Dave’s Kites

Forget the power kites, more fun can be had with trick kites! Before the power wave swept the world the main buzz in the kite community was around trick flying or freestyle. Take a look at the video above and I’m sure that you’ll agree that what can be done is cool. But don’t be fooled, the tricks are extremely hard to perform! If you have never tried this before I suggest you take a look on the Fractured Axel forum for some tips. You can pick up a cheap second hand kite there as well to get you going. If you have some more cash take a look at the Benson site. A great DVD showing you how to do the latest tricks is available called Trick or Treat.

Having spent a small fortune on the ‘high end’ trick kites from the likes of Tim Benson I stumbled across the Temptation and Firefly manufactured by Gomberg Kites. The two kites are of identical design but have a differing sail design. The best bit is they are only $90!! The kites are designed by Kevin Sanders of Australia and are all-round freestyle sport kites that provide easy, predictable control, precise, responsive flight, and advanced trick capability in a wide wind range.

I ordered one a while back, but have still not tried it. The postal charge was only $30 for International priority post. I also got a few small single liners. In comparison to my Benson Deep Space there are few differences. The kite has all the latest features including roll bars and an active bridle. It looks like a winner. Check out the following video for a taster of what it is capable of:

After trawling through some sites I came across the following site: horvath.ch where some excellent innovations are being dreamed up! The site is home to a range of single line kites called ‘Synergistic Kites’. These are single line freestyle kites that at first appear to be based on Indian fighter kites. On closer examination it is clear that they are a lot more than that. The underlying design of the kites is based on hang gliders.

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Flying Empress Kites are relatively new to the kiting scene. But in a relatively short space of time they have begun to pop out a number of interesting designs. The first few kites were based on a novel version of the sled kite, which allowed a number of character kites to be produced relatively easily. Lately they have developed the inflatable Chinese dragon kite which has proved to be a popular design. There are now producing two new ’stunt’ foils. These are not built for performance, but rather as show stoppers at festivals! Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a Linefoil that was successfully made by Spence from Houston, USA. Initially he tried to fly it with a small drogue, but found that it was not very stable. Finally, he made a tube tail, similar to the one discussed on the kitebuilder forums and found that this cured the instability problems. Does anyone else fancy building one. There is now a growing number of people to share their experience and make it an easy project (if a tad time consuming!)