Fractured Axel

Ok, I have introduced my 12 year old son to the wonderful world of kite flying. I coached him a little shadowing my movements on my deep space then let him loose on his own on a couple of my older kites.

The first, some piece of rubbish that I don't think I ever managed to fly right. The second an eolo tango2 that used to be my main kite before getting the deep space.

After 3 hours he was getting quite good. Kept it in the air more than it was on the ground. However, when it was on the ground it tended to get there in a high speed nose dive.

Consequently, after one two many nose dives the tango is no more (sniff) torn sail and snapped spars.

So my question is this. There are cheap kites out there that would get him started but I think he would very quickly be bored by them and I want to encourage him. So what's a good starter kite that is robust but nice to fly. I'd get another tango in a heartbeat but I can't seem to find them for sale anymore.

Thanks in advance.

Your going to get a few different kites thrown at you in response to your question. I started on the Prism Hypnotist and would still recommend it as a first kite. It is very easy to set up, it is a full sized wind and comes with the Prism Freestyle Pilot DVD. It also has a built in shock absorber system to take some of the shock out of those nose plants. It's a slightly heavier build than some kites but that's the trade off for its robustness. It retails for less than £120 in the UK. In the right winds it will do a great range of tricks.

If he is still on the nose dive, isn't he better off getting something like a hq yukon? Under £50 and cheap to fix broken spars.
I quite like my yukon as I don't really mind that much if the kids did destroy it and it does fly quite well for a smaller wingspan.

There is a Premier Addiction just gone onto Ebay @£10 starting bid. If you can get that it's a cracking first kite!

Thanks for all the advice, I have bid on the eBay auction and will probably go for a Yukon for junior for now.

I am tempted to pick up a hypnotist too to use as my reserve kite until he can at least keep it in the air reliably. Plus I have wanted that DVD for a while.

Thanks again