Jump to content

Blogs

MK1 Nearly Complete

So I've had a small win overnight, bidding on a Flexifoil Blade MK1 3.3M in the colours I like for this series.  Here's some shots below of the kite from the auction, it'll be on its way to @koma's place shortly and added to the stash   If anyone knows what colour options the 2.6M came in let me know, it's the last one missing in the series and so far I can only find that there was an aqua/black colour scheme    

.Joel

.Joel

My Latest Mystery Box!

There's been some amazing prices on second hand gear in Australia, and indeed globally the past year.  Last August I managed to pickup a pristine condition Peter Lynn nGen here in Australia that had been flown less than 6 times since its original purchase.  So this has continued to me nearly finishing my complete set of Flexifoil Blade MK1's, and the Flexifoil Blade 4.9 in every edition from MK1 to MK5   So continuing this nostalgic trend, a few weeks back a Blade MK1 7.2M appeared on a loc

.Joel

.Joel

August 2016 News

Catch up on whats been going on around the community with our August 2016 Newsletter! Flysurfer have been incredibly busy, shots of the new Sonic2-FR have been appearing online and we've got a discussion topic full of them!  Joel Theodore, one of the Extreme Kites Team was fortunate enough to access a prototype Flysurfer Sonic-FR 6M, which leads us to guess that those who were all wanting a smaller than 9M kite should see a 6M as part of the Sonic2-FR range.         Nort

.Joel

.Joel

Getting Started with Extreme Kites

Today we've opened a new Getting Started section on Extreme Kites with the aim to build some useful and helpful guides for those just starting their journey. Over the years there's been many helpful discussion topics and a number of online resources for beginners, unfortunately time has claimed both the relevance and existence of many of those resources.  By bringing a fresh set of articles that the community can interact with, comment and update we hope to be able to provide a resource to

.Joel

.Joel

World Records on Extreme Kites

Today, Extreme Kites releases a World Kite Records section that allows us to look at the past whilst stepping in to the future.  The new World Kiting Records section is fully uniform with drag & drop uploads for your GPS images and optional GPS data. It's fully searchable with a set of filters allowing you to really drill down in to the information that has set each record.  You can filter to find out whom the fastest pilots in your country are, perhaps you want to know what the top spe

.Joel

.Joel

Competition Time!

Win a Pansh Ace II or WeatherFlow Wind Meter ** 3 Runners Up Prizes of Extreme Kites Lanyards ** How to Enter: 1 Entry Point:  Start a New Discussion, receive 1 entry point for every 5 replies received by other members. 15 Entry Points: Invite a friend to join Extreme Kites via the Invite Feature, when the new member makes 5 posts receive 15 Entry Points. Prize Pool: 1st Place: Winner chooses from Pansh Ace II 4.0M or WeatherFlow Wind Meter. 2nd Place: XK Lanyard 3rd P

jhn.holgate

jhn.holgate

Invite to Extreme Kites

We've enabled a new Invite System to make bringing your friends along to Extreme Kites even easier!   On the top right there's now an invite icon, which you can press and use to invite your friends, family and kiting buddies.   In your control panel you'll see a list of members invited by you:   When your invitee receives their email and clicks the signup link your referral code is automatically entered in to the signup form.

.Joel

.Joel

At last some vid

Firstly a big thanks to ExtremeKites and especially Joel for sorting my prize out.  Yes it was a real competition  Secondly apologies for the video, it's the first time I've had chance to get my phone hooked up to it and get some footage, so here it is unedited but it proves the kite does fly, wind was very lumpy and rain very imminent: littleHammer.mp4 littleHammer.mp4

BigE

BigE

Another failed haircut

Another bad haircut day for me today   Had a fair sized benign tumor removed from the base of my skull / top of my neck yesterday under a local anesthetic. Bit of a strange and slightly unpleasant experience talking and joking with the doctors and the medical student while they cut and burnt it out from the back of my head while I was face down on the operating table.  It was suppose to be a quick 30min cyst removal but when they went in they found out it was a bit of a bigg

Goz

Goz

Chrono Lapse !

My computer has been going flat chat this week churning through gigs of photos for my latest pet project.  The Time Lapse.  I've messed around with it in the past but the last couple of weeks I've got really stuck into it putting together a series of time lapse sequences on and around home.  Probably explains why I've been a little more quiet than usual on the forum too.  The time lapses that I've been taking usually consist of finding something 'photo worthy' with some movement involved and set

jhn.holgate

jhn.holgate

Building is a journey

With a Z-Bridle fitted to my new 3m, I've been itching for more flying, a business trip to Irvine, west coast of Scotland, so in to my hand luggage went the kite, I was expecting to be asked what was in my luggage but nothing! Straight through it went.  First evening good wind coming nearly off the sea, roughly 12mph, first attempt, kite leapt up and straight back down, second time, up around 12ft then a reverse death spin, WTF still too much brake? Or have I created a new "Damien". Moved the br

BigE

BigE

Kite Killers are your friend

I mentioned another story in my last entry, some of you may already have seen a post I did on another forum a few years back but thought I'd re-tell for those who did not see it. I used a field to buggy in which is pretty much a rectangle, over 100m wide and about 220m long 7.4 acres, on the rhs and top edge there are erm power lines (marked in red).  Starting flat at the bottom and rising up to a flat at the top. Okay scene set, now for the weather, it was blowing @ 20mph and I

BigE

BigE

The Devil's place

I'm Working down in Hertfordshire in a large town called Stevenage. I always have a kite or two in the car, so finished work and headed for the local park. Although the park is a good size it's in the middle of a large sprawling town and the wind that goes through it is spawned by the devil himself. Using my faceometer I reckon the wind was around 16mph, maybe too much but what the he'll let's see how it goes. Left the kite in the bag, run the lines out, stake handles, pulled kite from bag,

BigE

BigE

Tuning - Z-Bridle Fitted

Z-Bridle fitted, wind was a bit all over from nothing to around 8mph. First take-off, no brake input at the handles massive wing collapse, only the middle third of the kite was inflated, the wing tips just hung down.  Pulled the bottom of the handles back and hey presto it jumped in to shape.  Made a big adjustment at the brake leaders on the kite moving the Z bridle towards the kite by about 10cm Second take-off ... you guessed it massive back stall, it only just lifted. Mov

BigE

BigE

Z-Bridle

The Z-Bridle, firstly why use it: Some single skin kites need some brake input to keep the kite inflated, flying without one, you need to hold the handles with your hands below the top power line to keep a power to brake balance. While flying static, you get "in tune" with the kite and start to fly instinctively applying/releasing the brakes without thinking just based on what the kite is doing. Now jump in a buggy or on a board and this can become a pain as your eye is no longer always on

BigE

BigE

First Flight

Weather not ideal, wind gusting 5 to @12mph. Lines on staked down and it looks... tiny in the field.   Two things I've tried this time: 1 - higher AR, 2 - adjustable wing tips. How did it fly? It's feisty, from take-off went straight up to just short of the zenith, wind dropped right down and so did the kite, wing tips folded in and it slid out of the sky.  More wind and up it went again, it's fast through the window, really sensitive to input with either just handle or handl

BigE

BigE

Phase 4 -COMPLETE!

Now suffering with sewer's back, from being hunched over the sewing machine like Rumpelstiltskin, bar fitting the four leaders as it comes down from it's hanging place, this puppy is ready for a test flight

BigE

BigE

Phase 4 - Pause for thought

All brake bridles and secondary "A" bridles fitted, from this point I'll work my way across all the secondary bridles then build the main cascades up. Why "Pause for thought" I was thinking as a boy I loved making Airfix kits, tanks, planes and ships, Meccano was another favourite, are we slowly moving away from children making things? Everything today is so easy and electronic gizzmos galore, they don't have to think about much in terms of creating anything or working out how something wor

BigE

BigE

Phase 4 - First Bridle

I do all my bridle lines in pairs, same one for each side and check both are the same length. Firstly I make a loop on the end of the line on the reel, I make the loop 12cm long with 2cm at the end unsewn: Marked out: First loop complete, then I measure the bridle length (plus 12cm for the other loop) and cut: First brake secondary pair finished: And attached straight on to kite (to prevent any mix-ups!)  

BigE

BigE

Phase 4 - Bridles

Before I start a bit of background: For my NPW builds I did all the cascade bridling using double slipper knots and double stopper knots, this made the bridling fairly easy and relatively quick, also means any line can be easily adjusted or even replaced, the down side is the knots have a tendency to snag once packed away, I haven't had any issues but care needs to be taken that the kite is fully shaken out and all lines are clear before flying. Now I know there is a second method, using a

BigE

BigE

Phase 3 - Complete!!!!

One complete kite, hot off the machine: Time for a little sewing machine rest.   Now for a bit a trigonometry, the software package I've been using doesn't cater for the modification I've done to the wing tips, so I need to recalculate the 4 wing tip lines with additional brake to a 5 line cascade no brake.  It's something I did on my 12 and 7m after flying but by trial and error, this time I want to calculate it prior.

BigE

BigE

Phase 3 - Half way

And so the metamorphosis from flat pieces of material to a kite is half way there! Now no-one can stop the inevitable transformation, soon this monster will live.... mwah ha ha haaaaaa. Sorry it's the excitement mounting. I did seriously think about just carrying on adding panel by panel to the end, but, the end panels are the hardest and by the time you get there, you have nearly all the kite at the machine and the fiddliest ( I'm sure that is a word) parts to do, the LE curve is quit

BigE

BigE

Back to Work

After 3 weeks of home detention due to not being able to drive, I have been given the all clear to go back to work. Added Bonus I have been given the OK to be able to lift 3kg in each hand now provided it's not above the shoulder.  Time to start doing wall push ups and start trying to build the muscles up again so I can go kiting in a couple of months time. Need to be able to pull the bar in with one hand on the Speed 3 12m when it's fully powered up.  

Goz

Goz

×
×
  • Create New...