how

There's a lot more to flying a kite than grabbing the string and charging off into the distance doing a "Charlie Brown", you know.

Here's some tips on how best to proceed.

First of all decide how many strings you want on your kite. You can have four. What's that - one - I SAID "YOU CAN HAVE FOUR"

oh - as El Presidente says I have to.....

One line kites

Here's "El Presidente" demonstrating how to fly a one lined kite. It's quite easy. You chuck it in the air, pull on the string and, well it's got two chances hasn't it. It either goes up or it doesn't.
Here's a tip from "El Presidente" -

"while the fat bloke is ranting about one stringed kites you can launch loads and tie them to his kite bag. While you're at it if you have a rummage in his bag he's got some ground stakes that you can peg your one lined kites out with. It can be up to an hour before he notices."

(who can he mean?)

Multi lined kites

	BEFORE you fly make sure that the lines are the same length. Stick all the loops over a friend's finger and stretch the lines out.
Chris bought two pairs of 30 metre lines, and when we stretched them out, look how far different they are. If you try to fly without checking line length, chances are you will find it rather hard with the kite constantly flying off to one side or spiraling. This is technically known as "spazzing".

OK - so you've got the lines the same size. Fly for a few minutes, then check 'em again.

If you've got a kite with some muscle it might just stretch the main lines a little more that the brake lines.

Here's what a 7.8 Blade II did to a pair of main lines in just ten minutes.

The golden rule of lines is that you either have them nicely coiled on the winders or laid out straight on the grass.

Don't let anyone help you by scooping up the line & bringing it to you.

As Luke Warm says - " NO!! "

Having sorted out your lines we'll look at

Two line kites

Flying a two stringed kite is rather straightforward, hold on, and when it goes up, so do you.
That's it really.

Two lined kites are often flown from poles, and you can rig four lined kites to fly as two lined from a pole.
Personally I don't like this arrangement as I find them too tricky to control.

Clever petals don't

Three line kites

	Three lined kites are something of a rarity. Mostly they are best for kite surfing using the middle line as a brake. But I know some people who use them on dry land. I've heard about some amazing new three line lash up for the Blade - let's expect the worst !!

Four line kites

Four lined kites are easy to steer, turn and - gawd bless the bloke who invented brake lines !!

Four lined kites are kites as God intended. 'Nuff said !!!

The committee and members of team ELF would like to congratulate the Webmaster on presenting such an unbiased and impartial guide to the various kites you might fly.

We'd like to....... it's a shame we can't!!

Anyway - back to the plot.

Make sure that you're not going to get tangled in these four lines of yours, then tie one end of the line to the kite (DUR!!) and then you have a choice for the other end.


You can fly the kite nicely using handles which give you a full range of control of the kite.

Or you can use a "Gaybar" which allows the kite to do whatever the hell it wants whilst remaining tied to you. This has the advantage of .

1

Maximizing the risk of physical injury as the kite is now TOTALLY unmanageable.

2

It still allows you the full legal responsibility when you putt through the nice neighbour's greenhouse

A harness is a must - strapping a kite into the harness stops your Skytiger wrapping around a tree (must remember that!) and saves your bum when you "arse" along the floor.
They can get a bit tight around the "flowers" though

A harness is also useful when flying something that is obviously far too big. Not only does it attach you to the kite, but with a bit of rope and a helpful fat bloke you can get valuable anchorage.
Because you might need it...