AG Schnozz wrote:
> I haven't flown competitively for the past two seasons as the
> cost of competition has gone up so much. We're doing stunts now
> that my collection of kites just will not do. Instead of buying
> a couple thousand dollars in new stuff, I've just been nursing
> my old stuff along as long as possible. Last competition I was
> in the others were doing manouvers which would have caused mine
> to literally fall apart or out of the sky. A major benefit of
> the modern stunt kites, though, is that they don't have nearly
> as much pull as my older ones and are much easier on my wrists.
It's interesting how even within the fairly few years I've been flying
I've seen tricks progress; first trick kite I had was a Midi, then a Box
of Tricks, couple of Prisms (which are fine, but somehow I prefer the
feel of British kites), Gemini, a Jam of some sort or another -- and the
earlier kites simply won't do the roll-up backspinny Jacob's Ladder sort
of things that's popular these days.
(frankly, if I can get an axle to look pretty enough, I'm happy..)
> Powerflying is a real hoot when eveything is working right. A
> friend of mine had two 16' (yes, that's sixteen feet) flexifoils
> that would produce hundreds of pounds of lift. Unfortunately,
> they were so long that they were nearly impossible to turn.
That's the thing I don't like about flexifoils -- they're also a pain
to self-launch. All the traction kites I own I've made, because they're
expensive, and when you get to that scale precision isn't as importnat,
so my sewing can be a bit sloppier and it'll still work. I made a bunch
of NPWs and a few foils -- they work fine, though I'm too wimpy to try
jumping, the ground is too hard for my tastes. :)
-- dan
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