Adventures
Adventures
Flight is the ultimate escape. Send a kite into the sky and feel the wind. Ride the currents, carve through the heavens. Take flight!
Plenty of wind heading up the north side of Denali to take the Stowaway Delta aloft. If we’re going to reach the summit we’re going to need more string.
Mountains make their own weather. The wind moves through the terrain. It runs the river beds, tumbles around corners, crashes into walls, and falls over ridgelines. Except when it doesn’t. Early in the morning the air can settle softly and lie still. That’s a good time to be in the high country. Even if your kite’s not ready to fly.
High on a cliff in the mountains isn’t necessarily where you want big wind. But a little is fine if you have the right equipment.
Chris plays out line with each passing gust and the Isotope climbs above the trees.
The Bora 7 is our go-to kite when the breeze gets funky. Big, solid, stable. And you’ll see the tail from a mile away.
Sometimes you want the pull. How strong is that wind? How strong are you? Ready to unleash the speed of the kite, snap that turn and keep it flying? Once the wind kicks up into the high teens you’ll be in for a ride. Dig in. Hold on. Or take off.
Chris has 20lbs of rocks in her pockets and still needs Amanda to keep her on the ground with the Synapse 170 in the 25mph gusts.
Dean lets loose for a mighty wind-powered dune leap in 20mph somewhere on the coast in Mexico.
Greg digs in for the full-body workout in a strong and steady 25mph wind on Kauai. He’s got a big Tensor on the other end of those lines and the safety leash strapped on, just in case.
Arcs and angles. Flicks of the line. Toss the string to the left, slack the line and tug. Pirouette and stab the sand with a wingtip. Pull back both lines and accelerate skyward like you’re heading for orbit. Some kites stay in the wind. Sport kites play in the wind. A dual-line kite is an aerobatic wonder.
Smooth wind off Puget Sound makes perfect air for freestyle flying. Mark runs the Hypnotist through a series of tricks in an 8mph breeze. Photo: Jan Anderson
Ron’s got a Quantum and a 75′ tube tail. Unwinding at the beach in 12mph.
The Nexus stack takes a quick dip in the Pacific. No, they’re not shy. Photo: Ron Kramer
Some days there’s nothing. Flat calm, limp flags, glassy water. We solved that. With special kites so light that just stepping backwards through the air is enough to keep them aloft. Got a gym or a basketball court nearby? Heck, with a 4-D or Zero-G you can even fly kites indoors.
A calm Seattle sunset. Justin plays out line for the Zero-G. The new Happy Hour.
Look where we are! Look what we can see from here. We always take kites when we travel, since you never know when you’ll end up in a special place, with a special view. Flying them feels like a celebration in the sky that connects us all. Here we are, with the earth and the wind and the sky. We take a moment and fly.
On a long drive, sometimes you just have to stop the car. Passing through Idaho, Mark takes a break with the Quantum on a cold frosty morning. Photo: Daniel Beltra
Glaciers recede. Kites emerge. Three Boras take to the sky in the Wrangell Mountains where new life is taking root on glacial moraine. Josh was lucky enough to be there.
Three kites on a line have a pretty good time. EO Atoms looking for whales at sunset off Kauai.
Bush pilot Pierre keeps a Mantis in the cockpit just in case there’s a lovely place to land and fly. This is the Copper River in Alaska where the Bremner River joins in.
There’s a steady 12mph breeze coming over Kite Hill in Seattle. Mark checks rigging on a couple of Micron Stacks before letting them loose.
Paul tossed his EO into the sky. A gentle onshore flow kept it floating over the tide.
This is Rachel. She likes kites. She is responsible for all kinds of product testing to make sure our kites are good and fun. Her EO Atom sure is fun.