Power Kite Forum

Easy to launch myself - recommendation.

MauiChris - 12-8-2006 at 02:04 PM

I have been pouring over the reccomendations for beginner kite flyers in the forum and haven't found an answer to my questions.

I am looking for a kite that I could launch by myself. For a beginner like me I was looking at something durable like the Ozone Imp.

How is the Ozone for launching alone?

Also how big of a kite would people reccomend for about 15mph winds for someone who is 150lbs?

I have heard good things about the imps but I am unsure whether to go for the 1.5m or 2m one. I want to get dragged around a bit and possibly when I get better at managing the power to be able hop some.

Any help would be most appreciated. I was also looking at awindofchange.com to buy the kite from because they seem to have good prices for that kite. Is there any other store worth considering?

Thanks again,
-Chris

Pablo - 13-8-2006 at 11:23 AM

I'd go for the 2m, possibly a 3m if you want to get dragged at all in that wind, going up will take more power yet, so bigger kite or same kite in bigger winds. For someone your size you could probably get away with a 2 kite quiver in the long run, for someone your size, a 3m then a 5.5m seems like it covers a large range.

You'd want to get the smaller kite for now and learn it, if you go with a 3m, then start out in 8-10mph winds and go from there, slowly work your way up.

There's a lot of great starter kites out there, I'd look mainly at 3-4 of them, the Beamers, the Busters, the Radsails all make great starter kites as well, Then I've never flown them but the Prism kites are apparently pretty good for a first kite as well.

With the Buster II comming out, you can probably find a new Buster I somewhere going for fairly cheap as well.

tedsfoils - 13-8-2006 at 12:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MauiChris
I have been pouring over the reccomendations for beginner kite flyers in the forum and haven't found an answer to my questions.

I am looking for a kite that I could launch by myself. For a beginner like me I was looking at something durable like the Ozone Imp.

How is the Ozone for launching alone?

Also how big of a kite would people reccomend for about 15mph winds for someone who is 150lbs?

I have heard good things about the imps but I am unsure whether to go for the 1.5m or 2m one. I want to get dragged around a bit and possibly when I get better at managing the power to be able hop some.

Any help would be most appreciated. I was also looking at awindofchange.com to buy the kite from because they seem to have good prices for that kite. Is there any other store worth considering?

Thanks again,
-Chris


I have demo ProFoil kites available. I would suggest a 2.5m or a 3.5m

MauiChris - 13-8-2006 at 04:09 PM

So then are most of those kites easy to launch without any help?

I looked at the ProFoils and they seem to be in my price range and are good quality as well. I would most likely go with the 2.5m one as it would give me a good option for lift but also be safe to start with.

I have only flown a power kite once and I don't recall exactly the size or brand. But I believe it was a 2m one and it gave me a workout. Although that was at a windier park than I plan to fly...

I don't have a wind meter and try to estimate it with the Beaufort scale. It has to be between 10mph and 20mph.

-Chris

krumly - 13-8-2006 at 05:55 PM

Chris -

The recommendations to start with a kite in the 2.5 -3.5 meter range in the winds you mention in your last post are on target, with the bigger size letting you scud or get dragged in the lower wind range.

The Imp is a fine 2 line kite - my 6 year old son learned to fly foils with a 1 m. Imp. But he learned how to fly a 1.5m L'l Devil Stunt 4 line this summer. He gets braking and can back the kite right down and reverse launch. So get a 4-line kite. Once you learn how to fly a smaller 4-line, you'll be able to quickly work your way up to bigger sizes. Self-launching and landing bigger kites won't be a problem.

MauiChris - 13-8-2006 at 10:54 PM

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I decided on buying one of Ted's ProFoil kites (2.5m) because I heard good things about them and they were in my price range.

Once I get it and give it a test I'll write up a little review for it.

cfmorrell - 16-8-2006 at 02:56 PM

I don't know that anybody really answered your questions on launching a kite by yourself. Anything is launchable solo, the difficulty is recovering it solo. With a 4 line kite, simply secure your kite killers to the ground, put out the kite, and it will sit. With a 2 line, put something heavy (sand, rocks, bottles of water, etc.) on the trail edge, let your lines out, give it a tug and off you go. With a 4 line, you can simply recover it in the reverse that you launched it. The 2 lines are a little more tricky, as you've got to land it and recover it before it blows away. I usually will intentionally crash my 2 line softly secure the handles and then go pack it up. Hope this helps.

Chris