Wow, where has the year gone? It’s already May. We are still cranking away here at Kite Stop, and I’m very optimistic for the coming summer. Have you gotten your kites yet?

In January, I attended the Kite Trade Association International Trade Show in Las Vegas, and was able to order a bunch of new kites. They have started rolling in, and will continue to come in throughout the summer. Please check back often to see what’s new!

NEW ARRIVALS

Revolution Quad-lines!

We’ve been friends with the folks at Revolution for a long time, but reconnected with Lolly and John Barresi at the KTAI. So we have brought in a whole set of Rev 1.5SLE and the B-2 series of kites by John B. We can also special order any design you find at Revolution Kites website.

The Revolution Quad-lines start at $308.00

The Kymera!
We developed a new relationship with Into the Wind, and have been getting their new line-up of kites. The Kymera is their high-end kite designed by John Barresi. It has some really unique characteristics, and if you are into dual-line kites, this is a must have!

The Kymera retails for $198.00.

HQ Multi-Kite!
This new kite by HQ combines all the good things about kiting. You can fly this frameless kite as a single line, or simply remove a part of the bridle, and fly it as a dual-line. This is a very unique looking kite, and should provide hours of fun regardless of your personal flying style.

The Multi-Kite retails for $50.00

NEW OUTDOOR FUN!

Disc Golf!
Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc at a target. Much like golf, sets include a driver, mid-range, and putters. We have a beginner and deluxe set to get you started!

The Beginner set retails for $24.99 and the Deluxe set retails for 49.99

Ultimate Sport Discs
Ultimate is a game much like football or rugby, in which players score points by passing a flying disc from player to player to reach an “end zone”. We now carry the Ultra Star, the official disc for tournament play by USA Ultimate and also the junior version called the J*Star

The Ultra Star retails for $10.00 and the J*Star retail for $8.50

Air Swimmers
Some of you might have seen the YouTube video of these cool flying fish, now we carry the official versions produced by William Mark Corporation.

Both the Clownfish and the Shark retail for $40.00

You can find these and other cool flying toys in our Flying Toys section.

GET SOCIAL

View our Facebook page, and become a fan.

Follow what’s happening with KiteStop.com using Twitter.

SOME POINTS OF INTEREST

• The American Kitefliers Association will be having their annual convention in Enid OK on the first week of October. Pre-registration starts on July 15th. Visit the AKA website for more details.
• Not on Facebook? Maybe you should be. I occasionally run specials and post about what is going on in the kiting world. So don’t miss out. “Like” us.
• Do you have any good ideas for making KiteStop.com even better? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to email me directly at: john@kitestop.com or contact me by telephone at: 321-613-8697

I remember being in Biology class at Astronaut High School my freshman year, when they announced the explosion. Previously we were always let out to watch the shuttle launches, but for some reason the launches had become so common place and without incident, that they were no longer “exciting” or worthy of our attention at school.

Where were you when the Challenger exploded?

Check out some of the other videos that I produced that show you:

• How to assemble a stunt kite
• How to attach kiteline to a stunt kite using a Larkshead knot

As some of you know, I’m a web developer by trade. While kites are my passion, web development is what I have to do during the day to make a living.

Well, this weekend, I came home excited because I was going to be spending some time updating the e-commerce software that runs KiteStop.com. This upgrade promised to have some needed fixes and some really cool new features. (yeah, I’m a geek)..

So, when I got home from work on Friday, I started the upgrade process, which (as the software warns) begins with backing up the existing site. Well, being the arrogant, “I know what I’m doing” type… I skipped that portion.

About 97% of the way through the upgrade process, my server crashes, and the upgrade was corrupted.

Now, if I would have backed up my files, I would have been ok. But this time, arrogance jumped up and bit me. My files did not match up with my database, so the shop became completely unusable.

This has already gotten to be a long story, so I’ll just end with the fact that I spent the major part of the weekend, re-installing the software, uploading products and throwing on a fresh new design.

I hope you like it. If you see anything out of the ordinary while you are taking a look around, please let me know.

Enjoy.

I do want to tell you about some of the changes I’ve been working on for awhile now.

First off, we’ve been bringing in a few more skill-toys. You may have noticed (and if you haven’t, then get to the shop and check it out) that we’ve brought in some Yo-Yos from YoYoFactory. These are really top-of-the-line yo-yos and we’ve picked out a fairly large range of yo-yos for all skill levels.

Second, we’ve cleared out the Kite Forum. This is one area that I’ve let languish for far too long. This is a great resource for people to come in and ask questions (or just shoot the breeze.) If you have any questions, or are in a position to offer advice, please get in there and do so.

Third, we’re starting to beef up our Kite School section. While we already had some great tutorials written by Eric Allen and Iain Drummond, we are working to get more tutorials up.

And Finally, I’m asking people to please (pretty please with sugar on top) tell your friends about Kite Stop.