Fist time flying my kite today (Scout II 4m). Brought it to the beach at Tybee island and had some good wind. Didn't have anything to check the actual wind speed but guessing around 15mph. There must have been 10 other people out with kites all kite surfing.
My kite seemed to be a little more sensitive than I had expected. I have seen videos where people use one hand or even let go of the bar completely and just let harness hold the bar. The kites always seem stable and don't go flying down to the ground. I felt like if I took my eyes off it just for a few seconds it may come crashing to the ground. I would have it up at 12 look down and it would be heading quickly towards 9 or 3 oclock if not quickly corrected it seemed as if it would have kept going all the way to the ground. Not sure if this was the wind conditions, something I was doing, lack of experience or just how this kite behaves. Just wondering if someone has experience with this. Thinking I want to get a harness to use with this kite, my arms were quite tired after a couple hours. The power of the kite was great though. Didn't feel overpowered, was able to fly it slow and controlled when i needed to. Also had the kite doing some figure 8's and circles and dragging me across the beach.

The amount of lines inside this kite was surprising luckily it didn't take too long to figure it all out.
I know you can adjust the crossover system, but i didn't bother trying to move it. I believe it was set one the second knot up.

For anyone else looking for a kite to start on I think this size would be a good choice as long as you are 175+ lbs.

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Not sure if this was the wind conditions, something I was doing, lack of experience or just how this kite behaves.

Probably all of the above.

Some kites are more stable than others, and gusty wind reduces stability. With more experience you will know what the kite is doing without having to look at it, and your control will improve so you can automatically adjust without having to think about it so much.

Have fun.

Had the kite out again the next day with calmer winds. The kite felt more controllable this second time around. Although I didn't really focus on steering the kite around in a specific manner so its pretty much all over the place. Feel free to check out the video and leave me some tips or comments.
Thanks!

Wild ride.

Practice figure-eighting the kite with it down lower in the window to maximize horizintal pull. Try sitting with bent knees & butt bedded down in the sand and really sine or figure eight to see how much power you can develop sweeping it across the window.

When you want a break, fly it out towar the edge of the window, but down and off to one side or another. Like a stunt kite, you should be able to just let it hover above the ground in a tip stand. If you take your breaks with the kite at zenith, and a gust hits, you can get lofted. With it to the side, you just get pulled to the side. Have fun.

krumly

I had fun learning with this kite too, weighing in at 155 lbs. I thought it was fun and not sketchy up to 15 knots when I flew it static the first few times, and then I went out in 20+ knots and got my arms "lengthened," as it dragged me around the field, my two year old daughter chasing behind. She liked to hop on my back when I did butt-scuds.

After that I started to use my climbing harness and a carabiner through the strop, which has the "oh, #@%$#!" safety release. In light wind <10 knots I had to keep the kite moving to stay aloft. I found it easier to fly one handed when I attached the kite killer to a harness, otherwise I could only really fly it one handed with the leash hand.

10 knots of wind was enough to get me rolling on the skates, but I had to work it up and down to get moving at any speed. I took it out on some days when it was really windy (18-25+knots) before I had learned any speed control and got my months worth of adrenaline on some spanking downwinders. On grass with skates I wanted 15-20 knots to get rolling and up to 15knots when on tarmac.

The only time it really lofted me I was sitting and did a kite loop in the window to get back on the skates and it picked me up about a meter and put me back down on my but 2-3 meters down wind. I was too surprised to put my legs down. I think that other kites are better suited for learning to jump, but the Scout II really helped me progress, while having a blast doing it. I still enjoy taking it out of the bag every time, and it hooked my Spanish friend's wife: a week after flying it, she became kite obsessed. He forgave me.