Videos: zero wind kites by us

Take offs, dives, flatspins, fly aways, glides and just soaring around on a cool evening in fall, zero wind. Kite: the long way home in the standard factory setup with original skyshark 2pt framing. The flying line used is a zero.6, which is good on rough grounds.

Floating around on an evening in summer on 2300 m: thermals, downdrafts, some chaotic winds. Movie by Markus Egger. Pilot: Franco Pinazza. Kite: the long way home with factory setup.

Thermals: In general, ascending air currents or up wind, carrying a kite vertically upwards. Often generated by insulated warm ground areas such as a dark asphalt place beside a cool meadow, an acre field near a cooler lake or in a small scale above a dark roof, heated by the sun. Lovely moments, when a long way home or the urban ninja are floating on the spot or circle upwards doing flatspins.

Reinhard Bügemannskemper and Ralf Elias are flying in the exhibition hall at the Leipzig fair. Kite: like a rolling stone ul with standard factory setup.

Large single line indoor kites can be flown well in larger inner spaces. Beside a leight weight of the kite, a good indoor handling is achieved by agility and slow movement. Long airtimes due to a minimal sink rate and modest need for space are imortant.

Like a rolling stone ul was designed to meet the mentioned factors as a dedicated large indoor kite. It doesn't perform the infinite glides of the long way home, but delivers maximum airtime values as a result of its minimal wing loading in horizontal floating and its overall ultra light weight. A classic slow-down aerodynamics design.

An interesting evening at the Empa center for synergetic structures. The landing is not perfect, but we had fun. The obstacle on the floor is an ergo.90 carbon reel, which is no longer available.

Kite: c'est la vie gran turismo ... un peu a bout de souffle.

We adjusted the kite to fly shorter glides and tighter flatspins by slackening the sail a little bit. However, it demands broader spaces for its long glides, in which it will develop its strong lift. That's what it's designed for.

At a similar wing span, the ultra slow "the long way home hc stradale" performs flatspins around a point within its wings without losing height. Because it's so slow, there's time enough to stay relaxed. The compact indoor-kite "i'll be back" is designed for flights in even more confined space such as in the office or atelier.0

The urban ninja on the Melchsee Frutt lake, a couple of degrees below zero. Fast moves in the Swiss alps with the lively freestyle single line kite. It can be flown much more relaxed in warmer conditions.

Setup is factory standard, the flying line is a zero.6, flown at 15 to 70 m. Wind: zero. Frame rate of the movie is unchanged.

This radical freestyle kite is available ready to fly. A lot of people make it themselves with help of this building plan. For perfectionists, we offer sporadically the building set including flying line with the light parts and materials.

Even more radical: urban ninja the bad (variations: the smooth the bad and the ugly) lifts off blatantly and flies the loops in Potsdam near Berlin.

We manufacture this kite for friends and good customers. Some make it themselves using our building plan. There's no building kit for the kite.

In the middle of the Swiss alps: Floating in the swirls around the dam of Lago della Sella above the Gotthard pass, good conditions for "like a rolling stone standard".

For some people the Gotthard is exactly the center of Switzerland. For some, incl. Joseph Beuys, the center of Europe, parting south and north, Italy and Switzerland. For me it's just the archetype of a rough environment.

Compact delta shape kites like "de tomaso superleggera" feel comfortable in such places too.

Some lightwind kites in fresh winds, Schlieren Zurich. Franziska Felber: the long way home and the ugly, that doesn't really exist. Daniel Boermann: c'est la vie and like a rolling stone.

We better should have had a like a rolling stone flow and urban ninjas with us. Also, the consistantly gliding c'est la vie glissando would have been a good choice for flying in this rather tough conditions.

De tomaso honey spectra laminate edition. This kite used to be available for friends and good customers upon request. Today, it's a part of the hyperlight series, light kites with a sail of Dyneema. The de tomaso honey icarex edition loves also a very floaty flying style and is a bit easier to control.