Simviation Forums

Any Kite flyers around?  Last weekend, we bought a $5.00 kite at Wal-Mart and we took the kiddies to the park to fly it.  Since they were totally hooked, we decided we might invest a bit and get a real kite to take out and fly with them.  I settled in a $35.00 box kite, and 500 ft. of string, and off we went.  

For some reason, we couldn't get that box kite above around 25 ft!  The wind was great, the kite seemed okay, but still no joy.  We hooked the Wal-Mart special (Spongebob and Patrick, no less...) and it's 50 ft of string to the 200 feet that already came with the box kite, and it flew like a dream.  I didn't even have to touch it once it got aloft.

So, I'm researching it a bit tonight, and tomorrow we'll give it another go.  I feel like Charlie Brown right now...  ::)

A friend of mine, Dan Flintjer,

Well im getting into kitesurfing at the moment, starting to spend more time on in than windsurfing! Never though I would see that

But im thinking me and you are at opposite ends of the kiting spectrum!! I would definatley recomend a power kite though, http://www.powerkiteshop.com/kites/index.htm, they are actually really fun for playing round with in a field, and getting used to controling a proper kite. You can actually get some suprising air with them, like 20ft in the air easy!

I would recomend a tiny one, like 1.5m to start with. You will be astounded with the power, even on a light wind day!
Buttttt...the prices are obviously a lot higher than the sorta stuff you would get in Walmart, but I for like $150 you should be able to get a nice small one. (And consider yourself lucky, when you start getting bigger surf kites they are generally $500 - $1500 , literally just for a kite, nothing else!).

So yeh, if it sounds at all appealing you should go down to local watersports shop (they tend to stock land kites also)  and have a word, sure they will sort you out!

my dad has a big airfoil kite, and he let me have a go with it, and, its about three quarters of my height, and it took me up into the air. my dad had to grab me by the waist to stop it from taking me off the cliff...(the campsite we were staying at has a field quite close to the edge) it was fun, and i dare say i may try a bit of kitesurfing later on in my life, but for now, im sticking with my acid green stunt kite. the traditional diamond shape...it has a kickass twelve metre tail though...its very fun to fly  ;)

Yes I kite fly, I would suggest putting a long tail and possibly adjusting where the string attaches on the bridle.  ;)

i had a kite thaty looked like a biplane
i flew great, i also had it on a 500ft string
but one day the string broke and it flew away and i havent seen it since

Been a while, but I enjoy it... last kite I had was a Gayla squid... flew great. When I was a kid I must have gone through a dozen Gayla Bats...

A hawk attacked my kite  :( Probably shouldn't have gotten one shaped like a small bird.........

Well, we went again today, and an Osprey attacked our Spongebob Kite...  He was pretty upset about that big yellow bird flying so close to his nest, as he left some nice gashes in it.  The kite held it's own pretty good though.  The Osprey got tangled in the streamer and both fell about 25 feet brfore he became free.  After a while, the Opsrey declared victory and went back to his nest.

Still didn't get that damn box kite up for more than a few minutes though...

My dad has I think two of those bi-plane kites. He sometimes gets them out when the grandkids are over there, weather permitting of course.
I was big into kites when I was younger....Then I discovered rocketry and never looked back.  8-)

I have a little airfoil/parachute shaped kite, it flyes pretty well for being so small. My mom is really into kite flying, she has all kinds of them. I know next to nothing about them though. :-/

I have a little airfoil/parachute shaped kite, it flyes pretty well for being so small. My mom is really into kite flying, she has all kinds of them. I know next to nothing about them though. :-/

LOL- not much to know: you tie a whole lot of string to it, take it outside, and run into the wind while letting the string out.