The fun begins with understanding kite FLYING

This web site is a Knowledge Base of "kite FLYING" with "basic skill" -- which is "REAL kite flying."

When we began kiting in 1989, we expected organized kiting to be the authority. To our surprise, we discovered a huge void in their basic knowledge and understanding of kiting.

Organized kiting -- and its trade association, flying associations, clubs, flyers, celebrities, gurus, festivals, competitions, videos, magazines, books, web sites, manufacturers, distributors, and specialty kite retailers -- present a lot of information.

But NOWHERE in their database can you find the fundamental "REAL kite flying" knowledge you need to fully enjoy dual-line kiting:

1. How three essential FLYING qualities aeronautical engineered into a dual-line kite -- superb response to basic skill, superb response to the wind, and a natural steering-&-turning feel -- provide the highest levels of speed & turning performance, visual and physical excitement, and exercise quality.

   How the typical specialized 'performance' and 'power' kites -- and the numerous entry-level and step-up models styled after them -- don't have those essential qualities.

   How competition 'performance' kites have the worst FLYING performance of all.

2. How easy and natural basic skill has always been the sport's highest-performance speed & turning skill, and best exercise skill, of all.

   How advanced skill generates the lowest performance and least exercise.

3. How the new, comfortable, ergonomically-correct T-handles are the best control handles available, and how they enhance your skill, control, and exercise.

   How the most popular control handles -- wrist straps -- are by far the worst. How they are so bad for your hands and wrists that no other sports or human activity uses them. Only the kite culture does.

We invite you to try and find any of this beneficial knowledge in kite culture sources, including this basic consumer information: the FIRST thing to look for in a dual-line kite.

Since they don't teach the basics, we at Seattle AirGear must educate about the fundamentals in order to sell our WindDances.

Using our expertise in aeronautical engineering and common sense, we began our "kite FLYING" knowledge base from scratch by inquiring: "How much fun can you possible have when you and the wind pull on a kite string?" Our findings? Awesome amounts of pure fun! Especially when you fly airgear rather than kites!

Here is a summary of the fundamental "kite FLYING" knowledge we present throughout this web site:

All "kite FLYING" is fundamentally the same. If you know how to "FLY" a single-line kite, you know how to "FLY" a dual-line kite.

We describe how a single-line kite aloft in a gentle breeze with a few ounces of pull in the kite line -- and a dual-line kite ripping through the power zone at 100 mph with a hundred pounds of pull in the control lines -- are both "kite FLYING" in the same fundamental way.  And how both require the same basic skill.

We describe the fun of dual-line kiting. The acceleration, speed, and agility you see. The lively pull you feel. The high speed and hot turning you hear. The healthy exercise you receive during all that excitement.

We describe how it's immensely more fun when you fly side-by-side with a partner, family member, or friend -- two WindDances zipping and turning in the same airspace.

We describe the three essential FLYING qualities to look for in a dual-line kite -- the bare-minimum standards that any sport kite or power kite should live up to.

We describe how easy it is. Pull on one or both kite lines as needed to achieve the speed & turning and exercise you want. How? Swing one or both arms back (like when you walk) to generate that pull, perhaps while stepping back to make your pulling-action stronger or last longer.

We describe the theory of "kite-FLYING" and basic skill. Here goes:

The public image of "kite flying" is a child pulling a single-line kite aloft. The child is creating kite-line tension, which the child and the kite feel as "pull," to make the kite speed through the air and FLY. That public image explains "kite-FLYING" theory perfectly: pull (tension) in the kite line = speed = FLYING. Pull-on-your-kite-line skill, and the theory behind it, are so simple even children understand.

It works for single-line kites and dual-line kites. For straight flight and sharp turning.

"Kite-FLYING" happens in two ways:

The wind creates pull, speed, and FLYING. As in regular kite flying when you just stand there and effortlessly steer and let the wind do its thing.

And you create pull, speed, and FLYING. By flying your kite actively, by applying power and moving your body as in energetic sport & recreation.

"Pull to make it FLY" because pull = speed = FLYING is about all you have to know to be a hot sport-kite FLYER.

We describe the theory of good exercise. "Pull to exercise" because the pull you exert x the distance you swing your arm to pull = the energy you burn. "Pump air" and feel the burn as you steer and power your hot aerial sports car all over its flight envelope. High-speed hairpins, something you cannot do with typical dual-line kites, are exciting and body-burning. You're the pilot, and when flying actively your body sure tells you you're also the engine.

We describe which flying lines work best, a fast way to set them up for trouble-free flying, and how to make them last a long time.

We describe a sensible easy-to-make groundstake/windwand (nobody manufactures them) for securing your two control handles to the ground during setup & takedown & precision-tuning, and for telling wind direction.

We describe the best kind of control handles, how they enhance feel and control, how comfortable and natural they are, how they maximize your exercise, how they make dual-line FLYING a lot more fun.

We help you cut through the thickening jungle of hype out there.

We explain how recreational dual-line kites aeronautically engineered for high-performance "kite FLYING" -- that is, aeronautically engineered to have the three essential FLYING qualities -- generate the sport's hottest speed & turning performance and highest-quality exercise. How only basic skill is needed. How even novices can do it.

We explain how trick and competition kites and advanced skills generate the sport's lowest speed & turning performance and least exercise. We explain how many sport kites today are not made for "kite FLYING." We explain how power flying is low-quality exercise.

We explain how the most-popular type of control handles, wrist straps, prevent good feel and control and are the least comfortable. We explain how other common handles restrict your ability to make full use of basic FLYING skill -- how they also limit your FLYING performance, exercise, and fun.

Considering that we are relatively new to the sport -- we first saw and flew dual-line kites in 1989 -- we were very surprised to discover that no one had ever derived the basic speed & pull equations of dual-line "kite FLYING." So we did. These simple equations, besides guiding the sport-kite developer toward higher FLYING performance, explain why different kites perform the way they do and why different skills work the way they do.

Kiting's prime authority is organized kiting, the "kite culture." As you study this site, and observe the kiting scene, we invite you to judge for yourself how well the "kite culture" educates about "kite FLYING."

The fundamental "kite FLYING" education we present on this web site, including all the above info, should also be taught by the entire kite culture to foster appreciation of sport-kite FLYING. And so people can make wise choices and have the most fun.

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 Jan-6-2001