Spent a little time at the beach with my son this weekend...





Of course, there were also some P2s in attendance, here's one now!


Family, beaches, kites, and yoyos! Yep, makes for a great weekend!

db

P.S. Kites and yoyos mix quite well, one of the main show and competition flyers I was talking to there knows that quite well...

the weather looks great to do some outdoor yoyoing, nice pictures

Sounds like a great day for you and your son. But where's the One Drop P2 kite?

David took it out and broke it? Either that, or David took it out and it broke David!

db

Aha! So that's what happened! Kite flying sure looks fun....never flew one myself.

I love flying my kites...if only it would stop raining here.
At least until then I have my yo-yos

Both on a string Hmmm, coincidence? I THINK NOT!

Nice Prism nexus.
I just bought a silver fox 2.3 and am quite excited to see how it handles.
I find sport kiting in that same boat with yoyos, in that they both have strings, and you control the object at the end of the string to do different tricks.
Looks like a great festival.
You were saying one of the competition flyers also thought that kites and yoyos mixed together very well. Was he a thrower by any chance?
Awesome.

A thrower, uhhh, yeah....Ever hear of Alchemy Yoyos? This guy is one of the principals and chief designer...goes by the name of Eric Wolff...he knows a bit about yoyos! On seeing my P2, he immediately recognized it as a One Drop and mentioned that he had just purchased a Dingo for his son! How cool is that!

There's a brief YoYo bio of Eric HERE

On the kiting side of things, he is the founder of the longest running stunt kite team in the history of the sport, known as Chicago Fire, and he's a kite designer as well...Check out their site.

Lots of yoyo/kiting crossbreeding going on here!

db

Is that your Nexus two hand stunt kite? I was looking at that very kite on Saturday... looks like a blast. Is it worth the $100 (CAD) price tag?

That's not my Nexus, that's my son's. All of my Prism kites (I have many Prisms) were made back in the late 1990s to early 2000s, and were all handmade in Seattle by Mark Reed and his very small crew at the time. Those kite are all unavailable classics now, and the quality is second to none. Almost all Prisms are now made in China, although the quality is not bad.

The Nexus is a nice kite, but you need a steady 7-8 mph minimum wind to keep the kite airborne, as it is a bit on the high side as far as static wing loading goes. My problem with the Nexus is that this one would not fly correctly out of the bag. After studying it for a while I realized that one side of the bridle was not correctly assembled, so I took it apart and retied it properly, from them on out it's been a great flyer!

Depending on your average wind conditions, I generally recommend getting a larger kite if you're starting out, like the Quantum. Although it costs more, a lower wing loading allows it to fly in lighter wind and fly a little bit slower. This makes it easier to learn on than flying a heavier, smaller kite in higher winds...speed kills!

db

Groovy, thanks man. I don't know if you know anything about the wind conditions in Lethbridge, AB... but it's kite magic.

To me, kite magic means 7 mph constant, with gusts to 7.5 mph! I can have every single line kite in my bags pasted in the sky and 90% of my stunt kites (dual and quad line) love those wind speeds. Oh yeah, the sky is a deep blue with a few cumulus clouds appearing from time to time. Is this a description of Lethbridge?

db

Had steady 15 with gusts too 20 last week out here.
My Delta's stayed in the back of the car, as did the big Snapshot...but the little 1.2 came out and we had a blast!


I love the wind

I wondered if anybody flew kites here! Ive actually got about 7 Quantum Pro's and have worked for Prism Kites at the Berkeley Kite Festival to teach people how to fly. I still fly when the weather is nice. Ive competed in many competitions and placed well but ive always found just flying on a nice day is way less stressful! Ive actually got a full set of Fractal Q Pros which they made a VERY limited amout of. funny though ive been thinking about selling some kites to fund my new found yoyo habit! LoL Anyways if anybody has any kite related questions id be MORE than whiling to help out.

JaysonB

My bag's full of Prism kites, and I'm terribly jealous of your Quantum Pro collection. All of mine are older, all made by hand in the USA, including Illusion, Elixir, Alien, Ozone, 3D...

db

I may have a full set of Fractal Qpros but im not lucky enough to have all those oldies! i love them!! BUT i am about 45 minutes from Mark Reed and his Prism shop and he says i can come visit anytime and fly his kites

JaysonB