I was just wondering what happens to other people while flying kites. Please post your experiences here.

I was getting no place trying to learn how to deal with a surf board and kite. I'm a prarie boy too old for skateboards or snowboards so was stuck. I was ready to give up on the sport and I'm not a quiter.
One day I decided I'm going to go down the the big parking lot near me and try flying my trainer kite with my rollerblades. I had never heard of anyone else ever doing this but was desperate to feel the kite take me some place. I padded myself to the tits and headed off.
I didn't know what to expect but had , had 3 lessons and tons of fly time so felt I could handle myself. I set the kite up, lauched and took off like I had been doing it all my life :tumble: It was SO FREAKIN GREAT to actaully prove to myself that I could kite . Turns out I'm just boardly challenged ;-)
I posted about my day on the local forum and land folks came out of the background. Turns out there was a few folks into foils and I found a whole new group. We've gotten bigger over the last few years and now we have good numbers .
That day my life changed and I'll never forget it ! :cool2:

Mine has to be the two 10' plus jumps i've had in the last 2 weeks. The first was with the blade 6.5 and this past weekend there was one with the Crossfire. That is too cool to get your feet higher than I can get my hands. It is fun to jump just 3-4 feet, but one of those over 10' is like winning the lottery.

Then there was the superman I did with that cute little Beamer my second time flying it. I was used to my symphony and thought it would be fun to try the Beamer in 25 mph winds. All the kids were watching and a guy that lives up the street came with me as well. Shattered the myth that I knew what I was doing. Straight up the window and I was flying....horizontally. I opened my eyes and had deployed my new kite killers. Didn't remember a thing. but I was ok except for my ego. Much respect was gained for kites though.

I went from flying stunt kites to a three meter fixed bridle, two line foil in 25 mph wind......off my feet and wham onto my chest......thats when I knew I was hooked.....at least when my wind came back......

There's been so many experiences that I've had that made me think, whow...that was awesome!

One of them was the first time I went to El Mirage. We got there about 2pm, light was pretty light...about 7mph. My friend said, don't worry, about 4pm it will turn on.....Well he was wrong...at about 3:45 it started blowing in the low to mid 20's...Just solid not gusty...I could'nt believe that an inland location could be soo strong and soo consistent. I rode my landboard on my 2.5m Beamer until it got dark. I've been hooked on that place ever since.

Another time at El Mirage we had been landboarding/buggying all day in winds that were 20-30mph and then about 5:30pm, the wind went down to about 7-9mph...Decided to take out my bullet 4.5 (biggest kite I had at the time, fixed bridle wise). The wind was soo smooth and the sun was just starting to set. All the landsailers had packed it in and I was just going back and forth. My buddy was taking a nap in his car and I told him to come out, the winds like butter but he kept on sleeping while I boarded by myself. I don't know why, but I'll never forget that last half an hour!

...and then of course, the first time I got up on my board in the ocean and rode for about 10 feet.

Out of all the sports/hobbies I've tried, this is the best I've found (surfing's probably a very close second)!

The adrenilin Rush Is what gets me! The pulling the kite to the side of the window while it just tugs at you waiting to run in the oppisite direction before you jump not really knowing how high you are going to go this time Wait til you hit 15-20 feet it feels and looks like 50! There is no rush like landing one of those softly even more so If people are watching. You know they wan't you to do it again and your still trying to catch you breath and calm down from the first one very exciting! Thats got me hooked flying static.Now in the Buggy it is all about speed! I love to go fast Sitting that low to the ground Having the kite locked in the wind. It's a blast! It's like a forever scud with no restiance and a thrill that opened new doors to me in kiting! I still have alot to learn about buggying Its hard to learn when your limited to when and where you can fly and not to many people around you to learn from So every day I do get in the seat is another learning experience for me!

I forgot how great it felt the first time I was able to link turns in a buggy and able to not get pulled downwind. It was light winds with Acampbells 8.3 reactor. After 30-45 minutes I felt like I had been in a boxing match, not realizing I had been keeping my entire body tensed the whole time. I was soaking wet and absolutely exhausted. I wasn't done but had nothing left to give, and Wexler was slowly getting pulled down the beach with the 4.9 Blade, so I needed to go retrieve him. That's when I realized I must get a buggy.

Mine is probably when I was flying the Pansh Ace 6m in pretty high winds. It was blowing hard enough that mydad was holding my belt loop and my button flew off.

Mine would have to be when i took my crossfire 5m out in 20mph winds, gusting to about 25-26.

At first i was only getting 5-6ft jumps. and was pleased. but then something happened to me..maybe it was the really cute girl walking past... but i felt more daring. :D. up until then i had just been planting my feet and letting the kite pull. but i decided to set up to do a pendelum jump....when i brought the kite to my right it just kept going. and i had to sprint to keep up with it. (i didnt want to kite killer it because the girl was watching..) ...and i guess it was instict but i pulled the kite to my left as hard as i could without knowing..and i got jerked into the air. and i kept going up. and up. and up.

my friend got it on camera and i was "flying" for 13 seconds.

To this day i havent really decided if it was the scariest moment of my life......or the greatest! 8)

i can remember when i brought out my beamer 5.0. their was a school park close to my house and when that kite lifted me off the ground i couldn't stop wanting the feeling of flying. it put a smile on my face for days.

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Originally posted by Gravityisamyth Mine would have to be when i took my crossfire 5m out in 20mph winds, gusting to about 25-26. At first i was only getting 5-6ft jumps. and was pleased. but then something happened to me..maybe it was the really cute girl walking past... but i felt more daring. :D. up until then i had just been planting my feet and letting the kite pull. but i decided to set up to do a pendelum jump....when i brought the kite to my right it just kept going. and i had to sprint to keep up with it. (i didnt want to kite killer it because the girl was watching..) ...and i guess it was instict but i pulled the kite to my left as hard as i could without knowing..and i got jerked into the air. and i kept going up. and up. and up. my friend got it on camera and i was "flying" for 13 seconds. To this day i havent really decided if it was the scariest moment of my life......or the greatest! 8)

Dang dude! 13 seconds and on camera? We gotta see that! Get on youtube and get that vid posted for us. You had to do some perfect redirecting or the updraft was really working for you. I don't think any of my jumps have been more than 3-6 seconds max.

Last week I flew my Blade in some real wind for the first time. I got it in the air, and flew it to zenith, and within seconds I was yanked into the air about 8 feet straight up, let out a yelp like I had never done before.

Maybe not much compared to y'all, but the thrill, and adrenaline rush , was prbably one of the best 5 second periods of my life! Fear, comfort, terror, and thrill all in five seconds... It was great, and I cant wait to do it again.

8 feet in the air will give any of us a thrill especially if you didn't tell it to. Just imagine falling off a basketball goal to put it into perspective. What did you have the bridle set on? Lifty I imagine?

Nice to hear these jump stories. Keep it safe.

they say" a picture is worth a thousand words" that being said.

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If pain really is weakness leaving the body, I ought to be pretty damn strong.:P

Or weak!:P

at least I'm keepin my clothes on!;-)

After I went to that site buggy naked I had to put that somewhere. It was too much.

Well, I ain't got my Beamer yet, but, I can relate a little to you guys.

I was "kiting" my paraglider the other day....about a 30m wing....in winds on the verge of being a little too high....and gusty....or should I say "gutsy"???

I looked down from the wing to my car parked about 70' directly downwind of me. I thought to myself, "I outta drop this thing and move over some so that car isn't right downwind of .....". Yep....then came a gust that decided I had stood long enough in the same spot....and needed to move rapidly downwind! So, as I headed to the car I quickly weighed my options....either become a hood ornament for my Buick Century and merge with the grill, or find a way over that Buick.

It was all pretty fast....I think.....hard to remember when your pants are being filled! I got to the car and made four tiptoe steps up on over the roof, including the opened up trunk door at the rear. Left the car down on Mother Earth and, looking down about 13'-15' (maybe a little more?) from my headview, began thrashing about and pulling on brakes in an attempt to return to my familiar abode. I did so rather rapidly, sidways and moving fast overland such that I was not able to stand when I landed. Therefore, I was dragged about another 30' to 40' across the skin of Mother Earth until I was able to keep pulling one brakeline all the way in so that the tip of the glider was next to my head, and all motion, outside my head, stopped. You ain't seen a fella unhook so fast. Then I layed there and just started laughing. The ground was sorta damp, and soft....grassy, so not hurt at all.

Can't say I enjoyed it...and I still can't wear those pants after 10 washings! :singing:

Anyway, I decided to downgrade, at least for now, from the 30m to a 3m. I've ordered a Beamer III 3meter and can hardly wait!

Didn't mean to "pollute" the thread with a paragllider....just exited to start becoming a part of such a neat sport, and group, as you power/traction kite folks!!

Lobo

You're gonna just have fun with the Beamer. If you use any sense at all, you won't ruin any pants with the beamer. I can't imagine just playing around with a 30m paraglider. I bet the 6.5 blade would be real "cute" beside it. Imagine that.

I know I'll love the Beamer.....and that 6.5m Blade would be beautiful beside my paraglider!!

Here's a pic of my paraglider (my buddy is flying it for me so I can get some pics)....ain't got nothing else to show for a couple weeks yet...grasping at straws here...heh heh:

Lobo :singing:

Hmmmm! Guess I don't know how to upload a picture. It seemed to upload, but I don't where it is. May it's to large a file or something...Oh well.

Let me try this....I reduced it's size. Sorry about my "experimenting here...hope it works:

There! I'm thinking about selling it and putting the money into power kites, board, buggy, whatever, as long as it's related.

'Course I could just cut it up and make a bunch of kites....I can imagine what THAT would look like. I can't build a dog house...much less a good kite!! Ha!

Lobo

Hey Lobo,

Just my 2 cents and others might disagree, but I found kiting to be even more fun than paragliding. I wish I could still do both but I had an accident paragliding and my wife had me sell my gear.

Initially, I wanted to find a sport that was as much fun as surfing and I decided to try paragliding before kiting.

Long story short, after my accident I learned how to kitesurf and then got into the land part of it to increase my 'kiting' time. Needless to say, I rarely surf any more...kiting is that good!

I wholeheartedly agree! The best part of my expereince was just kiting the paraglider. Flying was OK, but the kiting always brought a bigger smile on my feace. I love remote control stuff....and it was sorta like remote controling a kite....just like power kiting is.

Good to hear someone esle has experienced pretty well the same thing I did and ended up in power kiting and loving it. I'm gratefull I didn't have an accident, or get hurt, before finding power kiting. Of course, it looks like I still could if I'm not careful. I'll be 60 years old in June and plan to finally retire then....so, I don't really wanta bust anything up at this stage....just have fun! :singing:

I probably will sell the paraglider, but it is still really pretty to see it floating above me while kiting it. But, I've got a feeling when I get my kite(s), I'm gonna feel the same way about it(them). So, I imagine the pretty paraglider will find a nice new home.

Lobo