I made it out today for my first power kite flight. It turned into a three hour session using my 3.5 meter imp three line trainer. Winds started out at 12km/h according to the weather network, and by the end of the session was closer to 20 with some gusts. It was my fathers 50th b-day so I took him along to a field behind his land. I could not believe how amazing it was to fly!:roll: started out just letting it hang out at zenith and then moving it around to the edges of the window. Eventually I began moving through the power zone, then doing figure 8's. My father took over for a while getting the hang of it at just about the same time period. We managed to make a few solid slams into the ground and had trouble reverse launching it. It came to the point where one of us just went over to the kite and flipped it over so that it could launch. I'm sure that with more practice we will have the launching down to a tee (if anyone has pointers to make it easier with this kite please share) Into the second hour my 70 year old grandparents came over to watch, soon they each took over giving it a shot. Once the wind had picked up I really got an understanding of just how much a kite can pull. Anyway just wanted to share that with you guys. I hope to be able to get out and fly a whole lot this weekend. I hope that I can get some experience scudding, my brother had a long board that we thought would be fun to try and roll around on but will wait till I can get scudding good first. Gonna try and get some pics posted in the next couple days.:wee:

Sweet, sounds like it was a great time for the whole family, how wonderful!

yeah I had an awesome time so did everyone else. The only thing that I am questioning is the the brake line in the middle. When I look at videos and photos of this kite in the air, all three lines have tension on it. When I fly mine that third line in the middle has some sag on it. My manual just says that everything would be setup properly from factory. I'm just confused if on this kite if it is suppose to be that way or should it be tighter like the other two outside lines. Also I am confuse how to get it to reverse launch when crashed. When I pull in that middle line the whole kite just folds inside itself and nothing happens. Maybe someone who has flown this kite will know if I'm doing anything wrong.

The middle line does sag. It is the brake line and if it has tension will slow down the kite.

To reverse launch I would put tension on the brake line and point one end of the bar toward the kite. It should eventually roll over or fly backward to one side and turn over. It might take some finesse to figure out the right amount of brake tension. Good Luck

Yup , the middle line should be slack.

To reverse launch ( and almost everything else ) less is better. Pull too little and nothing will happen . Pull too much and the wind gets over it. Just pull back lightly until you see the kite lifting then not much more. The kite will sort of want to turn one way or the other . Let it.

I'm so glad yoy finally got out !!!!

Right on Shaggs! I wish I could get my dad out there with me. I've tried but he's so sold on the virtues of the furnace in the house when I'm heading to the lake with my gear. Saddest part is that he lives FIVE MINUTES from the sailing club we launch at.

Nothing like that first buzz

Welcome to the addiction!!! I think people are finaly cluing in to the fact that this is a great family sport as well as being individual....most of us have had the pleasure of a family member[s] flying along, makes the whole thing that much more fun!!!

Get out and enjoy as much as you can, some of us even travel [for work] with at least 1 kite in tow...lol!!!

Glad you shared with the family Sounds like you had a blast.

sounds like an awesome first flight!

yes the brake lines need to be a little saggy, but that sag will be most noticeable from the kiter's viewpoint and would not show up in photos unless the angle was just right.

welcome to the wonderful addiction!

Thanks Guys! I had an awesome time and heading out today for another session. Gonna let my brothers try it out, and have a planned session with a friend from work. I want to work hard to get as many people in my area interested; so that, maybe I can convince a few of them to get a trainer themselves. I now see how this thing can spread like a wildfire if I get people out in the right conditions. Bringing a camera with me this time hopefully I can get some good pictures. It will be a cool session this morning (-8c) but that just means I have to start getting my body climatized. Thanks guys!

Shaggs

Quote:

Originally posted by shaggs2riches Gonna let my brothers try it out, and have a planned session with a friend from work. I want to work hard to get as many people in my area interested; so that, maybe I can convince a few of them to get a trainer themselves. I now see how this thing can spread like a wildfire if I get people out in the right conditions. Shaggs

yeah, conditions really matter. but maybe take it easy on working hard to get people interested... Not everybody clicks with it, I've found, so I don't rush the push... But often the folks who stand for hours and watch want to fly a lot more than the folks who walk right up and want a try. I'm all for getting family and friends going though, I push kites on them at every opportunity.

:wee:

Yeah I see that how a it would be bad to push to hard.

It is sort of like that film "Field of Dreams" - if you fly, they will come. Having a kite 27m up in the sky is a sentinel for people who fly or want to try. There are 2 guys in my neighbourhood who have started after talking to me during a session.

Have fun.