So I have had my 1.3 Symphony for a month now and am starting to have issues with it.

First thing is that I stretched one of the control lines out about 6 inches longer than the other one. Last week it flew fine as long as I kept the long line pulled back more, today no matter how much I adjusted for line stretch it didn't work right. So I got home and stretched the other line out to match, not sure if this was the right way to do it but I didn't want to tie knots in the long line.

Second issue is that the end cells don't seem to inflate properly anymore. I noticed that the ends keep rolling over and the kite collapses. Before today this only happened if I didn't have enough wind to fly or if I was at the edge of the window. Now though I can have it flying good in a decent wind "10-15 MPH", go to make a pass from one side to another and the edge folds under. I got home and set the kite up in the garage. If I hold both bridle knots in the same hand all of the lines except for the very outside ones are tight. The outside lines are loose on both sides. Is this how they are supposed to be or did they somehow stretch out? Is there any chance that the kite nylon on the body could stretch?

The kite flew great until about 2 weeks ago when we had a real wind whipper of a day "25mph+" since then the kite has been unstable. I know from reading this forum that the Beach series has some issues but I bought this kite before I found this forum.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Omni

A kite of that size will turn on a dime. I suggest a 4 line kite of a much larger size (3+), or skip the fixed bridles and start using depower kites.
You might have a hole or tear somewhere in the kite, since that is a 2 line kite any difference in line length between the two handles is going to severely screw you up. If you fly the kite too far out of the window it will crumple and die but it should not inflate and roll over................................

I hate to say this, but the 1.3 Beach isn't that great a kite. I won't carry the 1.3 Beach anymore because of its flying characteristics. The 1.7 is okay, but my preference with HQ and the 2 line foils is the Symphony (NOT BEACH). The bridles are so much better. The Peter Lynn Vibe is similar to the Symphony series as well and they all fly great. The 1.3 Vibe will run circles around the Beach. I never could get a 1.3 Beach off the ground until 10 mph where it would fly any good.

I love HQ, but they missed it with the 1.3 Beach.

My .02

I would agree with mike on his assessment of the 1.3 beach. I would say if you want a 4-line fixed bridal try looking for a used 3.0m beamer, or similar.
3m will hold value better, sell quicker in the future, and increase your skills quicker then the beach 1.3. Most of us have flown a beamer, and have been very happy with them. The Vibe would make a great replacement for the beach.

I am saving my pennies for a Peter Lynn Hornet. It is going to take awhile before I can get the required funds up though. In the mean time the 1.3 Beach is all that I have. It handles fine and isn't that hard for me to get in the air if we have enough wind. The issue is that the end cells keep folding over. I will check the kite for rips since we did plow it into the ground a few times and it started acting funny after that day. I did a quick check yesterday but maybe we blew a seam or something else small that I missed.

Omni,

Sounds like you may have damaged cells in the kite. This would cause it to fly differently. Look inside the cell openings and examine the cell walls. Perhaps one of the ribs is torn.

With the line stretch issue, creep occurs with most lines, even Spectra or Dynema. The Beach 1.3 has polyester line, so you can expect stretch in the lines, especially if the winds are near 30 mph.

Cheers,

Chris
HQ Kites

I looked the kite over today. Checked all of the seams, ribs etc and couldn't find anything that would cause the kite to fly funny. I did find a rib to top of the kite seam that was twisted when it was sewn but the location at the back of the cell would not affect the flying in any way. I looked the bridle over again and found one of the lines that is fuzzy and thin in the upper left half. It looks like someone took sandpaper to it and stretched it, its funny though since this is the left side of the kite and it was the right control line that stretched out on me. The far outside lines on both sides also looked stretched out. Guess that maybe I have just already worn the kite out. I am going to tinker with the line lengths some and see if I cant get it to fly stable again. If it doesn't it is no big loss since I have already gotten the $30.00 out of it that I paid for it.