Jeepster wrote:Babbman wrote:the perfect spar is the one that let's me just fly...
Chris,
Your inclusion of the word "just" in the above posting is curious. Please elaborate.
Cheers,
Tom
Babb don't mince words...lol
I've gone the entire route with kiting over the last few years. I started out buying a kite for every possible wind condition. Then I started matching spars to wind conditions. Then I started matching line and line length to wind conditions.
And after I got done doing all that and getting it right, either the wind changed or it was time to pack up and go home or back to work.
and I have a whole bunch of expensive kites and accessories that's just sitting doing nothing...lol
So I took it down to it's most basic elements. 2 Rev kites (standard & vented), 1 spar set (race rods), 1 set of lines (120's).
And I figured a couple of things out...
1) wind conditions here suck and are never steady. duh..lol
2) I don't have enough time to switch everything around trying to keep up with the suck (see #1 above) and still fly
3) With few exceptions, we either have wind or we don't. I don't even keep a set of 4 wraps in my bag any more and I won't carry an SLE under any circumstances.
4) Weights of rods just don't matter to me, I just settled on Race rods cause they are light, strong and I've never snapped one. I hate changing rods and I haven't found a need to since I started using them. I know there are variations in the weight of each rod but since I don't live where the wind is steady and smooth as glass, a gram here or there isn't going to matter. My muscles and hand positions will just take care of the differences, as they do with 'the suck' (see #1 above) or when the lines stretch, etc...
I learned long ago in everything I do that it is never the arrow, it is the Indian, so I just go with it. I know when to switch to a vented, I know when to just quit flying. Above all, with the methods I use for setup and tear down, I get to utilize whatever time I have....
"to let me just fly"
Oh yeah. I use 2 P90's as downspars on the 1 SUL that I carry. Why? Cause I had a 2 wrap bust during a dive stop and Dave gave them to me as temporary replacements. They are light and I've had no issues with them at all so until they break, they'll stay in... I also carry a 40' line set for when I HAVE to fly in variably light winds... (i.e. no winds)
That's about it!
Down to 1 bag, 2 kites and lines and I'm good to go for almost any situation I care to fly in...
