Power Kites

amigafan2003 said:
Yup - had a Flexfoil Rage 3.5 I used for kite boarding and general mucking about.

I also bought a Flexifoil Blade IV 4.9m and it broke both my ankles on it's third outing.

Great fun - until they spank your ***!
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I've also got a Flexifoil blade IV 4.9m and though it's challenging to fly and easily picks me up (I'm ~120kg) my little stacker 6 is more fun to fly as it's not constantly trying to injure me. It's great fun to fly in very strong winds too though I've broken a few lines.
 
Gribs said:
I've also got a Flexifoil blade IV 4.9m and though it's challenging to fly and easily picks me up (I'm ~120kg) my little stacker 6 is more fun to fly as it's not constantly trying to injure me. It's great fun to fly in very strong winds too though I've broken a few lines.
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Yeah, at the time I was into my weightlifting and weighed 110kg - it would drag me around and loft me around like a rag doll.
 
SickAsAParrot said:
I've got a couple of Flexifoil Super 10s stacked whicH I once took out to a football pitch on a particularly stormy day, ended up being pitched head first into the mud from several feet off the ground. A little kid wanted a go so I said go on then, he ended up getting dragged face first 20 yards through the mud, which was pretty funny but I never did it again.
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A stack of 2 10s, ouch. I remember being tugged about by a single 8!
 
Narj said:
I've read that stacking these things can generate enormous amounts of lift. Don't think I'll be doing that!
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You get tons of pull when they're moving quickly through the air but hardly any if they're stationary, so they never struck me as particularly suitable for buggying\surfing unless you can keep them constantly going in a figure 8. It's nice to be able to rest though by just lifting them vertical, there is virtually no lift in that position.
 
I haven't flown mine for a few years now since had kids and little time, but I still have a board, a buggy and 3 kites. My biggest is my flexifoil blade 6.6 and I have scared myself with that thing on more than 1 occasion where I instantly packed it up and went home glad I hadn't given myself too bad an injury. Even a smaller kite in high wind can completely catch you off guard with a bad gust. They really are brilliant fun though
 
SickAsAParrot said:
You get tons of pull when they're moving quickly through the air but hardly any if they're stationary, so they never struck me as particularly suitable for buggying\surfing unless you can keep them constantly going in a figure 8. It's nice to be able to rest though by just lifting them vertical, there is virtually no lift in that position.
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My uncle had a single 10... it was the first thing I flew and what got me interested in "proper" kiting :)

I've since flown a triple stack of 8s and a double stack of 10s and that was quite fun.

As you mentioned... they only really pull when moving, even in high wind... so they're relatively good (and cheap) learner kites.

They can be used for buggying quite easily... boarding is a bit more difficult. Once you get that first boost, just keep it moving in an S, rather than figure of 8 until you get up to about 15-20mph and then you can keep them stable and the motion will keep it going and building :)
 
So are the Flexifoil Stacker 6, Proteam 8 and Super 10 still considered good starter kites for people who just want something to mess about with in the park (without any ambition of going boarding or anything)? They were the recommendation when I was a kid, 15+ years ago, and I figures things would have moved on? Although I suppose if there good then there good, kites are pretty simple things.
 
Cheers, all. I ordered the Octane 4 with handles and the safety system.

Looking forward to learning! Once I'm happy enough to get a bit more adventurous I'll head to Camber Sands. :)
 
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