Power Kite Forum - Red/Blue, Left/Right???????

Red/Blue, Left/Right???????

bigkid - 4-10-2012 at 09:24 AM

After a long discussion of the two colors red and blue, and whether they are right or left, thought I had it figured out.
Now its all messed up again. :mad:

Found this as I was checking out the North and South - 3 for 2 deals going on.

These are the newly upgraded PANSH Kite Killers with high performance.
The wristbands are double padded for maximum comfort. The padding is well absorbent and soft. They are color coded: Left=Red, Right=Blue. You can put them on your wrists rapidly without any confusion.
PANSH Kite Killers are designed to be altered from an adult width to a child width with ease.

1341326624.jpg - 42kB

lactardjosh - 4-10-2012 at 09:56 AM

I know left is supposed to be red, but it's always made more sense to me that Right would be Red.

Of course, the padded wrist straps I have are blue and yellow, so...

martinipro - 4-10-2012 at 10:07 AM

I know most brands blue is right.
I have found a couple that go against it and thats what makes it confusing.
Prism is one of them.

heliboy50 - 4-10-2012 at 10:15 AM

If memory serves, I actually paid attention to the little line/bridle/handle number tabs from PL when setting up a couple of new kites this year and they say red left, black right. I think it's more important to just do all of them the same on your gear so you just know "Hey {whatever color} so that's a {whatever} side handle."

BeamerBob - 4-10-2012 at 10:15 AM

It messes with me to pick up handles or bar that have red on right. It used to be just a suggestion and now several companies have red marked with an "L" or "Wrong way" if red is right on a bar.

abkayak - 4-10-2012 at 10:52 AM

hate to deviate but such a good picture to ask with.... I have KS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s hooked up as you show in this picture. and have others hooked to the loops on the bottom of the handles.... is direct to handle set up wrong?? or maybe just not as right??? seems to work both ways but I admit im grabbing more trailing edge the way shown here. maybe grabbing more will cut out the possiblities of the occasional death spiral??????

shehatesmyhobbies - 4-10-2012 at 11:43 AM

I would love to say the Red is Right, but usually it is Red on left.

markite - 4-10-2012 at 11:58 AM

I think it was discussed in the forum recently but I'll go over again some things - years ago with stunt kites we often had black and white sleeving so it often became a rule of thumb "black bottom". Then when we started to get more colour coded sleeving it was usually "red right". Some sleeving had tracers of colour in them so you might get red top right and black with red tracers of thread for right bottom.

When surfing came along everything was more in line with sailing so red - port side - left, green - starboard side - right. Most companies have red (on left) but many colours are used on the right red and green, red and blue, red and black.

Some friends that have no interest in surfing and fly handles will always do red / right. Some have switched all gear to red left so it's all the same if they do various disciplines. So if picking up someone else's control bar or handles, check before launch.

PS- I like how the new Pansh kite killers have Red-left written on them to make it easy but why does the photo show red on right? Something got flipped in translation?

indigo_wolf - 4-10-2012 at 01:10 PM

Wow.... I thought I was OCD. :tumble:

I think either is fine, as long as you are consistent about it and it's easy for you to remember.

If you are sharing kites, and it bothers the other person, it's not like it would take forever to switch over to whatever suits their preference... and more importantly their mnemonic "programming".

Better to follow what works for you rather than following some arbitrary "tradition" that might come back to bite you during an "Oh Cr@p!!!" moment.

By way of illustration.... some time ago, I was testing a a bicycle before purchase. Apparently it was set up with the front/rear brakes set up the way they are on probably a majority of bikes out there.... front brakes on left, rear brakes on right. Well, the problem was that, on most motorcycles sold in the US, the front brakes are on the right handlebar.... and that's what I was used to. So when I went to hammer the brakes, I ended up applying too much pressure to the front brake (thinking it was the rear brake), locked up the front tire and went over the handle bars.

I told them I would purchase the bike, but could they please swap the brake controls.

Like so many other things in life, do what works for you.

ATB,
Sam

bigkid - 4-10-2012 at 01:21 PM

I just got a laugh out of the picture showing one thing and the writeup said the opposite. And in the next sentence it spoke about putting them on with out any confusion. :lol:

Guess it wasnt that funny:puzzled:
Guess you had to be there, OH, I was. STILL FUNNY. :lol:

And about where to connect the KKs to the lines/handles, if it works, good enough. :thumbup:

heliboy50 - 4-10-2012 at 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigkid
I just got a laugh out of the picture showing one thing and the writeup said the opposite. And in the next sentence it spoke about putting them on with out any confusion. :lol:

Guess it wasnt that funny:puzzled:

No it was funny, I just wasn't going to point it out. Didn't want to seem snarky. Mark that one on the calendar.:wow: :smilegrin:

indigo_wolf - 4-10-2012 at 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by abkayak
hate to deviate but such a good picture to ask with.... I have KS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s hooked up as you show in this picture. and have others hooked to the loops on the bottom of the handles.... is direct to handle set up wrong?? or maybe just not as right??? seems to work both ways but I admit im grabbing more trailing edge the way shown here. maybe grabbing more will cut out the possiblities of the occasional death spiral??????

To some degree the handles you are flying on be a factor. Some have pigtails for kite killers (in addition to stake loops). If the do, you can attach them there. If not you can attached them at the ends of the brake line leaders.

If you do the latter, it would be advisable to larks head between two knots on the brake line leaders, so a sudden gust and subsequent deployment of the kite killers doesn't allow the line on the killer to slide back on the leader line.

ATB,
Sam

BeamerBob - 4-10-2012 at 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by heliboy50

Quote:

Guess it wasnt that funny:puzzled:

No it was funny, I just wasn't going to point it out. Didn't want to seem snarky. Mark that one on the calendar.:wow: :smilegrin:

Duly noted for noteworthiness! :saint: :rolleyes:

:smug:

DemBones - 4-10-2012 at 08:08 PM

I just took a second look at that picture and realised that the power leaders are blue, and the brake leaders are red, then the power lines are also red.

Pull any line and the kite will turn left. :lol:

:frog:

Magic kite :alien:

Red Right Returning

crazyherb - 4-10-2012 at 08:55 PM

From my old pilot training days...

Red-Right-Returing

Red on the right is returning (coming towards you).

Wait....that's backwards!!

WHAT??!! I've been doing it all wrong!!???

Now I'm really confused...LOL :ticking:

Scudley - 4-10-2012 at 11:29 PM

Technically, red is port, not left, green(blue) is starboard, not right. It is not your left or right that the colour is supposed to indicate but the kites.
That said red on my left is my usual practice.
S

Fizeman - 5-10-2012 at 12:16 AM

Red is not right, right. ? Correct me if i'm wrong for saying red is wrong if it's on the right, right. :smilegrin:

If red is on the left, then it is right, right. Right on. And ride on.

lactardjosh - 5-10-2012 at 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scudley
Technically, red is port, not left, green(blue) is starboard, not right. It is not your left or right that the colour is supposed to indicate but the kites.
That said red on my left is my usual practice.
S

See now, this actually makes sense to me. The kite's right is red. I can use this as a mnemonic because it rhymes and it uses right is red.

Incidentally, I know port is left because they both have 4 letters.

Mnemonics are fun!

markite - 5-10-2012 at 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by crazyherb
From my old pilot training days...

Red-Right-Returing

Red on the right is returning (coming towards you).

Wait....that's backwards!!

WHAT??!! I've been doing it all wrong!!???

Now I'm really confused...LOL :ticking:

You're right. On a boat the lights on the port side are red and starboard are green. From the stern you would see red left which is heading away, right right means I'm coming toward you (returning).

g00fba11 - 5-10-2012 at 05:08 PM

Did Flysurfer do it "Right" on the Viron????

Even the wing tips are color coded......

Red left ----- Green right.....

Cerebite - 6-10-2012 at 08:25 PM

just to add another factoid to the discussion, Port is a shade/color of red.

From the discussion I have had on the subject with old flyers around here the "red right" school of thought is from the dual line/ stunt kite realms and the "red port" school is from sailing.

It gets even more confusing if you ever row/ crew as you are backwards in the boat.

Being a medium -old sailor I run all of my stuff with red to my left hand.