Scoobywho

Good advice. A harness is the way to go as jumps, grabs and pops are hard to do with both hands locked onto your handles, unless you use a strop.

I think it comes down to what you want to do next with a fixed bridle kite. Blades will provide lots of lift, and land you nicely , plus bags of pull for those end of day beach/local park races. The Rage is a great traction kite (it replaced the Bullet) but would not say it offers trick style floaty air like the Blade. My vote would be the Blade over the Rage - on handles for more control. If your wanting to work with depowerable foil system then the Peter Lynn Guerilla could be the way to go (you will need a harness).

Is it still for sale?

I'm in the market for a kite that fits between my 8.5m blade and a 3.5m bullet, so could be very interested. pm me and let's chat about the mulah... Am poping out, the wind in the park is excellent today, now but will be back later.

The 4.9m mkii was a nice size for a range of wind speeds. My 3.5 Bullet comes out on days like today - along with an extra set of underpants! but would rather fly the blade as it's got more lift/float and less hardnosed grunt. It all depands what you want to do. Using it for mates to mess about with is not a bad idea so long as they know what they are doing.

Easy peasy! You do what I do which is to hold your hands up to the skies and you spin on one foot in the opposite direction to the twist. It's v quick and requires no power from the kite. You do look a bit like a whirling dervish though!

BTW I picked mine up after posting on the wanted forum on this site. Picked up a cripsy 8.5m mk III for £170 (inc postage) which was very reasonable, plus it came with a strop which was very handy as was set to fly straight out of the bag - nice Anywhere between £170 - £200 should be what you aim for. The harness set me back £40, again from this site. Happy boarding.....

Am off to Bude at the end of this month for a small break with the family, dog oh and my KITES! Does anyone have any hot tips on where to fly? I will be staying near Bude so anywhere within a short drive is ok. Any advice/tips will be much appreciated. Will I need a permit for any of the beaches?

Ignorance is bliss as they say and some fools often do the most stupid things with these kites - I know as was once an ignorant fool before someone gave me a few pointers and now am flying high and fast with more and more confidence – but a few words of wisdom from you guys can help them, however when it comes down to pure insanity, well there is no cure for that!

I bought a 8.5m a few months ago to get me out on light winds days and I must say it was truely an inspired purchase. It quite literally is megga fun. I also purchased harness as was getting very tired hanging onto the handles under the beast for long periods !!!! My preference is to fly it on handles as the bar tends to make turning it very pedestrian like. Go for it and I promise you will not be disappointed

Thought I would drop a note in here to say that while all you teen's and twenty something's were ripping up and down beaches the length and breath of the UK I was hammering over the grass in my local park and having the best of days. Winds were gusting at about 20-25mph with a constant 15mph or so. I looked as if I had a mud bath at the end of the session - excellent! The best day by a long chalk. Even 40 something's can have fun.....

Having flown a Bullet 3.5 for the past 3 months in all wind conditions I went and bought a bigish Blade and it was the best decision by far. When I have mastered this beast i will likely move on to a depower system. I would not say that big Blades are a waste of money as on low wind days, like we have been having in London these past few weeks, they are the only thing in the park that will fly. Yes it turns like a bus with a puncture, but just being able to get the thing up there and moving on the board is a realy treat I will likely look for something around the 5m-6m mark when the winds get better, until then is my Blade 8.5 all the way!

The new Flexifoil Extreme Bar looks nice, and it come with a 360 rotating chicken loop. Looks like the closest thing to a depowerable setup to me. http://www.mistralkites.com/kite_bars_and_handles/flexifoil/extreme_bar.html

Rob505 - I am in Ealing.

Hmmmm, need to get out and fly with people who are wiser than I to flying kites/landboarding in different conditions - In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Since I started landboarding 4 months ago I have only met one other boarder/kiter, and he was flying a Blade 6.6 on a Scrub for the first time on the day I met him !!! Will try to get out to a few different places in the coming weeks/months to broaden my flying experiance.