Posts Tagged ‘two rigid handles’

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Sport Kite Spectator

First you need to know just what a sport kite is to understand sport kite competition. Today’s sport kites are sometimes called stunt kites. In the most basic understanding of the sport kite the description is a kite that has two or more control lines used to do maneuvers in the sky. At some time or another you may have seen a sport kite doing strange things like bouncing around flying very low or even on the ground. This type of kite flying a lot of the time is intentional.

Sport Kites Come in Two Basic Types

You will hear it’s a dual-line kite! Meaning the kite has two control lines that give it the ability to do any number of tricks and complicated maneuvers in the sky. It takes a lot of practice to master the sport kite to do maneuvers like the axel, fade, lazy susan, comet, cascade, and a stall. Today’s modern stunt kites are delta-shaped similar to this:

XL Sport Dual Control Nylon Kite: Orange by X-Kites XL Sport Dual Control Nylon Kite: Orange by X-Kites
List Price: $21.99
Sale Price: $18.97

Dual control nylon sport kites. Dual control, high performance, fiberglass airframe, handles and line. wingspan: 70 " height: 33 " sail: Ripstop polyester frame: Hollow fiberglass wind rating: 7-20 mph age rating: 10 to adult

With the more advanced multi-line kites you see as few as three control lines. The most common are quad-line kites meaning 4 control lines. The flight characteristics of the quad-line sport kites are very different than the dual-line stunt kites. You will see them flown backwards and forwards and they can be made to stop suddenly and hover. The quad-line employs two rigid handles with two control lines on each one. So what does the quad-line kite look like? You will see the quad-line kite in different shapes but the most common looks like a flat sail similar to these:

Revolution 1.5 SLE Quad Line Stunt Kite Lime Blue Made in the USA Revolution 1.5 SLE Quad Line Stunt Kite Lime Blue Made in the USA
Sale Price: $199.00

Join the quad-line revolution. The original quad-line design, Revolutions are controlled purely by tilting their handles. They can be challenging to master, but their unmatched control and precision will revolutionize your kiteflying...


Very exciting to watch are trains which consists of what can be dual-line and multi-line kites linked together. These trains of 3 or more kites linked together are unable to the complicated maneuvers like single kites can but they are still a blast to watch.