Kites, anyone?

[kington99]

Originally Posted by Mikefule

The world's largest kite. It's the size of a marquee - there are pictures of people inside it, and pictures of it flying. Amazing.

Amazing would be pictures of people inside it WHILE it was flying!

[Mikefule]

Originally Posted by BillyTheMountain

I was asking about the one that was circling frantically, flapping loudly, and has fluorescent panels, which seemed determined to crash. Materials, shape, weight influence whether there was enough gust to get it up, right?

Yes they do. The kite is made by Brooks, who have made quality traditional kites for decades, so it isn't something fundamental to the design. The kite is a Conyne/French Military/Pilot style. That is a two triangular cells in line, with a "kite shaped" wing each side. Similar to this one:
http://www.prosportuk.com/images/ind...%20kites/4.jpg

The reasons it would not fly were twofold: the weather was gusty with heavy rain clouds following a stormy day with more bad weather to come; and I hadn't flown it before so I needed to adjust the bridle.

I've had a Conyne before - in fact it crashed into a tree a week or so ago. That was also either perfect or totally rebellious.

[Mikefule]

Originally Posted by kington99

Amazing would be pictures of people inside it WHILE it was flying!

A child died and several people were injured a year or so ago when a massive inflatable sculpture took off in a strong wind. The people were inside it. The sculptor was charged with manslaughter.

Edit: the post immediately below was posted simultaneously and refers to the same incident.

[1-wheeled-grape]

But if that ends up like that big inflatable structure that flew away while it was full of people a little while ago... that wouldn't be so good.
dam you beat me to it.

[IUni]

I used to make kites. Now I repair them, mostly large LEI and SLE type kites, but I do a few foil kites too. I like to fly them more than repair them!!!

I fly the Cabrinha Switchblade 3: 8, 10, 12 & 14 currently, after owning many quivers of various brands, and flying my own creations also. Currently looking at replacing the current quiver with the Cabrinha Xbow's.

Would have been out today, but I broke my finger attempting and old geezer trying to show up the you bucks aerial handlepass last Saturday --- so I opted for a great long Muni sesh instead.

Been into kiting since 1999 when I gave up the polesurfing for kiting, on the spot in Maui, when some dude came flying by me doing a multi-spin at Kanaha. I'd seen Corey kiting in the Gorge in the '90's, after spending many, many summers there, but it never caught me as something to look at as on option to windsurfing.

Uni rocks, but kiting does too. IMO, uni will NEVER be super popular, because the learning curve for the average person is way to flat, whereas kiting the learning curve is very steep, even in comparison to something windsurfing which takes many hours to learn the basics like waterstart and gybe. Kiting has far more range for creativity (like uni) vs windsurfing.

So, you end up at the beach with no wind, pull out the uni and make it a great day.

Heading for Boracay, Philippines for November kiting to hook up with the troop I met in Venezuela last year.

[Mikefule]

Well, last time I took the kites out there was virtually no wind, but the big red delta kite went up and took all the line I could give it. Nothing else in the bag would fly. Not even when I took it out of the bag.

Today, it was gusty. Very little wind at ground level, but too much from 10 or 20 metres up.

Nothing would fly completely reliably except, you've guessed it: the red delta.

Stick with this:

The kites I tried were:

Winged square box: 11 spars, 2 cells, 10 flat surfaces.

Square box: 10 spars, 2 cells, 8 flat surfaces

Hexagonal winged box: 9 spars, 12 cells, 42 flat surfaces (?) This one flew pretty weel, but eventually crashed.

Conyne, 4 spars, 2 cells, 8 flat surfaces

Cody: 8 spars, several battens, 4 cells, 22 flat surfaces

Keeled Delta: 5 spars, 0 cells, 2 flat surfaces.

The delta is far and away the simplest, easiest to construct, and flies best in all weather. Yet it is the newest design of all. (Perhaps not newer than the hexbox as that is a "show" kite.)

What I find interesting is that the various other kites were the product of extensive research to produce a practical and reliable lifting kite, yet all the time, the answer was so much simpler: just make a triangle with enough sticks to hold it in shape!

Is there a comparison her to the various early designs of pedal cycle, none of which had the elegant simplicity of the unicycle?

[sp4rky-m4rky]

Originally Posted by cathwood

Can you fly them in high winds.

You would be suprised, im pretty awesome haha. If its too windy, you just downsize. Normaly its never that windy, if it is, I windsurf. My 10.5 can be flown pretty hapily upto about 12 knots, 6.5 upto about 17-20 and my 4 I have had up in crazy winds. The problem is there comes a point that you get too much power and cant keep your ground on the board and cant stay on the ground when you take the kite up. You just have to pick the right day, if its too windy or too light, dont fly.

Why choose 1 wheel over two? and power/traction kites over box kites? Its more fun, more exciting, gives you a feeling like no other........ the list goes on and on.

[critter]

Originally Posted by IUni

Been into kiting since 1999 when I gave up the polesurfing for kiting, on the spot in Maui, when some dude came flying by me doing a multi-spin at Kanaha.

uni will NEVER be super popular, because the learning curve for the average person is way to flat, whereas kiting the learning curve is very steep, even in comparison to something windsurfing which takes many hours to learn the basics like waterstart and gybe. Kiting has far more range for creativity (like uni) vs windsurfing.


Heading for Boracay, Philippines for November kiting to hook up with the troop I met in Venezuela last year.

Dude your cool! Kiting is very dynamic. It does scare most people. The learning curve was real good to me. I learned summer of Y2K. I went nearly everyday for the 1st 3 years. Now I unicycle more than kite. Couple times a month is good.

This past friday the weather report was so bad that the schools were cancelled all over the state. Many state workers were told to stay home. Were talking a cold front with high winds and rain. A Friend called and said let's go kiting. I said, mmmmkay.

The temperture drop nearly 4 degrees to 68*f and it was raining off and on. I still didn't need a wet suit.. Because the winds were blowing from the west instead of the usual NW, we got to kite on a southern beach. It was my 1st time at this location which made it more exciting for me.

I had a guy launch my kite into the air and it drag me 100 feet between a picnic table and a big tree.(made me think of that guy in florida that got yank in the parking lot). It was like grass skiing and once I got the kite straight up I was okay. A guy I hardly know yelled at me to bring the kite back down. I said' 'no way!, just get me my board". (Which was lying on the beach too far up wind). I hopped on the 5 foot board with 4 back fins and took off to sea.

It was whipping! I was on my Naish Helix 9 meter kite and was fully powered. I'm guessing 30+ winds. I surfed and paddled here several times but never kite so I start exploring. I wanted to go to the sand bar. When I got there it was low tide and I flew off the board when my fins hit. I'm still okay but I have to walk the kite 50 yards to get off the sand bar. Now I'm in the shoreline channel and skirt my way back out to sea. I don't like to be close to land when it's super windy. But I'm still make it without a hitch.

Half of the kiters(maybe 5 or 6) are still sitting on the beach afraid to go out. And I don't blame them. I'm out here; I'm going to have fun. Caught a few waves and dodge a few coral heads. Once I felt dialed in I start to get some air. Big air! I boosted some jumps with over 5 second hang times. I was going scary high and scary far(30+ meters in distance or 100+ feet). It took very little effort to lift off the water.

After an hour out on the water, I started to get tired. But there was no going back to the beach because the winds were too strong. Then I decided to go out to the deep blue sea off the point(where dog the Bounty hunter lives). There was ''bus size'' wave swells generated by the winds. Finally there was a lull in the winds so I headed back to the beach where my friend helped me safely land my kite.

Very intense, quite epic.

[critter]

Here's 3 guys in a four-man canoe at hawaii kai bay.
See the guy in back steering with the paddle.
Me, in the middle holding a 9-meter kite.
Front guy taking the picture.

It was fun!

[monocyclism]

Originally Posted by cathwood

Living in very windy Prestatyn and often camping at even windier Shell Island......

Shell Island? Hey Cath! not the Shell Island where I live in Gwynedd?? That is, the Shell Island that is on the coast near Barmouth, very close to Harlech? Is that the one or is there another Shell Island?

[monocyclism]

Originally Posted by critter

Here's 3 guys in a four-man canoe at hawaii kai bay.
See the guy in back steering with the paddle.
Me, in the middle holding a 9-meter kite.
Front guy taking the picture.

It was fun!

Wow very cool - but if you were holding the kite what was holding you in the boat

[unouni]

Wow!! I am really missing out here! I've never flown a kite before..

This summer, it is my mission to purchase and fly a kite down by da beach mmboi!!

This WAS a nice thread

[ntappin]

One of my friends just went to Hateras, North Carolina to go kite surfing, now those are kites!!

[critter]

Originally Posted by monocyclism

Wow very cool - but if you were holding the kite what was holding you in the boat

You can see my legs were braced against the side of the canoe. The winds were pretty light. I did get yanked out of the canoe that day by a gust.


I tried hooking the kite bar to the canoe but it was too hard to steer. And no shock absorber, the strings could break because of the weight of the boat and crew.

edit: The picture was a print that got ruin.(bottom left corner). I scanned what's left of it.

[Mikefule]

Originally Posted by monocyclism

Shell Island? Hey Cath! not the Shell Island where I live in Gwynedd?? That is, the Shell Island that is on the coast near Barmouth, very close to Harlech? Is that the one or is there another Shell Island?

Shell Island? Mocras? (SP?) The island you can only get to via the causeway at low tide? We used to go camping there in the early 1970s. My dad and I used to collect winkles then cook and eat them back at the tent. There was a storm there one alleged summer, and we used the tow rope from the car to secure the tent. That Shell Island? Never heard of it.