It’s Another Hot One

Used to be that we would stay on the flying field long after everyone else had gone for the day. Not so lately. It was hot and humid for our regular Carolina Kite Club fly. Thankfully, the wind was good and the skies cloudy, which keeps the temperature down to a tolerable level. There were several visitors joining in this time. A family had bought kites for their children and brought them out to the fly. The kids did really well with their sled kites and had a good time.

A family from Memphis brought their wonderful vintage kites. They flew two of them on the beach; a Sutton 16 flowform and an original Hawaiian Team Kite. This kite dates back to 1987 and was signed by the Top of the Line performance team headed up by Don Tabor. Don invented the Hawaiian Team kite, which was the first of the “big wing” stunt kites. This kite started a revolution in the design of the delta stunt kite.

Other club members put a variety of kites in the air. These included a RWB Delta, a Laima, a Tribal Shield, a Sky Skimmer and various Critter Kites by Skydog Kites. It’s an interesting mix of kites. The Laima is considered a low wind glider kite. This kite is even recommended for no-wind indoor flight. Yet it flew very well in the winds this day. I was really pleased to get the Tribal Shield in the air. It has been a couple of years since this kite has left the kite bag. The Tribal Shield and the Delta are the type of stable kites that are easy to fly in most winds. I call them the “automatic” kites. They go up and they stay up as long as the winds blow. The same is true of the Sky Skimmer. This kite is only available at the Kites Unlimited kite shop in Atlantic Beach, NC. The Critter kites are great for family fun and are easy fliers. They include a penguin, a bumble bee, a monkey, a panda, a tiger and an elephant.

Once the single line kites were in the air, I went on to play with another set of kites I hadn’t flown in quite a while – a three stack of Goblins. The Goblin is a smaller dual line stunt kite that is practically indestructible. A great inexpensive kite for a beginner flyer. The center diamond-shaped panel is made of Prizmatex. It looks transparent until the sun hits it from just the right angle. Then it glitters with all the colors of the rainbow. Unfortunately, the effect is hard to photograph so you’ll just have to take my word for it. They are fun to fly alone or in a stack. And, after flying the three-stack for a while, I decided it was time for an expansion. I now have a five-stack of Goblins. The saying “More is better” definitely applies to kites.

The Goblin Three Stack — The Goblin Three-Stack

This was one of the better kite flying days we’ve had in a quite a while. Here’s hoping it’s a sign of more good things to come; more good wind days, more flyers, more kites and more fun.

Fair Winds All.

The Future Is Here

It’s been well over a year since I saw the Little Dreamer and the Dream On, dual line stunt kites by Skydog, flown as a stack. That stack was made up of the black versions of those kites. I knew that sometime in the future, I would have a stack like that, only with the white versions. Well, the future is here. Two weeks ago I purchased the Little Dreamer at our local kite store and obtained the proper train lines and pigtails. This past Sunday at the weekly Carolina Kite Club fly, I put the white stack in the air.

The wind was around 10-12 mph and the temperatures had decreased to a tolerable level. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds at random intervals. In other words, a perfect day to fly. The best word I can think of to describe the flight of my little stack is “SWEET”. The two kites flew as one with hardly any pull to speak of. Loops, dives, figure eights, low-level flight and high; it was almost euphoric. And the rainbow colors stood out against the light gray clouds and the patches of blue sky. I may never fly those kites singly again.

I was lucky in that there were friends of mine there that were more experienced flyers and could handle my stack while I took the images seen here. The one problem with flying a stack is that the flyer doesn’t get to really see what the stack looks like. He only sees the kite closest to him, not the ones behind. Only by having someone available to fly your stack for you can you really appreciate the spectacle it provides. So I was doubly lucky. I not only got to fly the stack, I got to see the entire stack in flight.

Don&Stack — Don From Kites Unlimited Showing His Skill

The morning was even better in that there were quite a few kite flyers on the field with me. The weekly fly brought out people of all ages and experience. Early on it was mostly dual line stunt kites but later arrivals brought more single line kites to put in the air. There was quite a show on the beach this day.

Fair Winds All.

“I’m MELTING! Melting!”

And so said the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. And that’s just the way I felt at our most recent kite club fly. Thankfully, I had brought a cooler with water and drank all that I had. Otherwise i probably would have become just a puddle in the sand.

It was scorching hot but the wind was up and too good to miss. I finally had the opportunity to put the complete Xelon collection in the air. I love these kites. My only problem is that HQ did not put a tube tail on the fourth kite in the series. I added a streamer tail to match the two side streamers but it just doesn’t seem right. I’m thinking that sometime over the winter I’m going to construct a tube tail to match the other three and add it to the fourth Xelon.

While the Xelons were flying, I put up my new Peter Powell stunt kite. It was a perfect day for this kite. The diamond stunters need a little more wind to fly well and to have the long tails stream out behind them. The Peter Powell flew slowly across the wind window, doing graceful swoops, dives and circles. The tail tracing the kite’s path around the sky. My favorite type of stunt flying. Unfortunately, there was no one available to photograph this kite in the sky. So we have to settle for a landed Peter Powell. Nonetheless, it is still a good-looker.

Fair Winds All.

(And try to stay cool!!)

The Summer Season Has Arrived.

Yes, it is official, the summer season and the tourists have arrived. We went out to Fort Macon State Park for the weekly kite club fly. The plan was to fly only red-white-blue kites for Memorial Day. We went especially early as we knew traffic would get crazy later. And, boy, were we right. The parking lot was already about half full when we got there and people kept streaming down the walkway to the beach. A larger than normal number of fishermen were arriving, too.

As per usual, the winds were extremely light. That seems to be the curse of the Sunday morning. The large Premier powersled wouldn’t fly. Though not for want of trying. We didn’t even try the double-box delta. What did fly was my original Joel Scholz Eagle. It took a little work but once it was high enough, it sat in the sky. I also tried to get up the Eagle parafoil I built several years ago. There just wasn’t enough wind. So most of our red-white-blue was left sitting in the sand.

Just on a lark, we got out the smallest powersled. Again, it took some work but it did fly for a while. Because of the low, gusty winds, the kite had to be attended every minute but that was no hardship. At one point the wind dipped and the powersled dove for the sand. Just before hitting, it flipped and climbed again. Funny thing was the sled had turned upside down and, against all logic, was flying in that position. Apparently the tunnels and the sail were able to contain just enough of the wind to maintain lift.

After about two hours, we decided it was time to go home. Traffic going into the parking lot was backed up the road. The park rangers were acting as parking attendants, keeping traffic moving and finding open spaces for the new arrivals. The signs were out at the swimming beach that the “Lot was Full”. The parking lots at the primary Atlantic Beach, NC water access were also full and the traffic coming on to the beach was bumper-to-bumper. We were leaving at the right time.

Fair Winds All.

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