hiya...

been following a cool discussion on another thread about kites and family members.

guess it's a bit weird, some folks just don't get it when I talk to them about kites and flying, then I show them a few videos and they start getting just how fantastic a sport this can be. Not all videos work, though...

but for people who are trying to get other family members or friends interested in kiting, I've got a couple videos to offer and one bit of advice...

the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzOCEDm73tM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuetDfQ-1nY

and I can't resist adding one vid featuring one of my fave kites, the much-discussed 5m ace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FphxIhG0sg

and the advice: pick a strong (but smoothish) wind day and a kite that won't put them in danger but will give them plenty of power to deal with, like 20 mph and 2m.

I had my dad and my nieces with me (65 and 11/13) a couple days after last christmas in 30 mph winds, I thought it wasn't going to work, but my nieces were getting teabagged on their (quite new) radsail 145 with my dad holding them on the ground, and all they were doing was trying to hold the kite at zenith. I tried my symphony, snapped a line on the first dive into power. Got out the flexi sting, did some ultra fast butt scuds with them in my lap.
They still talk about it whenever we get a chance to talk (on skype, I live half way around the world from them most of the time), and I have a feeling they'll be talking about it many years later... in any case, it's one of my best kite memories, right up there with my first head-high jump.

Anyways, back on subject... Anybody else have advice / stories / videos to share...?

cheers,

happy uncle furbo

yeah, Furb I get that same blank stare from people on a regular basis. I keep my lime green kite buggy in the back of my s-10, and my tags are KYT BUGY. So I got a lot of explaining to do. But when I tell them I can do 40+ on the beach being pulled by a kite the size of my truck, they realize it is some pretty cool stuff. First thing they wanna know is "How do you stop?" I love the look on their face when I say" turn the kite,and spin out. there are no brakes" :o

yeah, I haven't been on any kind of wheels yet, mostly because I haven't been able to fly anywhere with more than about fifty meters of extra space.... So using a kite to brake seems a bit strange!!!!:o

looking forwards to power slides and spinouts, tho, the time will come!!!!

:D

I was showing this one to my buddies when I was getting into it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H999LqFQNWs

Pretty entertaining

:o

I can't believe he never went to the hospital...

I'd be jumping a LOT larger if I had his cojones....

Nice one, thanks...