Hi All,

I have just been bought a Flexifoil Sting 3.3 for my birthday.
I have flown a friends Radsail for about 10 minutes or so before, but generally as a whole I am completely new to Powerkiting.

Can anyone offer Hints and or tips for fun safe kiting?

Regards
Geoff

Sure can......wear a helmet. Start in low winds (12mph and down) and work your way up from there.

What kind of VW do you drive? I'm really keen on picking up a TDI myself.

Hi There,

just come back from giving it a go, went to a playing field over the road from my house got it up a couple of times but the wind was dead, think the houses were shielding me, I only live 300yds from the beach so i'll take it there next time.
As for VW's my name tends to apply, I have a MK4 Golf GT TDI which is my daily driver for work, highly recommend one of these for economy and performance, I also have a 1966 VW Beetle, a1975 VW beetle and a 1972 VW Bay Window Camper, I'm a little obsessed

Veedubjunky, where you from? We had a guy register on our local kite forums as 'vw66bus'.. Is that you?

Hi,
I'm in the UK :bigok:

Wow, only 300 yards from the beach! YES, go there next time. Look for onshore winds in the forecast. You can't beat nice clean onshore winds.


I was going to ask what a Golf GT was, but since you're in the UK it makes sense. You Euro's get all the best diesels over there!

oh, just had a thought, I can use the surf reports to tell me the wind speed.

12mph tomorrow
http://magicseaweed.com/The-Witterings-Surf-Report/14/

what is the lowest wind speed that is possible to fly?

Quote:

Originally posted by veedubjunky what is the lowest wind speed that is possible to fly?

For the Sting 3.3, I seem to remember the spec was something like 4-5 mph for the low end. Give or take depending on how much you are willing to work the kite. You'll be happier if there is a little more and the less turbulent the better (although the Sting is pretty tolerant in that respect).

ATB,
Sam

That's great thanks wolf.

Is there anyway of knowing how turbulent it is? Is their anything you can buy that indicates thermal pockets????? Or is turbulence seen within particular environments?

sorry if these are really stupid questions.

Welcome to Power Kiting, Geoff from across the pond. Just sold some old vw engines and transaxles to buy a new kite. Good Luck!!!

A video can help with the foundation of wind theory and the power zone. You can also read up on it here:

http://www.powerkitesdirect.com/the-power-kiting-understandi...

Agree with above that a helmet is a must. Also look for forums in your area and meet others that have been doing it a while to show you the best spots in your area (as well as help with flying advice). Have fun!!

Can't add much except - welcome!

Welcome! You will learn a lot from these folks here!!

Hey guys, I'm new here and I have only a little bit of kiting experience. I have flown a dual line 8ft foil, 6ft and 8ft revs, and a 3m blade. All of which are a friend of mines. I looking into buying the Peter Lynn twister, specifically for jumping. My question is about size. I live at the beach during the summer and another friend of mine owns a farm in Va, so the winds range from 6-25 mph on avg. but usually in the 6-12 mph area. I am 5' 11'' about 160 lbs and I want to do some pretty good jumps however I still enjoy just getting dragged around. Should I get a 3m or 4.1m to start off with?

@knolee: you should just go right on ahead and start your own thread!

you sure about the blade? not sure they ever came in 3m size...

It was one of the very first blades that ever came out (perhaps it was bigger, I can't remember). Aside from that, what size do you think sounds good?

then you're good to go on 4.1 or a size larger.

but it's best to start with the smaller sizes so you aren't too often tempted to fly in winds bigger than you can handle.

you are going to want a quiver if you want to get into jumping, and a quiver also helps you jump a lot more safely, so plan to get at least three kites.

3.5-4.5m, 5.5-6.5m, and a big beast 8m or larger would work for your wind range down to 8 mph or so.

so start with the smaller one and work your way up.

the paradox of learning to jump with the smaller sizes, however, is that once you are powered up, the kite is moving fast enough and likely snatchy enough to make things pretty risky.

it's best to learn the control and power all over the wind window with the smaller kites in a range of winds before moving up to flying the big kites, but yes more $$$.

the longterm quiver plan is inevitable once you go for that first one!

edit: the thing to do is find out what blade that was and then repost your Q's in another thread and mention that blade and how you found it flew for you, and then you'll get more and better info, it can be a wee bit impolite to hijack a thread like this.....