| .: racekites.com Team : racekites |
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Real Name : Alan Short
Forum Name : racekites
Years Experience : 10+
Age : 34
Location : Surrey
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| .: The racekites.com site |
racekites started out in a very different format about 8 years ago. It was during a time when I was trying to get into kite development and was experimenting with designing and building my own foils. None of them flew very well, all were a bit wonky and I finally concluded that making a foil that worked was a lot harder than it looked.
I hosted details of my designs and linked to other kite plans on the net, so called my first kite site, kitedesigns.com. I enjoyed the web stuff so much that I'd add an extra section, update the content or the layout and generally dick around with the site when I wasn't out flying. Everything you currently see on racekites was designed and handcoded by me. It scares me to think of the time that's gone into the site.
As kitedesigns evolved, it very quickly moved away from what it was designed for (hosting designs of kites) and quickly turned into a very early version of racekites. I wrote a few reviews and a few people got in touch and sent me stuff that they had written too. In the early days people like William James (will_wiggle) and Malink Magambo (bushflyer) sent in quite a bit of material. Thanks must surely go to them for helping out a fledgling site.
As kitedesigns became more popular, the reviews came in quicker and quicker, so I decided to look for a new name and racekites.com was born. Initially I was hosting the site from a server at home and once again, it quickly became apparent that a 512Mb/s DSL line from BT wasn't going to deliver the goods. Towards the end of May 2004, jazzyB kindly offered me hosting on one of his server's at monochrome.co.uk and he's been silently supporting the racekites ever since.
racekites had grown up.
The reviews continued to come and Armin of Flysurfer suggested a Forum, so a Forum was added. Advisor's were appointed, loads of new sections added and the rest is history.
The site continues to evolve and change and will always do so. Who knows what it'll be like in the future.
The goal for the racekites.com site is to create an active kiting community who are able to access the very best in product reviews, information, HowTo guides. We want to be the very best kite site on the net.
There are so many that take from the sport. Hopefully we address the balance.
racekites.com is about giving something back.
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| .: My Kites |
I started out with a Super10 back in the days when a Super10 was considered a man's kite. Very quickly I discovered that it wasn't so I bought two more and stacked them.
After an ill timed jump at Beachy Head, followed by a rush trip to Casualty, clutching my knee and seven stitches later I decided that something with a little more float was required. So I got a Flexi Blade I 4.9 on the day they came out. Now that was fun. A 7.2 Blade I and a Peter Lynn Classic buggy were quickly purchased and I was truly hooked.
I've pretty much flown every kite there is, and recent kites I've owned included Wipika, North, Flysurfer, Ozone and Flexifoil. I often find kites I'd forgotten I had in dusty cupboards. The most kites I've owned at any single time is about 30.
My current flock are a full set of Mosquito Pro's and a few Airea Raptors for going fast in the buggy and the amazing 10m and 17m Speeds from Flysurfer for boarding and kite surfing. I have a few Benson's and a Revolution Shockwave for when I'm bored of the big kites.
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| .: Favourite kite |
Depends on the activity, however if I had to choose one, it'd have to be a Flysurfer Speed. Its versatile, powerful, amazing to fly yet so easy to use.
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| .: Mountain Boards / Buggies / Surf Boards |
My current mountain board is an old nosno on to which I've added F3 bindings and foot plates. It a great board, however a little heavy for jumping and freestyle. I'm very tempted by the new boards from Trampa for freestyle stuff, so need to save up.
Buggy is a Predator Full Race in stainless with heavy duty Libre big foots. It's a great crusing machine.
Surf board is a Naish TT Sol 130, a fab board with lots of pop, good for freestyle.
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| .: Preferred Kiting Surface |
Water for kite surfing and good hard packed sand for everything else.
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| .: How did you get into Kiting |
Bought a pink Super10 while at university and have been hooked ever since.
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| .: Favourite Location |
I'm based in the South East of the UK near Leatherhead, so getting to good flying spots is quite a chore. Preferred location has to be either Camber Sands or Greatstone depending on the wind. Locally its great to head to Epsom Downs or Purley Way after escaping from the office in the evening.
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| .: What kit would you recommend to a first timer |
The first kite depends on your budget and what you're interested in doing. Whatever your leaning towards, its important that your very first traction kite is no bigger than 4m. If it were my first kite, I'd go for an Ozone Sami or a Flexifoil Rage. If on a budget maybe a HQ Beamer II or a Radsail Pro 2006.
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| .: Personal stuff |
Age : 33
Job : Senior IT Consultant : Responsible for hosting the whole of the North Sea's Oil and Gas data. Wells, seismic, navigation etc...
Location : Leatherhead, Surrey
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| .: Other hobbies |
80% of my spare time goes into racekites. racekites.com isn't my job and like everyone else, I have to work full time too. However when I'm not in front of a monitor or out flying, photography, painting, music, Lotus cars and designing websites seem to fill all available time.
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If you have a kite, or any other kite related item that you would like to tell everyone at racekites.com about then please
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Let us know what you think about the kites that you fly. Its your point of view that is important...
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