Date: Fri, 4 Mar 1994 23:22:22 -1000 From: edho@uclink.berkeley.edu (Edward Chi Man Ho) Message-Id: <2l9j0e$qir@agate.berkeley.edu> Organization: University of California, Berkeley Subject: Begineer needs help with XTC I need help with my XTC. I saw that there was some mention of this kite. I am just a lowly beginner. I fly around the Berkeley Marina. 1)I am trying to learn to pick up my kite from a landing. I can do a launch when my kite is on its back. I see people doing launches from all different possitions. How does one launch a kite that is on its side? I see people doing it. I have to drop the kite and spin it then when its on its back I can launch. I've read the Prism Guide and it mentions that you tug on the side of the kite that is up in the air until it is about the hit the ground and pull both lines. But when I do it my kite just flips from one side to the other with its nose in the ground. I worked on this for 2 hrs today. 2)From my vigorous groundwork my XTC seems to be falling apart. My spar connections are always getting loss from the vinyl tubing connectors. Any suggestions? Also my ferrules are comming lose from all the joints. I don't know why. I don't take my wing spars apart. The trunk of my car is exactly long enough to fit the length of the kite wing. 3)I can't seem to do a snap stall at high wind. Is there a way to tune the kite so that it will stall easier. I moved the knot almost 1 inch >From where the black mark on the bridle. I moved it up towards the nose of the kite. -Thanks for the help -Edward Ho :-) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 06:26:12 -1000 From: mss@das.harvard.edu (Marty Sasaki) Message-Id: Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Begineer needs help with XTC Again, send postings to "kites@das.harvard.edu". Requests to be added/dropped/etc, should be sent to "kites-request@das.harvard.edu". Return-Receipt-To: hlee@anes.hmc.psu.edu From: hlee@anes.hmc.psu.edu Subject: Begineer needs help with XTC Date: Sat, 05 Mar 94 07:39:00 PST Encoding: 41 TEXT To Edward Chi Man Ho, Ron Reich has authored a new book with specific instructions on how to do plenty of difficult manuvers, launches, and tricks with stunt kites. Very easy to read, very clear instructions. Relatively inexpensive. A great bargain if you consider all the information it contains. Check it out! Harold Lee Hershey, PA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I need help with my XTC. I saw that there was some mention of this kite. I am just a lowly beginner. I fly around the Berkeley Marina. 1)I am trying to learn to pick up my kite from a landing. I can do a launch when my kite is on its back. I see people doing launches from all different possitions. How does one launch a kite that is on its side? I see people doing it. I have to drop the kite and spin it then when its on its back I can launch. I've read the Prism Guide and it mentions that you tug on the side of the kite that is up in the air until it is about the hit the ground and pull both lines. But when I do it my kite just flips from one side to the other with its nose in the ground. I worked on this for 2 hrs today. 2)From my vigorous groundwork my XTC seems to be falling apart. My spar connections are always getting loss from the vinyl tubing connectors. Any suggestions? Also my ferrules are comming lose from all the joints. I don't know why. I don't take my wing spars apart. The trunk of my car is exactly long enough to fit the length of the kite wing. 3)I can't seem to do a snap stall at high wind. Is there a way to tune the kite so that it will stall easier. I moved the knot almost 1 inch >From where the black mark on the bridle. I moved it up towards the nose of the kite. -Thanks for the help -Edward Ho :-) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 21:17:59 -1000 From: johnsen@eskimo.com (Brian Johnsen) Message-Id: Organization: Captain Pugets Roadside Taco Stand Subject: Re: Begineer needs help with XTC In article , >I need help with my XTC. >I am just a lowly beginner. I fly around the Berkeley Marina. > > How does one launch a kite that is on its side? I've heard you have fairly strong winds at the Marina. This is mostly a lighter wind manoever in the center. It's easier in a strong breeze to attempt this at the edge of the flying window. You're trying to get gravity to drop the top wing toward you. If the kite is directly downwind the force of the wind will not allow this to occur. Take a walk to one side or the other so you get the nose of the kite pointed more into the wind. >when its on its back I can launch. I've read the Prism Guide and it >mentions that you tug on the side of the kite that is up in the air until >it is about the hit the ground and pull both lines. But when I do it >my kite just flips from one side to the other with its nose in the ground. > I worked on this for 2 hrs today. > >2)From my vigorous groundwork my XTC seems to be falling apart. My spar >connections are always getting loss from the vinyl tubing connectors. Wash them out with soap, water and Q-tips. Particles on the interior surface lead to loss of adhesion. -- Politician's Bizarre Claim: "Bolivian Radiologists Planted A Cheese Shop Sketch In My Pancreas" -- Brian Johnsen johnsen@eskimo.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 09:12:00 -1000 From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Subject: Re: Begineer needs help with XTC hlee@anes.hmc.psu.edu writes: >2)From my vigorous groundwork my XTC seems to be falling apart. My spar >connections are always getting loss from the vinyl tubing connectors. >Any suggestions? Also my ferrules are comming lose from all the joints. >I don't know why. I don't take my wing spars apart. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hmmm... I wonder if you mean that you split the bottom spreader in the middle, leaving them connected at the leading edge vinyl and then fold the spreader up parallel to the leading edge for storage. This habit tends to to lead to stretched vinyls. One obvious choice is to see if your dealer can provide replacements, but a different angle of attack is to source the nylon gizmos that Flexifoil fit on their vinyls to clamp the spar firmly. Andrew -- Work: gaffer@rec.com Phone: +44 793 614 110 Fax: +44 793 614 297 Play: andrew@tug.com Phone: +44 256 464 912 No-one ever got fired for buying IBM, but how many got shot? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 03:43:09 -1000 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) Message-Id: <2ln85d$t7c@umd5.umd.edu> Organization: University of Maryland at College Park Subject: Re: Begineer needs help with XTC >hlee@anes.hmc.psu.edu writes: >>Any suggestions? Also my ferrules are comming lose from all the joints. >>I don't know why. I don't take my wing spars apart. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And then Andrew sez: >Hmmm... I wonder if you mean that you split the bottom spreader in the middle, >leaving them connected at the leading edge vinyl and then fold the spreader >up parallel to the leading edge for storage. This habit tends to to lead to >stretched vinyls. Yeah. What he said. Though I don't think that's really what hlee meant (I interpreted it as needing to reglue the ferrules on the leading edge spars). But it's true that on some kites, pulling your spreaders out of the vinyls can make a huge difference in the life of the vinyl. One situation in which this really matters is kites which do not have a vinyl stop on the leading edge to keep the vinyl from sliding. Folding up a spar tends to stretch the hole drilled in the vinyl into an ellipse. Andrew suggests trying to find the doodads used on the Scorpion's vinyls. Personally, I make ample use of "nylon wire ties." These are the little thingies used to tie together bundles of electrical wires. You can buy them at shops like Radio Shack/Tandy (seems to me the last time I got them, they were 30/$3.00). They come in all sorts of different sizes and a fairly wide variety of colors. I use them on vinyls which are slightly too large for the spars I want them to hold. If I intend to leave the spars in the vinyls, I pull the wire tie as tight as I can (usually involves a pair of pliers). Leaving them a little looser allows me to put the spar in and out of the vinyl. Using a wire tie like this serves much the same purpose as taping your spar. There are all sorts of things you can do with wire ties beside tightening vinyls. One use I've seen was to hold the stand-off to the bottom spreader in a EFM-like stand-off design (in which the standoff extends way beyond the spreader). Two ties were linked together, one rotated 90 degrees from the other other. It worked quite well. Jeff (who hopes people realize that this last bit of winter is really the perfect time to start going through their kites and getting them ready for the coming season...even if they've been flying all season) -- |Jeffrey C. Burka | "Everything is still with a fear of never coming out | |Suffering Bad Grammar| Never following through / Never ever finishing | |jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu | What we wanted to do." -- Melissa Ferrick | = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 12:24:26 -1000 From: sasaki@das.harvard.edu (Marty Sasaki) Message-Id: Organization: Harvard University OIT/NSD Subject: Re: Begineer needs help with XTC In article <2l9j0e$qir@agate.berkeley.edu>, edho@uclink.berkeley.edu (Edward Chi Man Ho) writes: >I need help with my XTC. I saw that there was some mention of this kite. >I am just a lowly beginner. I fly around the Berkeley Marina. The XTC is not a kite for beginners. Perhaps you understate your ability. The XTC has too much oversteer for a beginner to fly. Unless you lead the person who sold you the kite to believe that you had moderate skills, or you insisted on the XTC, he/she should not have sold you the XTC. Graphite kites can also be a mistake for beginners. Graphite is more fragile than fiberglass. Unless the winds are light, I would recommend a fiberglass framed kite for a beginner. >1)I am trying to learn to pick up my kite from a landing. I can do a >launch when my kite is on its back. I see people doing launches from >all different possitions. How does one launch a kite that is on its >side? I see people doing it. I have to drop the kite and spin it then >when its on its back I can launch. I've read the Prism Guide and it >mentions that you tug on the side of the kite that is up in the air until >it is about the hit the ground and pull both lines. But when I do it >my kite just flips from one side to the other with its nose in the ground. > I worked on this for 2 hrs today. Ron Reich, in his book, has a good description of how to do this, with easy to follow pictures. Get the book, but in the meantime, try this. Pull the line attached to the side of the kite that is the air quickly. When you you have pulled back on this line about a foot, pull on both lines. The kite should go up into the air. >2)From my vigorous groundwork my XTC seems to be falling apart. My spar >connections are always getting loss from the vinyl tubing connectors. >Any suggestions? New vinyl tubing might be in order if things are really loose. You can also tape (use plastic electrician's tape) the sticks into the tubing. This can be a pain, but it works well. When I'm competing, I tape the tubes in, just to make sure that they are all set up right. However, there might be a problem with the kite. The XTC is fairly tight. With the standoffs in place, it would take a lot of force to get the sticks to come out of the connectors. Or, you might be really bashing the kite around, in which case you should stop doing this, or expect to put the kite back together again after a hard bash... > Also my ferrules are comming lose from all the joints. >I don't know why. I don't take my wing spars apart. The trunk of my >car is exactly long enough to fit the length of the kite wing. If you are really bashing your kite, expect things to come loose. Clean everything out, and glue stuff back together. I use either a flexible super glue (Flex-Zap) or epoxy to hold things in place. >3)I can't seem to do a snap stall at high wind. Is there a way to tune >the kite so that it will stall easier. I moved the knot almost 1 inch >from where the black mark on the bridle. I moved it up towards the >nose of the kite. Snap stalls in high wind are difficult. Maybe the wind is too high. In any case, move the bridle DOWN towards the tail of the kite. You might also consider using stiffer spreaders. This will help with snap stalls... -- Marty Sasaki Harvard University Sasaki Kite Fabrications sasaki@noc.harvard.edu Network Services Division 26 Green Street 617-496-4320 10 Ware Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 Cambridge, MA 02138-4002 phone/fax: 617-522-8546 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =