Good point about site rules- most people ignore them unless someone is there to help make sure they're followed. And, there has to be a good balance between simplicity and detail. These are the site rules we post at one of our locations, they are very similar to others I've seen posted: ------------...

i would add, don't buy any gear until you've taken some lessons and have a bit better idea of what kind of gear is out there and what feels good for you. During your kite course and the time you spend at the kite beach hanging around, you'll also probably run into other kiters who will be happy to t...

Use short lines and you can kite almost anywhere!

The white kite Dave is holding in the 11th picture is the Airush One. We got a demo One in the other day, I had a chance to go riding on a 12m in 13-19 knot winds and loved it. Seemed quite stable in the rather funky wind we had, good turns, picks up power quickly on the downstroke and much higher j...

Milkman, Same holds true for Bandit (f-one) and Airush (SMART bar): Front lines are shorter because they attach to a single front line on a "false fifth line" system. If I rememember right, older RRD's like the Hypertype also had front lines shorter than the back lines as they were using a similar s...

I used to ride (and still sometimes do) the old RRD Hypertypes -- love the forward and turning speed and agility- what broke on me several times were not the pulleys but the thin bridle lines which tended to break just at the wrong time, like during a jump. Probably caused by those small plastic pul...

Thanks for clearing that up Ronnie. There are a lot of kites out there on front line(s) flagout systems-- I've tested some of these brands, and seen varying levels of effectiveness. Remember that in strong wind, your kite will behave differently on flagout than in light winds, but the test I describ...

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of various safety systems, in my experience: Safety on back line/ Oh shit handle: (see gazxtrem and K-school’s posts) Flagging with a back line as your safety line often results in the “death spiral,” during which the kite continues to pull as it spins unti...

Spot on fdvj... I think especially the last thing you wrote is important! (and unfortunately too often neglected) ==> think about it before you launch... As you say, different locations may require different ways of launching. Especially in the case of a narrow or crowded beach, we say it's usually ...

Lots of good information from people here on launching! Here are some more key points: 1) It's frustrating to try to launch for someone who just hooks in and then spends a bunch of time fiddling with their lines and spinning the bar while you are standing there holding the kite for them. So, before ...