I just got into kiting. It's probably a common story -- I bought my kids some cheap kites and ended up being the one to fly them.

Now I have a QuadTrac Pro Foil (3m) on order. I also bought a Prism Stylus P.1. Yesterday, on its first flight, a gust of wind caught the kite, snapped both lines, and the kite was pulled into a passing dust devil. I had to run across the park and into a neighborhood to catch it. (Luckily it landed in a yard and not on a roof).

Now I'm nervous about flying the QuadTrac when it comes. It is gusty around here. Is the pull adjustable with the brake lines? How maneuverable are the quad line parafoils? Will the QuadTrac work as well as a stunt kite as the Stylus? What can I expect from my first time out? Now that I lost the Stylus to a gust, I have a vision of the QuadTrac being yanked out of my hands the second it is airborne.

Maybe I should have stuck with the Stylus, but I can always fall back on it.

Thanks,

Paul

You'll be fine. Quad line foils offer greater control in that you can adjust the kite's angle of attack simply by rotating your wrists. Thumbs toward you, kite moves forward and pulls hard. Thumbs away by pushing the top of the handles toward the kite and it stops, slows or goes backwards depending on how you have your kite set up. Pulling in the "brake" lines by rotating your wrists forward also reduces pull. So you can hold the kite motionless with little pull and then increase pull/speed by changing the angle of attack. When quads first came on the scene as rigid stunt kites the lower lines served as much more than simply brake lines. By rotating your wrists in opposite directions you can make the kite spin around its center much like a propeller. Using this in conjunction with pull turns can give you greater control over your kite. Take it out in light winds until you get used to it. 3m shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
Dave