*** DISCLOSURE ***
This turned out more of a rant than I intended.
******************

I've been static flying my tensor with the bar almost daily now, and even moved on to the landboard at this stage, in low winds and quite successfully. But as I could not bring it with me on vacation, I decided to learn something new - that is, converted my bar to handlebars.

Today, the wind was finally strong enough (12mph with stronger gusts), and off I went, of course... It certainly proved more of a challenge than I thought. Now that popular "superman" video makes sense (if I had not gotten good at flying with single bar setup, it could have been me too). For the first half hour I piloted without changing any tension in the lines from what I had in factory setting, but soon realized that I had to loosen the break lines a bit. Piloting got much easier. If I only hadn't left my sun glasses at home... it would have been perfect!

....you will find that you may need to make more adjustment when the winds get stronger
so it flys exactly how you want it...you should be about ready to buy more kites...1st sign is trouble sleeping

Quote: Originally posted by abkayak

you should be about ready to buy more kites

I have committed to buy a used 14m 2013 F-One Bandit this past Monday already. :evil:

Wolphy - I'm not sure if you are being serious about the 14m F-1 or not. You are still working out brake line tension going from bar to handles. With your little evil icon I thought you might be kidding around.

In full recognition that what I am suggesting here is self serving, nonetheless, a great next step for you at this point is to consider buying the 4.0m Hornet I have for sale on this forum. It is a dedicated handle flyer with quite a bit more grunt than your 3.1m Tensor but will seem very familiar to you with the Tensor history. I used to have a 3.1 Tensor and loved it.

Windstruck, it is no joke. I am indeed getting that kite, but it is meant for my kitesurfing career AFTER (long after, possibly) I complete my training lessons with an instructor.

I certainly appreciate your advice and suggestion, and will strongly consider it in the future, but for now I am far away from having maxed out my Tensor. I have barely learned how to just move back and forth on a landboard with it in a light wind. I still fear speed and always respect the wind!

Go big or go home! You've got some stones (sort of like my Avatar). We'll look forward to hearing your harrowing tales! :evil:

3.1m to a 14m???? Did you ever read about a guy named Darwin???? You might want to rethink how much you DON'T know about traction kiting...... You need a bigger foil first or an instructor ASAP.

hes in good company...has a certified water instructor and some traction buddies as well
he will fly lots of kites of all types along the way

and then buy more

Good to know. I was wondering why there was no one stopping him....

I love you guys!

I wasn't worried if you got too big of kite. Hope that helps.

My instructor suggested I get it, and it was a really good deal. Could not resist... Not going to pilot it till I am ready. And thanks, ssayre, makes me feel much better.

I know just what you mean about handles switching things... I have a 5.1 Tensor... But was more thinking of a friend with my Busta Soulfly switching to a bar after trying it on handles and realizing it had a lot less power (love the bar with them, but it does cut power a fair amount).

Bar is amazing to cruise on, especially when toe-side, but handles will be my first and major love for FB.