MARK! You and me bud, we have to try this! I have been giving it some thought, and I think it is possible.

P.S. Sorry for those of you who clicked thinking I would have a video. I don't.


YET.

I think it would be doable with a bit of close flying practice. Are you thinking two buggies doing them at the same time or two people in a tandem with one kite doing it or two in a tandem and two kites? I think I'd go for two kites in a tandem (you need different line lengths for turbulence) then both kites in fairly tight to initiate and as long as back kite follows first kite it should be doable.

I was telling Jason I want to get him in the tandem with two kites flying this year too.
Mark

Yeah, that is my thought exactly. Two kites on a tandem. The main way I see it not quite going right is the first kite to come back into the wind could possibly yank that rider out before the other kite gets all the way around. But hey, I am totally willing to risk a couple OBE's for glory! As far as I know, it has never been done before, and we could end up on Popeye's front page :P

The way I picture it in my mind, there are two ways to do it:

The first way, is the front kite starts a downturn first, and the back kite starts its downturn right as the front kite gets nose down. That should keep them close enough together to be able to follow nice and tight through the turn. The lines will be crossed for the duration of the 360, but then as the kites come back into the window, the front rider will have to duck or lay back as far as possible to let the rear kite lines go over his head. This will end up with the buggy finishing the turn in the opposite direction of travel.

The second way is that the front kite and rear kite make a perfectly synchronized downturn at the same time. This puts the rear kite in front during the turn. As the rear kite enters the window again, the front kite should enter right after. At this time, you would perform a synchronized upturn with both kites, which would put the buggy headed in the same original direction of travel with no lines crossed and both kites in original starting position.

The first one would require the most coordination because there are several things that have to happen in perfect order. The reward would be that it is an awesome and complicated way to do it... The second method would probably be the safest bet for first tries. If successful, then I would love to try the first method. After we pull it off (and we will) the next step is a three rider tandem deadman :D

tandem! damn near killed em!

yes for the first method it might be better to have kite on handles and either a long strop or unhooked that the rear rider could raise lines as high as possible as the buggy is turned round into the lines OR the buggy would be turned as the kites start to enter the power again and at the point the buggy is starting to turn both kites head higher and perhaps that would be enough to clear around under the lines.
I think it would be similar to team flying stunt kites - I've done similar flying chasing friends with foils and doing wraps etc but usually with small foils so you don't cut the lines wrapping with less pressure - the second flyer would just follow tight as possible on the trailing edge of the first kite but it's the turbulent airflow that you would need the different line lengths so doing some tuning to match speed would be needed.

Option 2 the front rider would need to still try and get as close as possible after the synchronized downturn and a critical watch on that front kite to see when the power starts to come on and maybe steering a bit more downwind to keep the rush of power off as both kites do an upturn and then come back on track as we finish.

it's all worth a try - just a bit of testing to see what kite will get around in the least wind so doubling up should work with no dramatic ejections.

Depending on conditions, I think the 8.6 Reactors would be best bet to try in 10-14mph winds. Since both kites need to be the same speed and perform the same actions, we should probably use identical kites. If the 8.6 is too wide to make that syncro turn, we could try it on 5.5m? That is my next smallest size I own. We could probably do it on two different kites as long as they are pretty close in performance, and they definitely need similar window sizes so one can't outrun the other.

You guys might think about doing it in completely separated buggies and completely synchronized first (following as close behind as possible)... that way if things go wrong, you aren't stuck together,... as your synchronization improves and gets more spot on, then hop in the tandem... just a thought.

Spence, you might be onto something there. Not the least of which is the fact of how damn cool that would look to see two buggies doing a syncro routine

thought of that first but the problem there if you are following fairly close is that the first guy needs to keep the kite a touch high because at one point the second buggy will pass under the first kite and 3/4 of the way through the first buggy needs to pass under the second kite - a little bit of room, maybe 2/3 line length might give a bit more room.
I think following the kites around is easy (and that can be practiced static flying side by side out of a buggy), it's what's happening in the buggy that will take a little to figure out the feel - but it just might all work the first go

It all worked the first go on my first ever deadman attempt

that's because you borrowed the right kite and had a good instructor :D

So true Mark! I bought three reactors right after I flew yours one even came through you!