Kite : 3 M 4 LINE Traction Power Kite (generic) w/ handles.

Note: I purchased this knock off on Ebay for $80.00 as my first kite to see if I would like the hobby. I did not come with any setup instrucions, no DVD, nothing. Everything I've learned I've read from the internet. I've taken my 13 year old nephew out a couple of times and had a lot of fun - but I have some questions.

Question 1: The kite seems to be slightly unstable and jerky, wanting to turn clockwise without much movement from me. I've gotten good at correcting this and straightening it -- but the kite never seems able to stay in the air for long than 60-90 seconds.

Is this the typical life of a beginner? I'd really like a little more control and understanding - but practice will make perfect, I suppose.

The brake lines (on the inside of the kite) when connected to the handles seem a little longer than the outside lines. I wasn't certain if this had something to do with it.

Question 2: When flying ... do I keep the tops of the handles pointed at the kite with the bottom brakes pulled in towards my belly? Or do I point the tops of my handles towards my face and allow for a little slack in the brake line?

This may be the exact reason that the kite doesn't stay in the air long.

Question 3: The kite almost always lands upside down on the ground. Is there a trick to relaunching the kite without making my nephew run over, flip it over, hold it up and we start over? We might launch the damn kite 30 times in a 2 hour period. It's a little frustrating.

Again .. its fun thus far and I'll eventually move up to a better kite -- but I wanted to get my money's worth and educate myself with this initial purchase.

Thank you for your responses.

Question 1: This might be because the kite is a cheap knock off or because your lines aren't even. Check to make sure your lines are the same length. You might also have one hand rotated a little different than the other, putting tension on one brake and not the other so watch out for that too (I did this when I first started)

Question 2: You will want the tops of the handles pulled towards you creating more tension on the power lines. Pushing the tops away from you will brake the kite making it fall out of the air. The exact position of the handles will vary with the kite's preferences I think. In general, you will want more tension on the top (power) lines.

Question 3: Reverse launching is the technique. Essentially you launch it by pulling the back lines instead of front lines and then spin it around til it is face up. This took me a few sessions to get so don't get discouraged! There may be a video demonstrating this on youtube but I haven't found a good one

hey tooley go here for info

www.coastalwindsports.com

In addition to wannabe kiter's first answer, if you find the lines are different lengths, you may want to tie a knot (butterfly is a good one) big enough on the longer line to make them even. The top two should be the same length and the bottom two should be the same. They don't not necessarily need to be (and usually aren't) the same length

I don't know what type of lines were provided with your kite but the general rule of thumb is to never put knots in your lines as this reduces the breaking strength by about 40%.
In case your lines aren't equal untie the sleeves of the longer ones and adjust there till they're the same as the shortest line.

Sleeve is the "sock" around the line where its knotted.

In case you have stitched lines you'll have to cut them and put new sleeves on.

Other way around this is to adjust the knots on your handles.

good luck!

That works as well, probably better, but I also have a kite with which I jump moderately high with that I have tied double fisherman and butterfly knots where needed depending on the break point