Getting Started
Flying a sport kite for the first time can sometimes be a little difficult without someone there to assist you. But don't despair, with a little prep work and some patience you will soon be all smiles.
First off make sure you have a large unobstructed area to fly in, do not fly close to power lines and try to find an area that does not have many people in it. You do not want to crash your kite into someone and cause injury, so one thing to remember when first starting out is if your kite is heading towards danger (the ground, a tree, a power poll or a person) and it doesn't look like you can avoid trouble just let go of the lines. Without tension on the lines the kite will loose most of it's momentum and not cause as much damage or be damaged as bad as if you had held on. After all you can always go chase your kite across the field. Think of your kite lines as the mast of a sail boat and your kite as the sail, when trouble arises cut the sail loose; as time goes by you will learn to avoid trouble.
Next familiarize yourself with the kite assembly and bridle arrangement, if you bought the kite and it did not contain assembly instructions compare it to other sport kites. Note: stunt kites, dual line kites and sport kites are synonymous. Basically you want to make sure the kite is fully assembled, is symmetrical and the bridal is also symmetrical. Later on as you gain experience you will learn how to adjust a bridle.
Before we go any further lets review the basics of flying a sport kite. Sport kites will fly in a straight line when even line pressure is held on the lines. That is, when you have lines of equal length (a good thing to check) and keep your hands even with each other, the kite will fly in a straight line regardless of direction. It can be flying horizontal, vertical or diagonal, it does not matter. The kite will only turn when the line length has been increased or decreased by the movement of your hand position (causing more pressure on the line pulled closer to you). Pull your left hand closer to you and the kite will begin to turn to the left and will continue doing so (rotating counter clockwise) until you even out your hand position. Pull your right hand closer to you and the kite will turn to the right (rotating clockwise). One other thing to remember is that you do not have to move your hands very much to affect the kite.
O.K. right goes right, left goes left but how do I learn to control the movement and make figures in the sky? First off you will need to practice keeping the kite in the wind window. For simplicity lets just say you want your back into the wind and to keep the kite no further than about 45 degrees to either side of you. I find the best way to first learn this is to let the kite go straight up until your lines are at about a 45 degree angle from the ground. Next apply gentle pressure on the right line by pulling it towards you slightly until the kite begins to drift toward the right, hold that hand position until the kite moves no more than 45 degrees off center and then apply gentle pressure to the left line until the kite drifts to the left, when it gets approximately 45 degrees off center repeat the process. The idea is to make your kite fly like a windshield wiper drifting (not turning) from one side to another. Once you are comfortable doing this, that is you can look around surveying the flying area, converse with someone or not have to keep your eye entirely on the kite and manage the maneuver you are ready for the next step, side to side flying. This step is to make the kite turn and head for one side, then turn and head for the other keeping the same relative position in the wind window as before. Pull a little more aggressively on the left line until the kite rotates counterclockwise almost 90 degrees to the left then even up the lines so the kite flies horizontally towards the left, as it approaches the 45 degree mark pull on the right line so the kite rotates approximately 180 degrees clockwise and is now ready to fly horizontally to the right, as it approaches the 45 degree mark pull on the left to reverse the direction. Repeat this process flying side to side until you are comfortable doing this and as before you can control the kite while making yourself aware of the field conditions. The next step will be the lazy eight, then the circle. One you master these you are ready for everything else. A lazy eight is almost the same as side to side except that the turns are larger and you let the kite fly diagonal as it crosses the wind window. A good way to practice is to make the same movements as the side to side but let the kite turn enough that is heading slightly downward as it crosses in front of you and slow the turn on the other side so the half circle brings it up high again. Once you master this practice letting the kite do a full circle on each side before you begin to head back, then practice doing big full circles.
Alright, time to bring this all together.
Unlike a single line kite which you let out line to gain altitude, sport kite lines are fully unraveled prior to launching the kite. One way to accomplish this is to place a stake in the ground (a tent peg will do) place your line handles over the stake and lay out your kite lines. When you do this find the wind direction and walk with the wind at your back as you lay out the lines. Next attach the lines to your kite and set it up so it leans back with the lines pulling on the stake. Lean it back at about 45 degrees (this way it won't launch until you launch it) and walk back to the handles.
Once you pick up the line handles make sure the line attached to the right side of the kite is connected to the handle in your right hand. You can do this by gently tugging on the line and watching which side of the kite moves. Switch hands if necessary and look at your lines to see if they are crossed. I like to start flying without my lines being crossed or wrapped around each other; do not worry about that happening during flight. Line wraps only cause you trouble when you have so many of them that it affects your ability to control flight, one or two is never any problem. So if they are crossed unwind the wrap. This will actually take a little practice to learn how to do it in short order. You will have to turn one line over the other and watch to see if the wrapping is increasing or decreasing. Once your lines are unwrapped and you have again verified that the right hand is tugging on the line attached to the right side of the kite you are ready to launch the kite. Extending your arms straight forward and take a small step backward so the kite is just leaning back a little like in the picture above. Now you are ready to go. Take another full step backward while tugging on the line handles by rotating your arms downward so you hands are now by your hips. The kite should go straight up into the air As the kite rises let you hands come up a bit. Keep your elbows bent and let your hands come to a position similar to being on a steering wheel of a car, then follow the flight maneuvers described above and you'll be doing fine in no time.
You will notice when you first start that you will have a tendency to let your arms become outstretched, try to over come this. With your arms outstretched your hands are limited in movement, with your elbows bent and down towards your hips your hands can then be shot forward or easily be pulled behind you. This will give you much more flying flexibility and control. One other thing, their are many ways to land a kite but in the beginning just fly it as far to one side as you can, as it gets to the edge of the window it will drop down on it's own.