Once again it is a weekly club fly day and, again, there is no wind. It is a shame because weather-wise it was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm. So one drives to the flying field in the hope that a wind, any wind, will blow.
And we stand there looking at the empty beach. Wanting to put some color in the sky but unable to do so. There is no wind.
Then there is the repeated glances at the flag on the flagpole. Surely it will move soon. Even just a little bit. But, no, there is no wind.
Back in the parking lot, the kites are in their bags. Standing forlornly at the back of the truck. There is no chance they will go much further than that. There is no wind.
So what does the kite flier ultimately do?
Well, we head to the local kite shop, Kites Unlimited. Once there, we visit, commensurate about the lack of wind, browse the store to see if there is anything new and catch up on some of the kite gossip.
And make those repairs that we’ve been putting off for far too long.
The weekly club fly started out to be somewhat “iffy”. Chilly, gray, foggy. But we few intrepid flyers showed up at the beach with the intent of putting color in the sky no matter what.The winds ended up being stronger than expected which cleared away the fog and the clouds and made for a beautiful morning. The temperature warmed up nicely.
I grabbed a couple of kites I hadn’t flown in a year or more; a Willi Koch mesh diamond by Premier and the HQ vented Obsession II dual line stunt kite. When we got down to the beach I found I also had two Sutton 4s in my backpack. So I ended up having a slightly larger display than I thought.
Sutton 4Sutton 4Willi Koch Mesh Diamond by Premier
A good friend put up his HQ Flowform 7.0 and added a couple of spin socks to the line. This kite was visible in the sky several miles away to motorists passing by.
HQ Flowform 7.0 with Spinsocks
Then he attempted to fly a Toki Edo kite by Into The Wind. It’s a beautiful kite made as a traditional edo but with flat fiberglass spars. It take s a while to assemble as the spars are held together flat metal ferrules, screws and wing nuts. And then there is the bridle. It has thirteen lines and is rather long. The majority of the morning was spend untangling it. After several adjustments to the kite, it flew and flew quite well. It is a beautiful kite.
And this goes where?Toki Edo by Into The Wind
Another kite in the sky was the red-white-blue Levitation Delta. It provided a some excitement. While everyone’s attention was on the edo, a gust of wind pulled the stake that the delta was tied to out of the ground. Five hundred feet of line unwound from the spool and it bounced down the dunes until it caught on a dead tree branch. I was checking on my mesh diamond when I noticed the speck above in the clouds. We were lucky it caught on the branch and that the line was tied to the spool. It takes quite a while to rewind 500 feet of line. We never did find the stake.
Levitation Delta Kite by Into The Wind
To complete the show, the most unusual kite in the air was a custom Flake kite. It is a multi-faceted cellular kite that loves bigger wind. In this case, it is all black and one-of-a-kind. It was made by Jeri Dixon at Kites Unlimited kite shop for a good friend of ours. Rumor has it that she is making an all white one for him too. We’ve decided he has a sort of ying-yang thing going on. Can’t wait to see both of them flying side by side.
I never did get the stunt kite in the air. Oh, well! It was a beautiful morning and the company was good. What more could you ask for?
The weather cleared, the temperatures moderated and new kites were ready for their first flight. Ever since I flew the two stack of Revs I had in my mind to try a stack of three. The day finally came when I could train my three Rev custom B-Pros (full vent, mid vent, full sail) together. The winds were about 11 mph when we reached the beach. It took me a little time to get all the kites ready and the lines attached. Upon launching, the pull took me by surprise. They flew great but I did have to be careful and ride the brake a bit. After landing, a check of the wind showed it had risen to gusts of 14 mph. This made me a little nervous because I certainly didn’t want to break anything on my first three-stack fly. I flew enough to know I had control and to get photos of those great looking Revs.
In order to have some additional color in the sky, I put up both of my Brasington trains. They danced in the wind and drew compliments from some of the beach walkers. That’s what this kite flying is all about. Bringing smiles to those who see the kites in the air.
The weekly club fly was a couple of days later. Temperatures had dropped and so had the wind. The usual Sunday morning state of affairs. But this time I was prepared. I recently purchased a new low wind kite, the Skydog Black Dog UL. I had flown this kite a few years ago and was impressed with it. With all the low wind days we’ve been having, I decided to treat myself. It didn’t hurt that this kite was in my favorite color combination, red and black. The cooler temperatures and low wind kept all but a couple of flyers at home. They missed a beautiful day on the beach and I had a fun morning flying my new kite.
The week following the Carolina Kite Festival is one of cleaning out kite bags, re-organizing kites and getting things stored away until the next festival. It is also a time to rest and recharge from the intensity of two long days on the beach. The first fun fly after a festival is usually a lightly attended one and this week it was no different.
And as usual, we were visited by “The Sunday Curse”. The winds were light as we drove into the parking lot but we were prepared and had brought our light wind kites. We got to the beach and had a few kites up and flying when the curse hit. The wind completely died. The flag above the fort wrapped itself around the pole and all kites drifted slowly to earth. Now what do kite flyers do when the wind stops? They sit around and solve the problems of the world and ponder if they should just pack up and go home or not.
We are diehard kite flyers and we waited. The winds rose a little and some kites went back up. One of the kites I struggled to fly was a Malay Diamond, “Sunset”, by Into The Wind. My husband has the Sunrise Malay. This kite was an anniversary present and I really wanted to get it up, even though I knew the winds were gong to be a little too light to give enough lift. So I stubbornly persevered and got it to fly for a little while.
“Sunset” Malay Diamond by Into The wind
What ultimately drove us off of the flying field was not the lack of wind but rain. Quicker than we expected, clouds blew in and it began to rain. Now getting a little wet is not a bad thing. But having to pack up wet kites and then unpack and dry them when you get home is not fun. There is never enough space to spread out a bunch of kites, kite bags, anchor bags and spools of kite line.
All is dry now and we’re looking forward to more fine fall days to put color in the sky.
Freedom In The Sky - A Kiter's Blog 