Author: carolinabeachkiter

Better Late Than Never

I live by that phrase.  I am perpetually late for most things in my life.  Yes, most times it only five minutes or less but it’s still late.  And so is this posting.  Right now it’s because there isn’t much to talk about.  The weather is still too hot to do much.  And, as usual, the wind is not cooperating.

Sunday was the weekly club fly.  We have been seeing strong winds most of the week.  The forecast for Sunday was for winds to moderate and be at an ideal level for flying.  Weatherman, can you ever get anything right?  It was howling a gale out on the beach.  There were a lot of people out that morning.  And there were quite a few kites in the air.  Most notably, a large Sutton with a banner tail and lots of line laundry hanging from it and a HQ Triangulation, also with line laundry.  Most of us foolishly listened to the weatherman and only brought mid-range kites and didn’t want to risk damage in the higher winds.  So we stood around a lot and talked a lot.

Triangulation by HQ Kites

The stronger winds did not stop the Revolution fliers.  There were several vented Revs and Super Sonic Revs in the air.  Now those kites are made for stronger winds and so they were flying great.  And one flier was having a ball launching himself with a HQ Symphony.  I think it was a Symphony 2.2 but I’m not sure.  Anyway, the pull on that kite was so much that at times the guy was sitting on the sand and digging his heels in to stay close to one place.  That’s way more that I want to handle.  So after a while we picked up our bags and headed to the kite shop for more chit-chat.

We did manage to fly one night this past week.  About an hour before sunset, the winds seemed to be just right for some flying and it was starting to cool off some.  I tried to put up the Goblin stack I had just put together.  No luck.  There wasn’t enough wind to launch the three-stack.  Rats!  But I did bring along the Nebula.  I hadn’t flown it yet and was looking for a good opportunity.  That night was the night.  I took off like a dream.  No pull.  Very responsive.  I tried a couple of “push” turns and it was fantastic.  Sharp turn, no oversteer and straight tracking.  I still need practice with those type of turns but it was so easy.  I even managed a square in the sky.  OK, so it was more like a lop-sided rectangle.  But that was the closest I’ve ever come to completing that manuever.  There is hope for making me a precision flier.  Sweet kite, that Nebula.  It was dark by the time we left the beach.  Oh. for more evenings like that one.

Fair Winds All.

Another Heat Advisory

I’ve lost track of the days that there has been an extreme heat advisory.  Extreme high temperatures plus extreme high humidity equals record-setting temperatures.  There is no reason to be out in the sun and the heat unless you really have to.  So we did not go to the beach and we did not fly any kites on Sunday.  It was the regular club fly day but it was just too hot.  And on top of that, there was no wind.  Usually a breeze coming off the water can make the day a little more bearable.  But not that day.  We called our friend from the kite shop to see if anyone was flying and if we were needed to come out there.  Only one other person arrived and it didn’t take much talking to convince him that there would be no flying.  So we all stayed in the air conditioning and avoided heat exhaustion and dehydration.  We can always fly another day.

The Goblin Stack

The day wasn’t totally without kites, however.  I have started sewing on my next kite.  I’m making a Dunston-Taylor Box Delta.  I’m kind of doing things backwards.  The colors were picked out to match some line laundry.  I can only hope the kite has the pull and the stability to haul the three-legged drogue.  As if that wasn’t enough, I’m also putting some appliqué to the wings and box to add interest.  I just can’t seem to do kite building the easy way.  If the drogue turns out to be too much for the kite, I will use the leftover material to make a pennant tail to trail behind this kite.  I’ve seen photos of this type of tail attached to this kite and it looks fantastic.

I also took my three Goblins and stacked them together.  Now I just need a little wind to see how they fly.  And I need some cooler temperatures.

DT Box Delta Ready For Assemby
Applique Detail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For all those who have to be out in the heat; stay hydrated, take breaks in the shade, and don’t over-exert.

Fair Winds All.

What Am I Doing Out In This Heat?

There has been a heat advisory out for our area all this week.  Yet, it was the day of our weekly kite fly and I left the air conditioning and headed for the beach.  Let me tell you, it’s not all that much cooler at the beach than anywhere else.  Upon arrival, a couple of us spent some time in the parking lot trying to decide if we should fly or not fly.  After all, who in their right mind would come to the beach today to fly kites?  We would.  Three of us headed to the flying beach, not expecting to have any other company.  On the plus side, the wind was the best it’s been in a while.  I grabbed only two kites, a single line kite and a soft stunt kite.  I didn’t expect to stay long and didn’t want to lug the bags in the heat.

 

After filling a sandbag for an anchor, I put up my Twin Tail Dragon by Into The Wind.  I hadn’t flown it in a while so it needed to get out of the bag.  It flew great.  The wind was blowing about 15 mph and was perfect for the long tails on that kite.  And I love the many colors.

Twin Tail Dragon by Into The Wind

Then I went out to play with my Symphony 1.8 soft stunt kite.  I had been ignoring this kite in favor of my quad line kite and my latest couple of delta-type stunt kites.  So today was to be a fun day.  Little did I know that the wind would pick up in just a couple of hours.

The initial plans to not stay out long didn’t pan out.  There were about three families from out-of-town joining us and flying their kites.  They also wanted to visit and learn about the kites we were flying.  Our local kite shop host pulled out the Symphony 2.2 for one of the visitors to try out.  This is a larger kite than my Symphony and it has more pull.  Both the father and the son tried this kite out and really enjoyed the pull and the speed.  They had just purchased a smaller soft kite but I think their will be a larger one in their future.  They had way too much fun.  Even when the flying line broke when the son was flying.  Guess the wind was picking up too much.  I know I was getting a lot of pull from my 1.8 so I can understand why the son was digging himself into the sand as he flew.  We’ll be looking for this family to come to the festival this fall.

Another family came down with their kites.  The father had a vintage Skywave kite.  I would love to have one of these.  He flew it for a while but, as the wind picked up, he decided it was a little too much and packed it away.  They also had a couple of smaller single-line deltas up and they also took them down so they wouldn’t crash and break.  The third family had a couple of smaller (shall I say cheaper) single-line kites that couldn’t handle the wind at all.  But they tried.  By this time I was ready to leave.  The sand was blowing across the beach.  The sign for me to pack my kites in the bags and head for the shop.  I may be too cautious but I don’t want to have a major accident or an unrepairable kite.

I will say that there was so much going on, I didn’t notice the heat on the beach.  I guess I’m becoming more confident with my ability and my knowledge because I’m beginning to interact more with visitors. Now when I got back to the parking lot the heat factor hit.  A little bit more visiting and I was ready for somewhere cool.  It was a pretty good morning but now I’m going into hiding, at home, in the air conditioning.

Fair Winds All.

Beautiful Weather For A New Kite

This weekend was the inaugural flight of my newly completed “Painless Parafoil”.  As soon as I unfolded it, it wanted to fly.  And it did.  What a wonderful feeling when something you’ve worked on for weeks is completed and behaves like it should.  It flies!

First Flight of the Eagle

I spent the first flight making changes to the bridle to get the right angle on the kite so it would fly the bet it could.  It was more active than I expected.  So I borrowed the ribbon tails off my husband’s delta kite and sent it up again.  The tails helped a bit.  I could see that I would need more that just those short tails to tame this kite.  I made a couple of more bridle changes before bringing it down and going home.  It was a wonderful first flight.

Today was the weekly kite club fly.  I got some 24 foot transition tails to put on the Eagle and planned on doing some final tweaking at the fly.  The transition tails did help.  But it’s still more active than I thought it should be.  I’m going to borrow some larger transition tails from my husband and see if the next flight isn’t even better.  If so, I may be doing some heavy negotiating about a trade of the smaller tails for the larger.  Or I may just not give them back.  LOL.

Eagle With Transition Tails

The club fly was not well attended today.  I got there late.  There were a lot of kites up despite the low turnout.  After about an hour, everyone left.  My kites were the only ones in the sky.  After I got the Eagle settled, I added my large mesh delta with its long tails and my small Stowaway parafoil with its long tail.  The tails made it seem like there was more in the sky and my kites didn’t look so lost and alone.  It was rather strange to be flying by myself.  I got out my Symphony soft stunt kite and played with it for a while.  I hadn’t flown it in quite a long time so it was fun to play.

It looked so colorful against the blue sky that I was wishing I could get a photo of it.  And that made me realize that I didn’t have many photos of any of my stunt kites.  It’s just not possible to take a good photo of a stunt kite while you’re flying because your hands are full of either two or four kite lines.  I need to arrange for someone to take photos while I fly and just switch from one kite to the next until the entire contents of the kite bag is flown and shot.  Let’s see, who can I draft for a project like that?

Anyway, to get back on topic, it was so beautiful on the beach today and so peaceful that although I was flying alone, I didn’t feel lonely.  It was peaceful and quiet and just a great day to be there.  And so I spent almost 2 1/2 hours on the beach with my kites.  Until hunger drove me home.  It was a great day and now I’m sitting in the backyard listening to the night sounds.  Seems like an appropriate ending.

Fair Winds All.