hi folks,

complete newbie here who's decided to take up kiting on a bit of a whim and is already baffled by the options available and some of the jargon

basically i'm looking to spend around £100-£150, hopefully for a kite that is going to enable me to get good air(after a whole lot of practise!!!) i weigh 84 kgs,

i have been looking at the 4.0 radsail pro and the beamer II 5.0 which both seem to be within my price range

i'm a complete novice..........being honest i've never flown a kite since i was a child!!!!! so if any advice could be put in laymans terms i would be eternally grateful!!!!!

Check out the peter lynn pepper, it's my favorite kite so far for the money. I do like my arch kites better but cost and set up are always and issue.

Start small, work up to bigger.

Two big reasons:

SAFETY! If you don't know how to control a kite, a big kite WILL hurt you, and then the fun is over until you heal, if you don't just give it up all together, and where's the fun in that?

CONTROL. The smaller the kite, the faster and more responsive it will be. When you're first starting, you make a lot of mistakes: over-steering, under-steering, overflying the wind window (so the kite collapses and either makes a wonderful tangle, or floats right into the power zone, re-inflates and rips your arms out of their sockets.) The bigger the kite, the less room for error, because it takes longer to turn and correct the mistake, and the extra power makes mistakes dangerous. With a smaller kite, they respond instantly, making it easier to correct over/under-steering, and when all goes wrong there isn't the power to hurt you.


I'd highly recommend you find something in the 1 to 2 meter range, or someone who has one you can play with. Most flyers I know have one as a "trainer kite". One you can fly the kite well, then get your big one.

A great skill test taught to me by the Coreylama when I was a newbie:
Fly the kite to a stable position anywhere in the sky, then twist yourself 360° (passing the lines over your head so you don't wrap yourself up!) The kite should stay where it is under full control. This proves that you can look away from the kite and feel it through the lines. (Also a good way to get line twists out of a 10m in 5mph winds : )
Once you can do that with a 1 or 2m kite in a mild breeze, then your ready for more.

God news is that the smaller kites are a lot cheaper!

-Chip

Thanks folks!!!!!!

I'll try to take some of that on-board, so much to learn for what many perceive as a "kids"(HA!) sport, hopefully i won't hurt myself too much,too often!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!!!

I would second the pepper from Peter Lynn. Great starter kite. You should be fine on the 2.5 or 3.5 if your winds arent crazy.

Scoop

I am new to power kiting myself so can't give you the expert opinion that others on this site are giving you but for prices (if you are buying in the Uk) try skymonster.com. They have some really good prices. Or if you want to gamble as I did try the Pansh Blaze (look in kite reviews on this forum). I am very pleased with this kite but it is worth noting the comments from scoopy. Good price on Radsails on ebay too

dnt get a pepper if u want lift! peppers do NOT give lift! my 5 raddy gives some and on ebay you can pick them up really cheap! i got my 5m for 100 quid brand new! the 4m would be great for you mate go for it!

but listen to what chip said about safety

I thought the 3.5 I flew had just a bit of lift. I wouldnt say a lifting kite by design, but I would say it had a good bit of static lift. Static lift is almost a thing of the past, unless the Blade IV brings some of it back. The Blade 2s had HUGE static lift. Anyway, there are not too many kites for that amount of money that make good kites for getting air. I have't flown the Radsail, but I do know you can jump with it. That being said, you can jump with ANY kite in the right conditions.

Scoop

i only tried the smaller peppers and found no lift at all! could be set up the fella had but it only dragged me a bit! the bigger ones might have more lift but i dont really know! with the 5m raddy in about 15mph i can get lifted in the air a fair bit!

Thanks again for the advice everybody!!!!

i ended up doing the exact opposite to what you all told me and bought myself a Flexifoil super 10!!!!!should be here any day soon:singing:

i can't seem to find any reviews for this kite, does anyone have any hints or tips? read that it generates about 150lbs, is this good? will it drag me? is it easy to fly?

I don't know how to measure the pulling power of my Flexfoil Stacker 6's. I know when I fly just one, it isn't anything more than a stunt kite. I can fly it in 3 mile an hour winds. When I stack all of them (4) in a 10 mile an hour wind, I need spikes on my shoes or I get dragged all around the local ball field. Lot of fun getting green. The 10 is suppose to be more powerfull than the 6, duh.

So if you only have one, it's not really a traction kite. If it's windy (10 mph) than you will get a thrill as you pass the kite through the sweet spot and than take it to the zenith.

my mate had a super 10 for his first kite! nice kite but fast in the air and the stronger the wind the faster it is! it will drag but will not lift! easy set up and fun to fly

so i should probably just get used to the feel of the one super and see how it goes before getting another ???

The problem with the Standard Flexi kite stacks, being a two line kite, is that you don't get an efficient wing shape compared to your standard 4 line power kite. So a 6M flexi pulls less than a 1m foil. You also don't have the upwind power you need to really buggy.

I have a Flexi 6m I got cheap at a charity kite auction. It's fun to play with, and very fast, but it only pulls as hard as my 7" stunt kite.

The Super 10 will get you feeling some pull, and should be a good kite to get you into kiting. But is still going to be shy of a quad line foil.

If it's worth anything for comparison, it's listed as 8mph+, and under 10 they fly pretty soft, you need 15-20 to get good pull, from my experience. But I only pull out my 10m foil (Competition XXXL) in under 5mph winds, and have buggied at 30mph then! Any more wind and it's just too much to handle safely, smaller foils will do the job better.

Flexi makes a distinction between "power kite" (stand and get pulled a bit to a lot) and "traction kite" (Sit, stand or whatever on vehicle of some sort and go where you want, not just down wind.)

I'd still recommend a smaller foil in moderate winds when you really want some power. You need to learn how to fly a 4 line kite before you get enough power to get airborn. To start, a small quad foil feels like real power, and then you have a great traction kite for high winds. But power is addictive, I remember when my stunt kite felt like it pulled hard, LOL. Now I don't think it's pulling unless my heels are sliding, and I'm 280lbs! The more power you have, the more you want! That's why the sport is addicting!

Just make sure you don't get the power before you can handle it, hurt yourself and make us all look bad!

I buggied most of a day with my 1.5m "trainer" kite last year at NABX when the wind was gusting to 40 MPH!

I'm all about finding good deals on used kites. To date, I've never bought a power kite new. (apart from my Rev 2-4) It's a great way to build up your kite bag.

-Chip

I used my Super 10 with rollerblades in a large parking lot a few times. It was pretty fun - just fast enough and not too much power.

Be careful crashing it down head first. I blew out a cell and it had to be repaired after my dad crashed it in high winds.

This flyer just turned age 59, having been lucky enough to retire @ age 58.

Flew 2-line deltas for a number of years but always knew there was "more" out there & wanted it.

Enter the venerable hq bmr ii 3.6.

Have flown it for the past couple of months.

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Although am in no position to advise anyone, I say as one newcomer to all other newcomers, see Chip's 2006-3-10 post (above) and read/heed every word of it. It's to-the-point and all points are relevant.
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As an old man dabbling in a young man's sport, I may well have already defined my niche i.e. simple static flying, despite the attraction of more dynamic pursuits e.g. buggying & jumping. 30 minutes of flying last Sunday in 15-20mph winds kicked my butt. I loved it and crave more.

Have scoured this website for days & concluded that the mutual courtesy & respect shown by all reinforces my belief that there's room out there for all of us, from the tamers like myself to the extremers pushing that envelope.

There's something pure about a kite in the wind. It just seems "right".

Not a single day passes when I don't remember and re-live my best flying sessions, and eagerly look forward to the next.

For this newcomer, powerkites are, indeed, a dream come true.

Please excuse the length of this post.

If I never graduate from the 3.6, I'll probably have nothing new to share & no reason to post again.

SAFE and happy kiting to you all. Here's to ya!

Yer not that old! We have a couple buggiers in our local group that match that plus some. One in particular is a young 73 and still buggies with the best of them. Last year he had an accident and had to go into the hospital for a hip replacement and within a month was back on the buggy tearing it up....although his kite surfing days have since been stopped by the new hip (too much strain on the legs in the water).

One of the best things about this sport is that you can make it as extreme as you want it to be. Some days I get a little extra testosterone built up and go all out, pushing my limits....others are more relaxed and it is just awesome making a couple smooth passes across the lake bed....other days the stunt kites come out and the power kites take a back seat. There more than enough room for everyone of all ages in this awesome sport.