American Kitefliers Association

I flew the next size up Skynasaur back in the late '80's. I had a blast with it. It probably wont do any slack-line tricks but best I remember it flew nicely. It's long since made it to kite heaven. To be honest I can't give you any tips; 20+ years is just too long to remember. But I won a bag of Skyfoxes as well in Enid. Let me know how your flying session goes.

Had both big and little Skynsaurs - and even the ball cap - what I remember the most is you could fly the kite into a pond or lake. Than pull on the lines and the kite would come out of the water and continue flying. Kites held up well and were good contol line trainers for my children.

Fair Winds, Mike

Hi Kerry, I am kind of in the same boat as you.  I got the Skynasaur Aerobat.  I should repair a fitting before I put it in the air.  But like you I am not sure what to expect from it.  Looks like it will need some real wind to fly it and I expect it to be loud.  I'll check back to hear your comments when you fly it.

Thanks,,
Dallas

Dallas!
Living in the Dallas area you will not have poblem with insufficient wind!
geo

I have several sizes of Skynasaur, and the smaller they are, the harder they are to fly. The small ones respond very quickly, and because they are heavy (in comparison to modern 2-line kites) you need a much stronger wind. The skyfox is out of the window (or into the ground) almost before you can react. Putting it on modern lines (less stretch) and equalizing the lines carefully should help with control. That said, these kites are almost bullet-proof. If you crash, you probably won't hurt it.

They also can fly into and out of the water, although I never tried this with the skyfox. You need deep water (several feet) and a place where the wind is blowing off a low dock or seawall. Dive into the water with no wraps in the line (you need the separated lines to tell you the orientation of the kite) make a slow loop under water (stepping back slowly for propulsion) to re-emerge from the surface and with a quick pull as the nose of the kite appears, you "jump" back into the air. (If you wait until most of the kite has emerged, it will tip towards you and need a relaunch from land.) This takes some practice!

We have a set of the smaller red and blue skynasaur kites that use a ribbon and whiffle golf ball on one end and a pin on the other end. You attach it to the bridle so that when you dog fight and you snag the other persons ribbon it pulls the pin and releases the bridle crashing the kite.

We also have a strange Foil that rick picked up a few years back at an auction. It has a foam leading edge to make it stiff and yet flexable and it is a dual line stunter. They all have the original line set which came with a short piece of wood like a broom handle to wind the line on. They also had a tripod that you used to lean the kite on to "self Launch". Things have really changed in the kite world since the late 80's when it comes to dual line.

We also have a stack that was all three sizes. It had the small, med, and large version as I recall its the fox, areobad and f-36. I may even have an old instruction manual in my collection if your interested. I can scan it and send you a copy if you like.

i still have 3 skyfoxes that i have had forever! i learned on them but they lived in a box for years until i ended up mounting them in my house.  they fly great the tails help a bit but they are a handfull. but luckily also bullet proof.

Cyphert wrote:

Cyphert legacy and proud of it.

PROUD OF YOU, Matt!

Matt's Grandfather, the late Tony Cyphert Sr. was one of our kiting pioneers and I flew with him in San Diego for years. He made the very best handcrafted Delta kites ever.

Skynasaur Kites was right here in Colorado, the old timers here remember them well, they also have a few of the kites.

I came here after they shut down, but I have a big box of Ripstop scraps from them. I have made a few of my own SLK Deltas from Skynasaur scrap

Once in a while its nice to pull the old kites out of the bag and do a loop or two just to see how far we have come. In the early days doing a loop was considered a neat trick.