Sport Kite Chat - Getting Down with Dual Lines Recap

On Saturday May 2nd, I hosted the first 'Sport Kite Chat' over Google Meet. With over 20 people in attendance. While we originally had it planned for 530 pm to about 7 pm. Our household signed off at 7, but word has it that some of the other participants stayed around for another 7 hours discussing dual line kites! It was a great mix of experienced and newbies, long time competitors, fresh faces, amateur and professional designers, shop and brand owners, and various age groups. There were a handful of questions we had set up just to kick off the overall conversation and hear from everyone. (Which has led to some inspiration for how it will happen in future chats!)

One of the questions I asked everyone was what tip they had for a first time flier, and what tip they had for an experienced flier. Here is a summary of the answers.

First Time Fliers:

1. Check your lines before you fly.

2. Watch the position of your hands, less is more, finesse can come with movement.

3. Work in iterations and percentages of margins of success. Like aim for tens, try and get something one out of ten times, then five out of ten times, then up. After that work for ten out of twenty etc.

4. Keep on Trying

5. Hands down, small movements

6. Get comfortable with tangles and knots. Become the knot.

7. It is about feeling the kite, keep tying knots.

8. Don't freak out, just keep it flying

9. Fly with someone, and if you can't, then fly to music, it forces you to be intentional.

10. Don't worry about breaking stuff, it is all about having fun.

11. Being with someone really helps being a part of the community, watch other people, and see how they do it.

12. Learn how to wind your lines.

13. Learn the window first, then work into the axle group of tricks

14. While learning tricks, notice the inputs. Not just looking at the kite, look at your arms and your inputs, that is where the change will come.

15. We forget out legs when making up ground or gaining ground. Small movements in the arm and wrists, and big movements in the legs.

16. Don't expect anything, just fly.

17. Pester the experienced people, ask questions, watch them, then do your own thing.

Experienced Fliers:

1. Forget you know anything, you will gain more. You can learn more being around those that know less than you.

2. If you don't pass down the knowledge, it wont filter down, ti will be lost

3. Be more gung-ho about the whole teaching thing, enthusiastic even.

4. SHARE IT!

5. Don't copy me.... :)

6. It is all about having fun, don't forget that.

7. Different people have different drive, and different reasons to fly, there is a lot that can be learned from them, not just different technique.

8. Be open and receptive to the enthusiastic newbie. You were them once.

Would love to know what you think, what tips you have for either group. If you want to join in on the next sport kite conversation, make sure to stay tuned to Fortuna Found website, and find us on Facebook and hit both the like and follow buttons!