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New to Windsurfing? Feeling botchy? It is easier than you think! Head over to the basics of wind surfing, what it’s all about, and how to start and much more are covered under New to the Windsurfing Sport.

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Many people dive both as a fun and recreational activity but there are professional scuba divers too. There are the most famous divers, the Navy SEALS. But most cities and towns have water rescue teams that include divers. So if you love diving, you can always make it a career. There are also professional treasure hunters who scour the ocean’s bottom for shipwrecks laden with gold! Even though they may use high-tech devices like satellite photos and sonar, a diver is always needed to go to the bottom to recover the bounty.

Since diving can be viewed as an extreme sport, it is always recommended that the rules of diving are learned and followed accordingly while engaging in this adventure sport. You can earn your PADI certification and hundreds of locations. And if you arrive at a tropical resort somewhere and suddenly decide you want to learn to dive, most resorts offer lessons right in their pool. You can get certified quickly and then head right out into the ocean to explore the undersea world.

Many people erroneously assume that since you are underwater, the weather doesn’t play a factor on when you can dive. This is not true!

Scuba diving can be limited by weather conditions just like any other activity. Since you usually take a boat to a dive site, winds and rough seas may make this unsafe. And inclement weather can greatly affect the undersea currents making diving unsafe.

More scuba diving content is at http://www.scubadivercenter.com

1. Symmetry In Sail Shape

This is important. In other words, sail shape on one side is an exact mirror-image of the shape on the other side. This also guarantees that the sail area is precisely the same on both sides. In practice, we can’t be perfect, but there are ways to do a very good job.

For example, by folding the sail material down the center-line before measuring and cutting, a kite can be made very symmetrical in shape. This gets you off to a great start, although other things can still go wrong. Some classic instructions on how to make a kite employ this technique.

2. Symmetry In Sail Billow

If you are a bit careless in attaching the sail to the frame, it’s possible that one panel of the sail may billow out a little more than other panels, when in flight. Try holding the kite by its tail end and swishing it through the air, indoors. If the problem is significant, you can actually see the uneven billow this way.

If you make a fairly big kite, this is unlikely to happen. However, with a very small design, all sorts of inaccuracies can creep in. If necessary, remove and re-attach the sail to even up the tightness of the panels.

3. Symmetry In Flexibility

How to make a kite loop out of control when there is nothing visibly wrong… This might happen when flying in fresh or strong wind. The cause is that one side of the kite is bending more than the other.

Synthetic materials like fiberglass or carbon fiber aren’t likely to give problems in homemade kites, but natural materials are. The solution is to do a quick check of flexibility when selecting material for the horizontal spars, or even just match spars by eye.

In light winds, this factor is not likely to be a problem since the spars will hardly bend at all.

4. Symmetry In Weight

When your kite is complete, there might still be a small imbalance for some reason. Suspend the kite from nose and tail to see if one wing-tip seems heavier than the other.

From my experience, this might be the least important aspect of symmetry. It seems to have the most effect at the bottom end of the kite’s wind range. Anyhow, balancing the kite is easy to do with a few small bits of tape added to one wing-tip.

5. The Lighter The Better!

Hardly surprising, but did you know that this can have a big effect on stability as well as performance? If there is too much weight near the edges of the sail and / or the spar tips, the kite will want to keep going around, if it starts to rotate for some reason.

How to make a kite light? Pick sail material that is strong enough but light as possible. Use a minimum of tape or glue or whatever other means you are using to secure the materials together. Use spars that are only just stiff enough for the job.

6. Multi-point Bridle Adjustments

Some bridles have lines going off to the left and right of the kite. I’ve found it’s very handy to make some of these bridle knots shiftable, so if the kite goes left or right, you have another option for correcting the problem.

Another reason for making them shiftable is so you don’t have to be perfectly accurate with tying a permanent knot in the exact correct position. If a shiftable knot is off a bit, it’s easy to slide it to the correct spot.

That’s it for tips related to flying straight. Here’s a bonus tip to help your kite fly as high as possible. Use the lightest flying line possible, while making sure it is still strong enough to avoid losing the kite. A rough rule of thumb is to multiply the sail area in square feet by 3, which gives the required breaking strain of the line in pounds.

The more flying line you let out, the bigger the load the kite is trying to carry, in addition to its own weight. Hence the lighter the line, the higher the kite can fly before it reaches its weight limit.

That’s about it for how to build a kite which flies straight and high over a wide range of wind speeds. If you have already tried making a kite, and it has a disappointing wind range, check it off against all the points above. The solution might be simple, like tightening the sail a bit. Or you might discover you have a bendy spar on one side, and therefore have to make a new kite!

Home-made kites (Tim Parish)

5: Tignes. Situated in Eastern France near Val D’Isare, this resort was heavily developed in the 1960s and the buildings certainly reflect that. Tignes is home to the Grande Motte glacier which has receded at a rate of more than 25 metres since 1982 but is still open for skiers and boarders alike for most of the year.

4: Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. At the foot of Mont Blanc lies Chamonix. The popular resort is also home to the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world, which rises 1035 metres to 3842 metres up the impressive Aiguille du Midi. The area has been a tourist destination since the 19th century but still draws the crowds because of its diversity of runs including the Vallee Blanche glacier, Les Planards and the off-piste run The Pas du Chevre.

3: Sankt Anton am Arlberg. St Anton is a village in Western Austria on the Rosanna River and was the host of the Alpine World Skiing Championships in 2001. The resort boasts an amazing 260km of pistes and many bars and pubs to relax in between runs. The area has a long history in winter sports, and there have been skiing teachers resident even since before the First World War.

2: Banff. There are three resorts to choose from in Alberta’s Banff region, Sunshine Village, Lake Louise Mountain Resort and Mount Norquay. Famous for its Champagne Powder snow, Sunshine Village encompasses three mountains and is about 15 minutes drive from Banff town. A little further – about an hour – is Lake Louise, a more quiet and romantic setting and suitable for all level of riders. Mount Norquay is considered more challenging and has been skied upon since 1926.

1: Whistler Blackcomb. Whistler and Blackcomb used to be two respective resorts but became fully integrated in 2003. This means that the area is now the biggest resort in North America with 8,171 hectares of terrain and more than 200 trails. The 2010 alpine events of the Winter Olympics are due to be held in the area and the area is well developed with 7 hotels and has been ranked No. 1 ski resort in North America by SKIING Magazine for 12 years in a row.

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