TractionKiting.co.uk

After the long winter and all the rubbish kiting weather, I've finally managed to get out and do some decent flying this year, and I've also found a new spot, best of it is, its a 5 min walk from my flat! Superb! Bought myself a 5.6m Twister tail end of last year and think this must have been about the 2nd time I've had it out the bag! Wind was a little gusty and had a couple of mishaps, got hauled off the ground and then dumped on my head which was a bit of a bummer, apart from that was good fun scudding around the grass. Got my 3m Beamer out afterwards and it felt so easy to fly in comparison, could give it plenty of abuse and throw it around the sky without to much hassle after being used to the Twister, I don't know if anyone else has got a Twister and what they think of it, its got a fair bit of pull and a lot more lift then the Beamer!

Have got my other half into it now as well, she's kinda claimed the Beamer as hers now so I have to fight her for a go of it when we go out usually! Had a couple of mates round as well and gave them a go, they were pretty into it, just need to talk them into buying a kite as well now, haha!

What else can you do re recreational flying? I feel like I've mastered all the basics and want to try learn some new stuff, problem is I don't really know what to try or how? I've been mastering my landboard as well but I only really get to use it when I'm out on the beach as the field I fly in is a bit rough for it. Would be good to have a few more things to try with just me and the kite! Anybody got any ideas?

With the Twister you will eventually be able to do jumps with it in the correct wind conditions. Have a look on Youtube for Kite jumping. The issue with jumping is you tend to need a fair bit of wind to get nice floaty jumps. Take it slow and build up

Sounds like you had a great session though!

O.

Yeah I'd like to master some jumps, have managed a few small ones, nothing major but its kinda fun floating about under the kite. The wind was too up and down when I had it out to try anything major, probably be better at the beach with some more stable wind though. Do you recommend handles or a bar on the Twister? I put a bar on my Beamer and its a lot easier to fly although it does limit it a bit more when it comes to manoeuvring it about doing quick turns. I suppose it'd probably depend on what I am doing with the kite at the time, I've heard handles are better for land boarding but its maybe just personal preference?

I've had the Beamer for about 2-3 years now, it was what I learned to fly on but I still find it a good fun kite to use, especially if its too windy to go out with the Twister, you can take the Beamer out and have fun with that, I feel a 3rd kite on the way already, it just gives you so much more opportunities to go fly when you've got a range of sizes, you get a lot more use out of them then!

For land boarding a bar is usually the norm, simply because it allows you to fly the kite with one hand while using the other hand to perform grabs and things like that. Saying that flying on handles is perfectly acceptable. It really depends on what you want to do and what you feel comfortable using.
There isnt a right or wrong way As you say though, handles give you a bit more control over the kite with faster turns.

A depowerable kite is a good investment for land boarding, they usually allow you to get out in a wider wind range as well, i.e my 10m Ozone manta will get me out from about 10mph up to 20mph winds, it gets a bit spicy at 20mph but still fun

O.

Yeah never thought of that actually, a bar would make more sense for boarding. I fancy a de-power but not sure if I'm ready to try one yet or not, never flown one before so don't know a huge amount about them.

If you are in St Andrews at the same time as me and the conditions are suitable you are welcome to try my 6m Access. Nice kite to learn the basics of depower on.

O.

Yeah sounds good to me, whats the smallest sort of de-power you can get these days? I think a de-power could be the way to go for inshore flying as the wind tends to be a bit more up and down. When are you next going to be at St. Andrews, its a bit of a drive from here for me so I need to try plan a bit ahead of myself.

Where are you based Andy? Might head your way instead Always looking for not kiting locations to fly at.

The smallest you can get is about 4m but that is for stupid high winds. The 6m does me nice from about 20mph up to about 30mph but even in really gusty winds its a bit hairy, sometimes you just need to accept its too gusty

O.

Hey Owain, I'm down in South Lanarkshire, the only places I've got to fly near by are a couple of local fields, if I go anywhere with the kite though I have been over to Ayr, the beach is ok if the tides out but I prefer the huge grass area behind the beach, its always pretty empty so you don't have people in the way to worry about.