Hotter speed and turning than competition kites. Higher-quality exercise and livelier pull than power kites. WindDances are "airgear," a new concept. They fly better and feel more exciting than typical stunt kites. Our other advancements: Ergo T-handles that boost feel, control, exercise. Natural active FLY-a-kite skill. |
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The sport's best-kept secret: the basics and pure fun of "REAL kite flying!"
The awesome new way to fly: The Basics and Pure Fun of "REAL kite flying!"
How GOOD is it? Read the banner above -- and THIS and THIS, too!
All you need are airgear , full basic skill, & sensible handles!
In 1997, we introduced an exciting new concept and new technology that could help draw the public into dual-line kiting and make it grow.
The new concept? "REAL kite flying." Three essential performance-&-handling qualities (that typical kites don't have), full basic skill (that organized kiting pans because their kites respond so poorly to full basic skill), and skill-enhancing control handles (that organized kiting won't use) -- when combined -- create a new and different form of kiting that wildly surpasses the usual "kite-culture flying" sold by organized kiting: it's "REAL kite flying." This "REAL kite flying" is what WindDances and WindDancing are all about.
The new technology? "Airgear." A dual-line kite that has the three essential FLYING qualities engineered and built into it is "airgear." Such a kite performs & handles far better than a typical kite. WindDance parafoils are "airgear." They fly way better than parafoils are supposed to fly -- and better than the usual delta kites, too -- because they're "airgear!" Today, a half-decade after we introduced them, WindDances are still the only kites with the three essential FLYING qualities!
Never heard of this new state-of-the-art? Can't believe the banner at the top of this page? You're not alone. Organized kiting -- driven by its kite culture -- has steadily resisted, discredited, disparaged, and is trying to suppress these advancements. To our astonishment, we discovered how the "kite culture" dislikes the pure fun in the banner at the top of this page!!! They work together as a team to keep you clueless about the hot performance & recreation potentials of "REAL kite flying." The consequences? Besides restricting kiting pleasure for thousands, they continue to seriously harm the sport and their own kite industry. How very sad.
We wish the "kite culture" would embrace what's new -- like the flyers outside of organized kiting do!
Sometimes a sport will crush new things that are superior to the status quo.
Several years ago, a turbine-powered car -- the first ever at the Indianapolis 500 -- totally outran the entire field of piston-engine cars. It would have won by a great many laps if a simple inexpensive part hadn't broken. In response, Indy quickly changed the rules to make sure turbines would never win.
In the 1990s, a small research team developed a normal-looking running shoe that boosted running speed significantly for all athletic levels and types of running. Track-and-field tests stunningly proved how the new shoe turned good runners into champions. Running, the team explained, can be analyzed a series of "collisions with the Earth." The key to improving a running shoe is to minimize the energy loss during those collisions, just like engineering a ball to rebound off concrete like a golf ball does rather than like a ball of modeling clay does. So they developed an ingenious graphite-fiber spring system, built into the sole and so compact you can barely see it, that stores the runner's energy upon landing and then releases it upon takeoff. Besides boosting running speed, it reduces foot and knee trauma. It was lightweight, thin, and inexpensive to mass-produce. The big sports-shoe manufacturers, however, rejected that huge advance in the state-of-the-art and blocked it from entering the marketplace. We learned all about this from a PBS documentary; no other media reported it. Millions of runners who would be eager to buy such a product were kept in the dark about it, and still are. A huge technological breakthrough was crushed by the big-name shoe manufacturers.
A quarter-century ago in bicycling, a revolutionary development collided head-on with the status quo. The future president of Klein Bicycles, while a student at MIT in the 1970s, engineered the world's first fat-tube aluminum bicycle frames. They boost performance-and-handling and riding comfort. To make sure of that claim, I ran through the engineering equations (my tubing-wall-thickness calculations exactly matched Klein's) before ordering my Klein frame in 1980. But the sport's status quo, clinging to the traditional steel frame, immediately ridiculed and resisted that huge advance in the state of the art. Bike riders, however, really liked what Klein developed -- I sure did!!! -- and overrode the inertia of the sport's entrenched leadership. Within a decade, Klein's breakthrough innovation became universally accepted as well as very successful in the marketplace. However, if the bike culture back then was like the "kite culture" is today, bike riders would have rejected that new technology and the way it boosted their performance and fun.
In the first two examples (Indy racing and athletic running), money and power totally crushed new and superior technology. In the third example (bicycling), a sport with a smaller money-and-power base tried and failed to suppress a high-performance innovation that bike riders really wanted after they got a taste of it. A fourth example below (organized kiting) is a hugely different story.
In early 1997, we introduced something new and different to the world of kiting: airgear, full basic skill, and good control handles -- the key ingredients of REAL kite flying. They uplift kites from "toys" into "gear," and dual-line kiting from "insular kite-culture activity" into "exciting outdoor recreation for people of all ages." How much does it elevate the fun, the whole point? Read the banner at the top of this page and CLICK HERE and HERE.
Actually, it was nothing special. We merely brought dual-line kiting up to the minimum performance-and-handling standards, and to the minimum natural-active-skill standards, of the rest of the sport-and-recreation world.
To our utter surprise, organized kiting including their flyers rejected those advancements and the pure fun they deliver, and they acted in symbiotic cooperation to prevent them from reaching the public (summary). During a trade show an observer remarked, "The kite culture is resisting WindDances like the horse culture resisted the automobile." How come? In the "kite-culture" mind, this new fun can't possibly happen and must not happen.
Can you imagine computer users rejecting fast hardware and software? Cyclists rejecting fast bikes? Hobbyists rejecting fast R/C gliders? So strongly they try to block those fun products from being sold? Such cultures wouldn't survive. That's why the "kite culture" won't either and is in deep trouble -- so much so both USA kite magazines folded in the year 2000.
In addition to rejecting good gear, they reject good skill. Can you imagine skiers being taught to keep their legs locked straight? Fishermen to keep the pole pointed directly at the fish? Cyclists to never apply power to one pedal at a time? Sport-and-recreation enthusiasts to do it by sight alone and not at all by feel? Well, the "kite culture" teaches skills equivalent to all those ineffective and unnatural skills: stretch your arms toward the kite; never try to pull long and hard on one line because that's "overcontrolling, a beginner mistake"; fly by sight alone using control handles that prevent good feel. When they try out "airgear," flyers who use those "kite-culture" skills tend to lose it -- like they would if they skied straight-legged fast over sharp bumps, like they would if they didn't even bother to sense-and-respond to those bumps. They can't make airgear turn sharply and fast either, because they were taught that the basic skill required -- pulling hard on one line -- is a big "no-no." Which causes them to lose out on the awesome turning power and its great exercise. The "kite culture" is at fault for handicapping thousands of flyers by teaching them bad skill. Sadly, many have been so messed up by "kite-culture" skill they can't even fathom the concept of actively pulling on one control line. Or the concept of flying by feel with grace and power. Or the concept of making your kite go like you make your bike go: actively apply power and enjoy the exercise. Or the concept sensing-and-responding to the wind as automatically and easily as you prevent yourself from falling over while bicycling or running. (We offer an easy cure for all those handicaps!) Beginners who have not been educated by organized kiting don't have those handicaps, and active basic skill comes easily and naturally for them. Any controlling culture that promotes sub-normal skill -- and rejects the normal active skill that the rest of the world enjoys -- can't possibly survive.
Unlike the first three examples (Indy racing, running, bicycling), organized kiting including their "kite culture" flyers rejected new technology AND the exciting performance and great exercise it delivers, they rejected control handles that enable sensitive feel and full control, and they rejected the dual-line-kiting equivalent of universal performance-and-handling qualities AND natural active skill long enjoyed by the world of mainstream sport-and-recreation.
"REAL kite flying" -- see top banner -- has the look, feel, and exercise of mainstream sport & recreation. "Kite-culture flying" provided by organized kiting -- the usual kite-flying everyone is familiar with -- does not. Throughout this website, we compare these two choices.
Why is the status quo so against this new and different choice? Because "REAL kite flying" shatters their "kite-culture" beliefs, rules, and stereotypes about dual-line kiting. And because it causes "Way Too Much Fun" the public might prefer over the limited fun of "kite-culture flying."
How did it happen?
What's cutting-edge and well-liked in organized kiting -- "kite-culture flying" -- happens to be substandard and unacceptable in mainstream sport & recreation. Here's the proof: hardly any of the many thousands of sport & recreation stores on Planet Earth sell stunt kiting. "Kite-culture flying" isn't even healthy for the kite culture: both USA kite magazines, American Kite and Kite Lines, folded in the year 2000; MORE.
Organized kiting promotes kiting mainly as "toy & hobby" and "extreme sport." "Performance flying" (competition & trick flying with dual-line delta kites) barely registers anymore; the very low performance , and the unnatural power-killing skill , finally took its toll. They offer little in between -- certainly nothing that's good-exercise, fun recreation for people of all ages, a form of kiting that sport-&-outdoor retailers might like to sell to the public in big numbers.
We began dual-line flying in 1989. Right away we began to notice the strangeness of the kites and the strangeness of the sport -- as compared to what's normal in sport & recreation. So we started doing a few things to bring dual-line kiting up to normal mainstream par in performance & handling, skill, and exercising. And to fill in the huge gap between "toy & hobby" and "extreme sport" with a new kind of kiting: easy, high-performance fun flying with kites that are gear in the normal sport & recreation way.
The new stunt kite we bought as rank beginners, an entry-level delta, deformed out of shape and lost power when we pulled back on one line to make it turn. The manual said, "To turn right, pull back on the right line," which was OK for gentle turns, but it didn't work at all for turning it hard by pulling long and forcefully on one line. Which seemed strange: although we can push hard on one bike pedal, we couldn't pull hard on one kite line because the kite didn't like it. Whenever we flew it to the powerzone and whenever the wind kicked in, the spars bent out of shape and the sail billowed out of shape -- which is why it lacked zippy acceleration and speed. It simply didn't "go" -- or feel lively -- like gear really should. The more tightly we steered & turned it, the more the power dropped -- which felt weird -- because it was the opposite of the positive steering-&-turning feel and solid cornering power we normally experience with our other gear. It felt strangely different in yet another way: the pull stayed even in both lines. In our other recreational activities -- bicycling, river & sea kayaking, cross-country skiing, hiking -- we work one arm or leg at a time, and that kind of exercise feels great, but our new kite didn't provide it in the least.
A stunt kite is supposed to deliver speed & turning excitement. And it's supposed to respond well to the basic pull-on-a-kite-line skill described in its user's manual. Ours sure didn't. We felt cheated.
We looked around, and to our dismay we saw how all other stunt kites -- deltas, diamonds, parafoils -- had the same major flaws. We saw how dual-line and quad parafoils had another problem, a huge problem: whenever their flyers turned them using basic dual-line skill, at first the wings kinked in the middle, then as the turn sharpened they deformed more seriously and tended to collapse.
After a decade of advancement by the "kite culture," what about today's kites? Virtually all dual-line kites sold by organized kiting today -- deltas, diamonds, and parafoils -- have the same major performance-&-handling deficiencies we encountered in 1989. Explore the sport and see for yourself. In delta kites, deficiencies have grown worse on purpose: "trick" kites are designed to be "killed", not flown, and generally fly so poorly they've been seen as defective by members of the public. Competition deltas are still about the slowest kites you can buy. Yet competition & trick kites are promoted as "hot." Deformed parafoil wings, clearly seen whenever the new foils fly singly or stacked, have even appeared in ad photos; the kink in the middle of the wing, which worsens as the turn progresses, is caused by a defective bridle system. Virtually ALL of them collapse when you attempt a full-bore turn using full basic skill. One new make is called the "best stunt foil yet." Little has changed.
Why do those kites have those qualities? Because in the "kite culture," flyers prefer those qualities as we found out the hard way.
Wanting something better as newbies, we began asking ourselves, "Hmmm. Why can't kiting be like ordinary recreation? Why can't kites be like normal gear? You power hard on one bike pedal, one running shoe, and one ski pole at a time -- hey, that's the normal way, and wow, the performance and exercise you get is great -- so why can't you pull hard on one kite line to get the same effect? Other gear really speeds up whenever you & Mother Nature turn on the power, and it sure feels exciting and "alive" in response to that power, so why can't kites? Other gear feels solid and natural as you steer & turn it -- especially the exciting cornering power -- so why can't kites? Other gear provides high-quality strength and aerobic exercise as a side-effect of having fun, so why can't kites? How much fun IS POSSIBLE by pulling on kite string and using the wind?"
So we applied common-sense thinking and hard-core aeronautical engineering to find out. And we arrived at new technology and a new concept -- "airgear" and "REAL kite flying" -- kites and kiting with the same fundamental performance & handling, skill, and exercise qualities found in normal sport & recreation. We brought them to life as "WindDances" and "WindDancing."
We also applied common sense to control handles, and came up with a simple 'n' sensible product that enhances performance, skill, and exercise.
Why does our stuff have those qualities? Because in normal sport & recreation, fun seekers prefer those nice qualities.
In our pursuit of that fun, we collided head-on with a "kite culture" that can't tolerate the new things we developed. All other sports, however, embraced similar concepts and technology long ago due to the fun they caused. It caught us totally by surprise. We had no idea that the "Way Too Much Fun" we came up with -- including what's in the banner above and in this video clip, as well as the sight of great-grandmothers having loads of fun like this -- would be considered "wrong" by serious flyers, by the experts, and by the kite trade.
How on Earth did it happen to the "kite culture?" As organized kiting evolved, they paid no attention to what goes on in mainstream sport & recreation, that is, to what the rest of the world likes. They developed an entire way of stunt kiting (kite-culture flying) complete with unnatural power-killing skills (advanced skills) that are completely different from the natural power-generating skills used in mainstream sport & recreation -- and they developed an entire culture (the kite culture) -- all based upon the performance-&-handling deficiencies that we found and fixed!
They also developed a group mentality that's extremely resistant to change. So much so it provides us with better design protection than patents ever would!
Think Star Trek: Like a small alien colony bent on remaining inbred and strangely different from the rest of the universe, the kite culture's defensive "force field" repulses everything new from the outside.
Of course they call us insane. It's even happened on rec.kites, an organized-kiting newsgroup. Such reactions are the zapping sounds of their "force field" repelling new ideas, new products, and new ways of having fun that conflict with their rigid beliefs. They even reject "Just PULL it!" -- a grandmother's clever explanation of basic skill -- because their kites can't take that active skill, which makes "Just PULL it!" wrong in their tight little culture. Are we crazy? Yes, in a nice way!
Shouldn't organized kiting and its kite culture become tolerant enough to allow both choices? "Kite-culture flying" for organized kiting and "REAL kite flying" for the mainstream? The old and the refreshing new?
When you see a picture of a supercharged Ferrari, you certainly know what happens when you crank the wheel and step on the gas!
But when people see a picture of the dual-line-kite equivalent -- a WindDance -- even most seasoned kite flyers are totally clueless about the awesome speed & turning and lively power, including the mindblowing turning power, that flyers of all ages can enjoy. They're also clueless about how to make it speed & turn like crazy.
How come? Organized kiting teaches that parafoils can't possibly perform that well, plus they never educate about the wonderful flying qualities that kites can have. To fly, they teach you to stand there and hang on passively instead of doing it actively with your arms like in cross-country skiing. To turn, they stress cut-power technique instead of apply-power skill, and to punch-&-jerk on your lines instead of being smooth & powerful like in other sports. That is, they don't teach full basic skill; they teach a limited version needed by their "kite-culture" kites which can't withstand the motion or power of full basic skill (we explain that two paragraphs below). That's why most flyers today are not even aware of the "crank the wheel and stomp on the gas" basic skill that produces tight, fast, & powerful turning: actively pull hard on one control line while letting the other go slack. They teach you to prefer a type of control handle the rest of the world has the good sense to avoid: wrist straps that tend to diminish your ability to feel, control, apply power, and fly in comfort. They no longer teach the nature of kite FLYING, and they now celebrate kites made to be "killed," not FLOWN. In this manner, organized kiting keeps the world totally in the dark about the fun of REAL kite flying.
When you buy a sporty car, you certainly know what to look for. You want it to perform & handle in Ferrari-like fashion when you turn the wheel and step on the gas. Sportscar makers gladly engineer and build those exciting qualities into their products. Because drivers want those qualities.
Well, dual-line kites can be sportscars, too. They merely need three essential FLYING qualities engineered and built into them. Our WindDance parafoils have all these qualities, and so did our experimental deltas years ago. But the usual kites -- the deltas, diamonds, and parafoils favored and sold by organized kiting -- do not. Hardly any have even the very-first thing a wise buyer should look for: a bridle system that links the left & right sides of the wing together like a car's steering system links the left & right front wheels together. Look for that defect. It's easy to spot, including in photos. When you "crank the wheel and stomp on the gas" with full-bore turning skill, such a kite severely deforms out of shape and loses power and may fall out of the sky. Try it. Why on Earth are "kite-culture" kites made that way? Because the flyers in organized kiting want them that way. And omigosh, we sure discovered how strongly they resist kites that do have the three essential FLYING qualities!!!!!! In the small, tight, insular world of organized kiting, the excellent performance & handling desired by the mainstream public is pretty much rejected and forbidden.
In Southern California, a personal trainer remarked, "Flying a WindDance provides a good full-body workout!" We made sure of that! We gave our WindDances two exercise-producing characteristics that even power kites lack: the first and third essential FLYING qualities. While WindDancing, besides actively working one arm at a time, you exercise many large body muscles not normally used when flying a kite -- not even while power & traction flying. Organized kiting, however, keeps everyone clueless about this great way to exercise.
A WindDance 3 customer, after a powerful liftoff in 30-mph wind, broke his nose during the crash-&-burn landing. But in light wind, the WD3 is a snappy-turning fun-machine that even small ladies can handle with ease. A tiny eight-year-old girl, shrieking with delight as she flew our WindDance 1 demo in 10-mph wind, threw a fit when her parents announced it was time to leave for home. But in strong wind, the WD1 can be a powerful agile beast that can make a guy's body ache for days. Kites, if they have the three essential FLYING qualities, are extremely versatile like this. But organized kiting doesn't tell anyone.
We, Dan & Sue, WindDance together side-by-side. We sure have fun! Sometimes we're joined by a great-grandmother to form a threesome. We've heard from families -- mom, dad, kids -- who WindDance together. In brisk wind, the speed & turning can be so spectacular it blows away everything you ever see in expert and competition flying!!! Do kite shops, or other kite websites, ever promote this fun? No. According to organized kiting, this kind of flying is supposed to be impossible.
On fields and beaches, when we go WindDancing, we provide opportunity for others to fly a WindDance to its fullest. Including to seasoned flyers far more skillful than we are: some held back on purpose, carefully avoiding the awesome speed & turning and lively power that a WindDance can deliver; many didn't even want to have a taste of the pure fun they witnessed. Such behavior isn't normal. Can you imagine young male drivers, when given the keys to a Ferrari, not having the urge?
See how organized kiting is holding back flyers and the sport?
Our advice: Don't let them hold you back. You don't need an organized kiting. Most flying takes place outside of it anyway. On this website, read your way to the common sense and joy we present. And then go for it!!!
Dual-line kiting -- when pursued in a normal "sport-&-recreation" way instead of the usual "kite-culture" way -- is amazing active fun for regular people of all ages. You fly solo. Or side-by-side with a partner, friends, or family -- two or more fun-&-exercise machines (WindDances, of course!) speeding & turning in the same airspace like aerial Ferraris! You're the pilot -- and often the engine, perhaps burning your buildup of fastfood as fuel!
This recreational form of dual-line kiting is called "REAL kite flying." "WindDancing," from Seattle AirGear, has all three elements. "Kite-culture flying," from organized kiting, has none of them.
Trouble is, nobody knows about REAL kite flying because the leader and steward of our sport -- "organized kiting" -- suppresses it. So much so the general public -- and most kite flyers -- are totally clueless about The Basics and the Pure Fun they cause.
In order to experience the amazing fun of REAL kite flying, first you must understand how organized kiting tries to prevent you from experiencing that fun.
Also, you must be aware of how effective they are in that team effort. For example, most kite flyers don't know what "kite FLYING" is. Or what "basic skill" is. Virtually everything about REAL kite flying has been suppressed: the knowledge, the skill, the gear.
See how organized kiting is causing millions to miss out on genuine "kite-FLYING" fun? We consider that a crime.
Here are The Basics -- about the three essential FLYING qualities, full basic skill, and friendly control handles -- that more flyers might like to know about:
When your dual-line kite has three essential FLYING qualities -- and when you fly it with the full basic skill made possible by those nice qualities and by hand-friendly control handles -- then parafoil kites, basic skill, and recreational flying are vastly more fun than what organized kiting teaches and sells.
The "three essential FLYING qualities" are merely the kiting version of the universal performance-&-handling characteristics engineered and built into the world's vehicles and gear. Kites with these qualities are "airgear." Such a kite is extremely versatile in terms of wind range, skill level, and how you can fly it. All delta kites and parafoil kites, if the developers and manufacturers were willing, could be made to fly this well. (The kites from organized kiting don't have these qualities.)
Hand-friendly dual-line control handles are merely the kiting version of the footwear and handgrips normally used in sport & recreation: they are comfortable, they permit the best feel and control, and they enable the hottest power and performance. (But hardly anybody in organized kiting will use them.)
Basic skill is the highest-performance and best-exercise skill of all, and it does everything. The theory of "kite FLYING with basic skill" distils into simple essence that even children can understand and apply. This is merely the kiting version of the natural skills used in mainstream sport & recreation. The catch? Your kite must have the three essential FLYING qualities, and your control handles must be ergonomically-correct. (Unfortunately for the millions of potential flyers in the general public who might like to lay their hands on such gear, organized kiting won't offer it.)
Why are The Basics above so very important? Because they automatically cause Pure Fun! Sometimes way too much fun!
Here's the Pure Fun that the three essential FLYING qualities, full basic skill, and friendly control handles deliver:
You can enjoy everything in the banner at the top of this page. It's exciting recreational flying -- flying solo, or flying side-by-side with partners, friends, and family. In mild and stronger winds, the speed & turning can be far hotter than competition flying and that active flying can make your body burn. It's lively fun or relaxing fun for everyone from kids to oldsters -- hey, you can choose your own pace just like you can with a pair of running shoes or a bike. All from the wind and from the natural pull-on-a-kite-line skill you learned as a child.
When the wind kicks in, or when you "go for it," you can enjoy a new kind of power flying that's far more active and lively than the usual power-&-traction flying.
You can experience a new kind of kite-flying exercise: active strength and aerobic exercise as you generate hot speed & powerful turning, instead of the usual passive tug-of-war exercise where you just stand there and hang on and let the kite pull on you.
You can enjoy kites that perform and feel like normal gear, kites that do have the first quality needed for hot dual-line FLYING.
You can do what's in this video clip. Although it's just casual recreational fun flying, notice how the speed & turning performance vastly exceeds anything you ever see in competitive flying!
See all those snappy turns? They feel exciting, too (see paragraph below). They're done with simple pull-on-a-kite-line skill. Many of them -- the downward-turning sharp turns & spins at the side edge of the flight envelope, and the sharp high-speed hairpin turns -- can't be done with the usual kites. How come? Because they lack the first of the three essential FLYING qualities including the very first thing to visually look for in any dual-line kite.
As you watch the clips, use your mind to feel the lively pull you can't actually see in the clips: how the pull shoots up every time the WindDance speeds up, how during every sharp turn the pull suddenly rises and transfers into one line as you swing your arm back to turn. Yes, actually doing it is much more fun than watching it!
You can have this great fun, too: side-by-side flying. Although the spectacular speed-&-turning can totally blow away the expert flying seen at kite festivals, it's purely recreational and even families and great-grandmothers can do it.
You can enjoy all of the Pure Fun Realities in this list.
The three essential FLYING qualities transform dual-line kites from "toys" into "gear" that would appeal to the public. But organized kiting will have none of it.
The core basics of REAL kite flying, and the great fun they cause, uplift kiting into the realm of normal sport & recreation. Although other outdoor activities incorporated mainstream preferences long ago, organized kiting will not.
"We sell fun!" claims organized kiting. But do they ever mention what their brand of fun EXCLUDES?
"We offer many choices!" claims organized kiting. Yes, but all those "choices" are merely the various flavors of kite-culture flying: the various specialized combinations of performance or power level, skill level, and wind level. None of those flavors, however, have the performance-&-handling qualities, skill qualities, or exercise qualities integral to REAL kite flying and normal sport & recreation. The two fundamental choices, actually, are "kite-culture flying" and "REAL kite flying." Kite-culture flying is different from normal sport & recreation. REAL kite flying is normal sport & recreation. Do they ever tell you this?
Why does organized kiting reject and suppress The Basics -- and the Pure Fun they cause -- while skillfully giving the impression they don't? Because they see it as a threat to their kite culture. According to the kite culture, none of the REAL-kite-flying realities in this list are supposed to happen. "REAL kite flying" itself isn't supposed to happen.
How do we know all this? Here's a summary of how organized kiting revealed itself to us. Here's another clue.
In addition, we examined the record of how extremely poorly they've fostered the growth and success of kiting. Including how they allowed competition kites and 'performance' kites to evolve into the sport's slowest kites, how they allowed expert skill to evolve into the sport's least-powerful and least-graceful skill, how they caused many kite shops to go out of business, and how they caused the demise of the two USA kite magazines in the year 2000.
How strongly do they cling to their kite-culture way? How strongly do they resist other choices? CLICK HERE.
The members of organized kiting -- united as a team -- impose kite-culture flying on everyone, and they shut out all other choices. Often with unwitting help from the influential they educate: communities and organizations sponsoring kite festivals and kite museums, educators teaching about kites, and the media. REAL kite flying, which could draw in the public and help save organized kiting from itself, has no voice.
Sadly, you cannot learn about REAL kite flying from the world's foremost authority: organized kiting. Only this website, and word-of-mouth, make this fun known to the world.
For tips on how to explore this website, CLICK ON Help in the menu bar at the top of the page.
As you can plainly see, dual-line kiting can be far more fun than the public -- and most flyers -- have been allowed to realize. Enjoy!
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WindDance dual-line parafoil stunt kites/sport kites are developed, sold, and backed by Seattle AirGear.
WindDance, WindDancing, Seattle AirGear, and AirGear are trademarks of Seattle AirGear.
Copyright © 1995-2017 Seattle AirGear.
This page last revised Jul-12-2002