shoegooguru

Okay...first off...AM I THE ONLY GUY IN THE WORLD WITH AN RS 4.0????? A search of racekites and beyond has yieded no results for this size and I gotta wonder why the conspicuous exclusion???? I am new to power kiting. Got one (cobrakites...EXCELLENT service;courtesy and elivery time)late december '07 and only have about 30 mins real airtime on. I sure would be interested in any info neg or pos regarding and following is what I think: I will also say that withy respect to warnings given about starting power kiting with a two line instead of 4( I read this admonishment all over the web), I do not see the sense of it. How can having BRAKES from the beginning be bad or a confusing thing to master? the normal hand position on the handles while flying cannot accidentally actuate brakes. You gotta want brakes to get 'em. In fact you gotta want them a bit too much as the RS linmes come stock(I had to shorten mine a bit). I flew this kite first time by myself at a big baseball diamond with minimal obstructions or windshadow to deal with. wind was 10 mph gusting between 12 to 15. I got an early taste of such gust and pull and it showed me you do not get distracted EVER when you get a kite of any size off the ground. I found myself listening to the trees up wind so I could hear gusts before they got to me(seconds later). My first time out was very dynamic and exciting for sure! I found the kite to be easy to control as long as I stayed relaxed and did not let the kite control me. Even when I was sliding on my butt across the grass(a few times)I put the kite where I wanted it for the most part. I have some hang gliding experience, so I am not afraid of flying things where my feet are still going to be on the ground! In fact..after this first power kiting experience I thought that it would be MOST WISE for anyone who teaches paragliding or hang gliding to FIRST have their students learn the composure ; attention and commitment to clear minded control of an airfoil that can be very and suddenly challenging, than to be confused or experience 'air-shock' for the first time when your WHOLE BODY has been commited to whatever errors in judgment you make. Power kiting wakes you up to what the air really is...a living and dynamic force that you have to cooperate with, or pay the consequences. I have already zoomed my PK into the ground and it makes a pretty good THUD, for being a couple sheets of fabric!!!. Relaunch and get better....WAY better than a hospital trip. since I launch alone...i went to the scuba dive store and bought 4 of those nylon bagged dive weights(2 pounds each). I found these to be a GREAT way to weight down the trailing edge while you get to the handles and ready to fly. Once you raise the LE of the kite just enough to puff(but not launch)the weights still hold fine. Take sta step back and pull on the control lines and the nylon outer shell of the bag allows the trailing edge to slide out as the kite takes off. I also use these to hold the kite in various states of fold when I am packing up. I also made a couple of velcro bridle 'keepers' that help eliminate any bridle line tangle or confusion. I made my own kite killers with some nylon strapping and two plastic gated clips. Work great. Thye bottom line is flying...besied the helpful gizmos and so I will share my so far experience with flying the RS 4.0. have no idea if it conmpares to other sizes of RS kites? I CAN say I was comfortable and in control of this kite very soon and so the beginner issue is not so much an issue as it might be with somebody more timid or whatever else might get in the way...? I don't know if it is a fast turning kite as i have nothing*but YTube vids!)to compare to. Seemed pretty fast but I can imagine faster as well. I was making som dramatic pulls and even coordinating brakes to speed the kite turning. Not boring! Overall speed? I don't know what 4.0's of other brands do? I am on 82 foot lines and I suppose some of the kites on horter lines will for real or appear to fly faster(or just cover the window left to right faster due to shorter lines)? I don't really concerm myself with all that kind of variable...at this point anyway. Just like I don't think about Ferarri performance as I drive my '89 dodge truck! Which is fun to me. Back to the kite... Pardon the negative first but I notice that at least half the time I have the kite less than 12 feet off the ground in any decent wind, it spins like a mofo. Thye lines are fine...groudn flat and it is centered in wind when this occurs. Above '12' feet all eles being the same...never happens without me making it . When it happens on the ground, I have tried opposite brake with and without opposite direction input and it only sometimes works. I am not experiencing weird flight control anomalies(time for a Star Trek term to be inserted) when the kite is higher. When I take it to the extreme edge of the window the tip on that side will luff and fold a little. I would expect that. It definitely DOES overfly at zenith. If I take it up there fast it is going to overfly...and even at not top speed I find myself hitting the brakes a tad just before it gets to the top. That is the WORST...having the kite tumbling and tumbling and getting all screwed up from the highest place in the window! I am VERY seriously considering addins some small fabric loops on at the bottom of the airfoil leading edge and running a very thin carbon (or?)rod across the span. The kite will still have the flex it needs but it will not then be able to have tips blow under bridle lines or get too twisted up. I'm thinking this little bit of extra support may be a good thing. Ri8gging it would be easy. any input on this from anybody who KNOWS for real; firsthand what the results are? are appreciated. I know that hang gliders have a distinct advantage due to the rigid supports they have. A little such support seems like it would be an advantage to power kiting? Even an inflatable bowkite is more rigid due to airpressure in it's frame. Those keep their basic shape even in a crash. the other challenges to flying this have been some pretty big and quick directional changes in wind...so that in one moment I am perfectly in the window and the next(in a coupld of instances)I am very far outside of it and the kite goes from power to sour in about 1 second; leaving me nothing I can do. It is very cool when the kite dies and before it hits the ground after looking very hopeless...the right line input and SNAP!!...it all comes to life again and shoots skyward! I know I will get better on this thing and I look forward to more consistent spring and summer winds/cycles. But even though the winds are manic right now I could not wait to get any time on this thing that I can. Anybody who flies anything(without a motor)KNOWS that you are at the mercy of the wind and you may be setting up to go home with NO flights at times. So any fight time is great. I also went to true value(ace or???)and got a couple 6; fiberglass garden stakes. I sharpened one end of each like a pencil(ground is frozen here currently!)and taped approx 2" by 30" strips cut from a garbage bag(very light plastic)to the other ends. Makes cheap but sturdy wind flags. I spread them apart at either side of the overall window. I like them because they show me when the wind is better on one side over the other or even quite different. Also: I don't know about lift comparisons among PK's ...I realise that a RS is not going to be a huge lift generator. I had this thing at or near zenith(the only way it could lift one STRAIGHTish up)in some big wind and it lifted me about 2 fee off the ground(I'm 185 at 6'). but when you race it back and forth at about 1 to 3 o:clock it really pulls well. I did some pretty good slides. Of course the big lift kites are big bucks and designed more for. Saving for one even now. Hope to hear from anybody about RS 4.0 (or???). Appreciate the forum for all the good vibes and info. I hope to eventually get on something...be it a board or a buggy. Isn't it weird the order things happen sometimes!? Hang gliding explodes in the 70's and 80's...THEN paragliding kicks in big time(in europe long before US)and THEN Power kiting technology takes off. Seems kind of backwards to me. Sure is cool though!!!! I remember the first day I flew a kite as a kid, and the first day I got a decent airtime flight in a hang glider. It was the SAME kind of feeling (given the age I was during each experience). My 'help me get a gyrocopter' fund at work only got a nickel in three months of the can being nailed to the wall(nobody can say they did not see it!), so having a power kite and the thrill of that has helped me not be so depressed. I guess the only real thing I have not enjoyed about this kite is the out of nowhere spinning (even with neutral input)that not infrequently occurs near the ground. Most times I can back it down with brakes and it responds very surely to brake input to keep it balanced all the way to relaunch readiness. So it kind of miffs me when at other times it starts 'break dancing' right before I get it down!!!! I like this thing. I have read that PK's are addicting and they are! My last two flight days were 25 degrees(not including windchill)and 10 to 15 mph winds. I am NOT a cold weather person. But I wanted to fly this thing! By : shoegooguru