an actual monument marker either!

Gotta land all the kites and wait for the all clear sign when presidential helicopters are departing or arriving.

I love flying for a crowd, so all the other associated crap is secondary in my book. Onlookers means some of pass by too close, but some of 'em can help but to stop and chat on their way.