I’ve got sort of a “kids kite” right now…big coloured thing with long tail. I want to get some sort of high performance kite - a box kite or a stunt kite. I don’t know much about buying kites; are there thigns I should be on the look out for that may indicate a good/crappy design? I’ll just be buying from whatever they have at the local hobby shop, not online or direct from a kite company, etc.
C’mon…there’s got to be some kite-flyers on here.
Umm. I’ve got a Skynosaur I bought years and years ago. It’s reasonably fun if you get the right wind conditions. Two strings definitely make for more entertainment than one. But I have no idea how one goes about determining which of two stunt kite designs is better. Except you want something that can withstand flying into the ground at high speed, since sooner or later you’ll do exactly that.
If you want to move up to stunt kites, there are two general categories: two-line and quad-line. As with most things, you’ll find people passionate about each. I own and fly both, and they each have their own pluses and minuses. They each also require a completely different set of flying skills. Personally, I find quad-lines more fun and challenging and hence more frustrating, too.
Nevertheless, I would recommend starting with a two-line. You have two broad choices here: with or without struts. The kind without struts, sometimes called “frameless”, are basically parafoils. If your store has it, there’s a really cool two-line frameless made by Go Fly a Kite (that’s the company name) that comes in a little bag (the bag is about six inches by four inches). It’s inexpensive, easy and fun to fly, and has the major advantage that you don’t have to worry about breaking struts, no matter how hard you crash.
If you’re going to get a “regular” kite, my major piece of advice is read the labels. Most stunt kites have on the label the wind speed range that the kite can be flown in, and the skill level. Get one that’s for beginners, where the low wind speed is 5 or 6 mph. Get one that has a wingspan of around 3 or 4 feet (the really small ones are more tricky to fly). You should be able to get something decent for between 15 and 30 dollars. Don’t worry about differences in design, just get one in your price range. At the beginning level, design differences aren’t significant. If you try it and like it and want to move up to more advanced kites, then worry about the design.
Here’s a quick lesson on flying: Set the kite on the ground in launch position (the instructions should tell you this), unwind all the string from the handles as you back into the wind. Pull the handles gently until the string just gets taut. To launch, pull gently and EVENLY with both hands and take a couple of steps backwards. One of the keys is to pull evenly with both hands; if one hand pulls a little harder, the kite will take off and immediately turn and dive back into the ground.
I recommend staying away from a quad-line unless you have access to someone who already knows how to fly one and is willing to spend an hour or so teaching you. I speak from experience. I watched people flying Revolutions (probably the most widly used four-string kite) at the local kite park, and it didn’t look that hard. I bought one, and would have been perfectly willing to try it on my own, but fortunately I’d gotten friendly with one of the experienced flyers, and he offered to teach me. I was SOOO glad that I didn’t try it on my own. It really isn’t that difficult to do the basics (get it off the ground, and then fly it around), but there ARE some things you need to know that you can’t really get from watching the instructional video. I’m pretty sure that if I had tried it on my own, I would have broken struts and just gotten frustrated.
Roadfood makes a really good point about checking wind-speed appropriateness. I have ripped up a few kites by taking them out in winds that are just way too much for them. Take the time to work out what the usual windspeed is in the place you are going to be flying most. Also, depending on your size, the kite size and your wind speed, be careful not to get something that is “too much to handle”. I would really like to try out a quad line parafoil, but where I fly that would drag me out to sea (if anything bigger than a pocket flier). Google on kite+injury -bird for good general info on how not to hurt yourself or anyone else when you are kiting. When I was a kid the only safety rule was not to fly them under electric wires, now when I look up safety tips it is more like “don’t fly with worn lines, a line that snaps under tension could rip your head off” :eek: