Can anyone offer me some advice on getting the most out of my Balde 4.9?

I've flown it some and now know that I'll be more comfortable on normal than low angle and that I need to shorten my brake lines to make it more manageable.

Am I right in thinking that they fly well with quite a bit of brake input to turn and so forth?

Cheers

Toast

I'm different from most but I think most blade guys fly with loose brakes because the blade flies "well" on just two lines.

Personally, I don't like that feel and prefer turning on the brakes or at least in combination with the brakes but its not entirely necessary as demonstrated by the blade bar which does not allow for any real brake input.

Turning on the brakes certainly won't hurt performance and it should bring the kite through the turn faster but the more you play with brake turns, pull turns and combo turns, the more you understand how the kite looses power, builds power or maintains power through the turn depending upon which method you use to turn the kite - all of which is more useful when riding.

One thing to do if you have not yet done it is to add in additional knots onto the leaders of your handles. These additional knots will allow you to connect your brake lines to different spots to see how the kite will perform. Some people like to fly with more brake line than others, it is all personal preference and there really isn't a right or wrong way to do it.

Just tie some overhand knots about 2 inches (4-5 cm) apart from the end of your leader towards your handles. 3 - 4 knots should be plenty. Make sure that the knots are exactly the same distance from the handle on both handles. If one is longer than the other your kite may not fly straight.

Connect on the end knot, fly, then move your larks head to the next knot in, fly, etc... Find the setting that you like and your done. This also makes it super simple to adjust for different wind conditions. Just move your larks head in or out on your leaders and go.

Hope this helps.

Another thing you can play with is line length. Try adding some 7 or 10 ft extensions to make a bigger window.