Flying kites gives me "peace of mind". It's my form of stress release. Concentrating on the movements to manuever your kite to fly various patterns in the sky, helps you clear your mind.
It's great to fly them while listening to music. It's ballet in the sky. I'd like to perfect my flying to someday compete at various kite competitions sponsored by the AKA ( American Kite Association ). To get a better view of this, try to attend a Kite Competition or Festival and watch a ballet competition where an individual or team fly their kites to music.
I personally fly a Flexifoil ("stacked" , when I'm really stressed out), a Buena Vista XTC Standard or a Prism Ion ( when I want to concentrte on precise movements and/or when I want to get "radical" ), a Cobra Psycho or a Prism Micron ( when I really want to get extremely radical ).
A flexifoil is fast-moving flying air mattress. The models I fly are a 6 ft. Stacker and a 4 ft. Hot Shot. The stacker holds the record of the fastest kite clocked at 120 mph. When I stack ( fly them in tandem one on top of the other held together by a train line ), and fly them on a real gusty day, they will produce enough pull to give me one hell of a workout. This kite loves doing big winding turns.
The Ion is a Delta-winged dual-lined stunt kite. It's a pretty good beginner to intermediate kite. Doesn't pull like the flexifoil but it's movements are more crisp and precise. Geometric patterns are easily done with this kite. After a few months with the ION, I graduated to the XTC by Buena Vista Kites.
The Buena Vista XTC is bigger than the ION. It is more precise and just as radical and just as quick. I love this kite so much, I have two !!
The Micron is a Delta-winged dual-lined stunt kite like the Ion but half it's size and twice as fast. It's like comparing a hydrofoil to a regular speed boat, some flyers describe it as a "bumble bee on a string". It can do the same things an Ion can do but in fast-forward.
The Psycho is an extremely radical kite. It is not only a fast responding kite, but does tricks that no others can. You have to fly this in hi-wind and short 80 lb. string. It is also very forgiving and durable kite being heavily framed for it's small size.
Pic Credits, Borrowed from :
