19 replies to this topic

[clare]

(hope this hasnt been done before!)

Following a discussion today, (on the beach with several revs up in the air!) I got to be wondering how everyone found them in the first place?

Big Bri offered to teach me how to fly my dual line kite properly (cos I was new to it and didnt know what to do next with it) but he was flying this weird looking kite and I fell in love with it immediately! It looked so much fun, and Steve let me have a bit of a go of one of his. Ive been hooked since, and now am collecting a bag full of the little devils and learning something new everytime I fly them. Funnily enough, I havent built any of my dual line kites since discovering the rev!

So what about everyone else? how did you all get sucked into the dark side of kite flying?

[djinnzfree]

Following a how did you all get sucked into the dark side of kite flying?

as signature of Watty says «come on the dark side. we have cookies and milk!»

so i come to revo for the cookies & milk!

[Watty]

I discovered them at WSIKF 2005. My G-ma went there in 2004 and decided to bring me this time. That was a bad choice for her, because now she has to take me there every year . I saw all thes duel line kites flying around and doing all of these sharp turns, then I laid my eyes on a Rev 1.5 being flown in the demo area. I went over and gave it a try. I nose dived it about 6 inches into the sand. I decided to sit back and watch for a bit. As the pros were flying, I watched what their hands did, and how the kite reacted. I came back and St Even handed me a rev. I picked it up and flew as if I knew what I was doing.

Now I have a 1st pace in experienced quad line precision under my belt.

[RevWizard]

I saw one for the first time at the kite shop "Luftpirat" in Hamburg, Germany in I think 1989 or 1990. It was a REV I with the logo "Neos Omega". It was way too expensive at that time, more then twice the USA price. I did NOT buy it.
I saw one in flight for the first time at Scheveningen in Holland shortly after. That person could barely fly it.
I bought my first, a REV I at a kite shop in Riverside, Ca in October 1990. I had to learn to fly it all by myself, which I did. I did not see anyone else flying one until the following spring in Vienna, Austria. It so happened that it was the team "The Decorators". From them, in particular Felix, I learned a bit more.
Now you know my story.

[Aerochic]

I had seen them in kite catalogs, kite shops and once in a blue moon someone trying to learn them on the beach over the years. I thought they were kind of odd looking, tbh. It's when I saw iQuad do their thing at the Wildwood Fest this year (and their online videos) that made me realize just what you could do with these crazy things and I had to have one! :?

[CLTKiter]

I saw the Bay Area Sundowners flying Rev 1.5's at the Carolina Kitefest in October 2002. Mark & Jeannette Lummas had a routine where they flew to a love song. I couldn't believe that a kite could do what they had them doing. I was hooked. At the kitefest they offered free lessons on an old Rev I. I learned the basics and ordered a 1.5M before I left, which I picked up the next time I went to the beach. Now the few dual-line kites that I have are getting musty...

Doug

[FortFlyer]

I totally blame Art St Pierre for my addiction and introduction. Not sure how many years ago it was that I saw him flying at my local spot, at the time the price was to high for my budget having 2 small children, but I watched with amazement.

After a few years of watching him fly these and really wanting one bad, I landed a job making really good money and I went to Greg at Sea Side Kites and finally bought an EXP by the end of the next week I had a 1.5 SLE and 2 weeks after that I got the Power Blast 2-4. (I know Crazy) but that was my first Ultra Light

Shortly after I met Sue and Steve from High Flyers Flight Co. in Newport and we took to each other like a crack dealer and a junkie, 3 years and 30+ Rev's later I still want more.

Art's wife Beth says we are bad influences on each other because we constantly pick each others brains for ideas and modifications, I guess she's right but I can think of worse things in this world to be addicted to and at least at the end of the day I'll always have my 2 bags of Rev's to show for it, So it's really not a bad Investment.

My 2 sons have also become highly into flying Rev's in the last 2 years as well which has pretty much got them off the couch and outside as often as possible flying, yet another benefit in my eyes.

Now I have a new dealer at Midwest Kites, Lyn and Rich have become my new sugar mama and daddy to further add to my kiting needs, they are great people and very helpful and to me they rank right up there with the top's of the kiting industry, They are 2 of the most friendly and helpful people I've dealt with in the retail market.

Some call it the Dark Side I believe I have seen the light, something this good can't be all that bad.

Resistance is Futile, You Will Be Assimilated

[big bri]

I wanted something to fly when the winds got up around 15mph.I dont like flying dualines over that wind speed,even a vented.
Watched a few Rev guys and had it suggested i have a go.Bought a vented 1.5 and a std a few weeks later.I have a house full of kites though,i just love kites,ALL KITES REALY and the Revs great for CHILLIN.


BRIAN...

[outsync]

I saw my first Rev in a local kiteshop in may this year , It was attached to the ceiling next to all kinds of 2 liners and powerkites, when I went in the shop to buy a kite for my daughter. The shape did get my attention, and 20 min later I left with my first Rev I. A few week laters I wachted the Crazy Drivers at the kite festival in Ostend. That realy showed me the posibilities of the kite and made me go out more and more to fly. Now 5 months later I'm the proud owner of a rev 1.5 B std and a rev 1.5 B vented and spend most (all) of my free time flying if the weather allows it.

John

[Stone in Shoe Bob]

Back in the summer of 2005 a guy at work (Gary, Play365) took delivery of a new duel line. We got talking and I said that I had been a kite flyer in the 70's but had given up after making one too many expensive mistakes, when I was supposed to be saving up to get married.

Back then I had mostly been SLKs, I had dabbled a bit with Peter Powells but once the initial novelty of tearing round the sky, first in one direction then in the other had worn of I soon got bored.

“It’s all changed now, said Gary, “come and see.”

I did and I have to say, I still wasn’t impressed. I think duel line must be a bit like those Magic Eye pictures that were so popular in the 90's, either you get it or you don’t, and no matter how hard I try, I just don’t get it.

And that would have been the end of the story if, while we were talking I hadn’t seen somebody with a very odd looking kite doing an inverted slide 3” above the ground, way over in the corner of the field.

“Oh, those,” says Gary “they are what I fly in competition.”

I was hooked.

[antman]

i first discovered them in 1997 and loved them so much i bought my first rev the exp and i still have it

[Steve de Rooy]

I was in Longbeach Washington, in the year of 1991. There were some guys flying them at the demo field tried it for a while... my mom and dad where there as well that year... They saw how much fun I was really having....and not an hour later .. they came back from one of the local kite shops with a Yellow with black tipped Rev 1.

STeve D

[antman]

man steve your parents rock...

[nobodyspecial]

Well, it was a year and a half ago that i finally got my first rev, a red and black exp, I was just watching the videos at the kitestore, and was trying to find something my dual line obssesion vpuld be staved off with, soonafter much practice and less sanity then most i bought a blast, and my most recent purchase the purple b. I don't have many revs but i about kill out on the beaches now.

[skysail]

My wife and I were at the Berkeley Kite Festival in 1993 and saw Team High Performance do a ballet with Rev's. She asked for a Rev 2 for our anniversary. Beats the heck out of diamonds and flowers. John

[cbabbman]

I was talking with Kent from A Wind Of Change about buying a dual line... he said, "Now, if you want to fly something that's REALLY cool, buy a Rev"..

So I did... 12 Rev's later.........

[CWhippie]

Early this year I bought my 5 year old daughter a cheapy single line at target and while flying her kite with her I re-discovered the joy of kite flying. As a kid I always wanted to try a dual line kite so I bought another cheap kite at target, this time a dual line. After snapping the lines in some decent wind I went in search on the internet for new lines, and to see what I could upgrade to since I knew the cheap one wouldnt last long. After browsing Dual lines I came across a few quad line kites and figured that would be twice as much fun as a dual line. so I stumbled upon rev kites from one of the online kite shops, and seeing the community here I knew a Rev was in my future. Hello Red Vented B series, and more to come im sure.

[ilh]

About 1991, my wife and I saw someone flying a strange contraption at Crane Beach in MA. We had never seen anything like it. It was a Rev I. Soon thereafter I got into dual-line kites because a Rev I was out of my price range. A couple years later I got a Rev II, then built a Rev II SUL.

After not flying for 10ish years, last summer I got a 1.5 SLE which got me back into flying, then last fall a custom 1.5 vented, many frames, and then this summer a custom 1.5 SUL.

I still remember looking at that Rev I in awe. I had never seen a sport kite of any kind before that.

--Lee

[AldenMiler]

Google and quite a few online kite stores.

I progressed from single lines into a dual line parafoil pretty quickly. I remembered seeing people in front of the kite loft in ocean city flying kites that did all these wierd tricks. I started searching the internet and decided that the rev was what I had seen them flying.

I looked at about 15 - 20 different online sites and read the descriptions on all of them. I ordered a rev 1.5 SLE after reading the recommendations on this forum. Then a B, then a vented B, then Scarlette...

On a similar vein, I sunk the final hook into my friend Joe this past weekend. He was flying his new Prism Quantum and having fun. I set up my original 1.5 SLE and said "try this". He was hooked in about two minutes and in five minutes he said "I can see I'll have to get one of these". I sent him home with my SLE and said he could use it until he got one of his own. So, if this topic ever comes up in the future he can blame me.

-Alden

[Jim Foster]

I too have someone else to blame.
On June 16, 2001, Father's Day, we were driving down highway 101 through Rockaway Beach Oregon. There were big inflated kites in the air, so we stopped to see what was going on. We walked onto the beach and there was a man flying a four stack if kites that appeared to have four lines. It was Bob Serack. He was putting those kites any place he wanted in the sky. That really got my attention. Bob got out a "beater" and gave me a lesson on how to fly a Rev.
The following November I couldn't stand it any longer and bought an EXP and a kite shop in Carlsbad, California.
My wife Lynn and I now have twelve Revs and travel all over to festivals and fun flys, flying together. We have done demos at events and one pairs competition.

Bob Serack truly changed our lives and we thank him for it.

Jim and Lynn Foster