Category: Kite Building

All I Wanted To Do Was Fly

The community kite fly day has come and gone.  An unwanted guest showed up and caused a cancellation.  The guest’s name — FLORENCE.  Hurricane Florence brought two days  of high winds and three days of rain.  And evacuations and curfews which kept us from the beach.  Even though I had thoughts of taking my Flexifoil out and flying in the higher winds.  Of course, no one would go with me.  And I had no re-entry pass to get over the bridge to the beach after Florence passed.

So let’s go back to a better time when we got together with a group of kite builders for a weekend of building.  The Keystone Kiters  Club of Pennsylvania sponsored a kite building workshop in the month of August.  The workshop is a major trip from North Carolina for a weekend but it is also a time of sharing and learning.  It can get intense.

This year we built a modified edo designed by Mike Mosman, an American Kitefliers Association Grand Champion Kite Builder.  The sail designs were completed at home so the weekend would be preparing and framing the kite.  I had a vision of what I wanted this kite to look like.  And I tried a different technique of appliqué.  After several evenings of sewing the sail was complete.  At the workshop, it took both days to hem, attach the cross-spars and vertical spars and bridle the kite.  The bungee cord arrangement for the vertical spars and the cascading bridle were new constructions for me.  That’s one of the reasons to travel to these workshops – to learn new construction techniques.  Especially those that you would never think of or figure out on your own.

The end result is a kite that flies beautifully, looks the way I had imagined it would and has stitching I’m proud of.  The kite is named “The Koi Pond”.

Fair Winds All

Back From A Mile High

We spent the Labor Day weekend at the Mile High Kite and Craft Festival in Beech Mountain, NC. This tiny town of about 350 people has hosted this festival for the past twelve years. We’ve attended the last six. It is a gathering of kite people from several neighboring states and kite clubs. The weather hasn’t always cooperated but the fellowship has been good regardless.

This year it didn’t rain. Yeah!!!!! But the wind didn’t attend either. Saturday was an open fly and a kite builders competition. The chamber of commerce was giving away small sled kites to the children attending the festival. After decorating the kites, there were a lot of kids and adults running up and down the side of the mountain getting their kites to fly. There were a wide range of kites brought from home or purchased at the vendors’ booths. Whether the kites would fly or not, there were still a lot of smiles all day.

MileHigh1

There was just enough wind for the entries in the competition to fly for the judges. Five kites were entered in three categories. The most competition was in the Flat-and-Bowed category with three entries. The other categories, Soft Kite and Stunt Kite, had one entry each. All kites were judged for the benefit of the builders. After flying, the judges went over each kite with a fine-toothed comb, asking questions and giving advice on what was good and what needed improvement. For me, that was the best part. I learned a lot. The winning kite of the day was my Fled entitled “Smile”

Smile2

Sunday was the official festival day. The sound system was set up, banners and ground displays lined the demo field, and the flyers were ready to put on a show. But, again, the wind decided not to show up. All the kite fliers pulled out their light wind kites and tried to get things up in the air. And, again, kids and families were running up and down the mountainside with all manner of kites. Some flew for a bit and some were just dragged along the ground. Yet, there were still smiles on faces all day. During the dead calm times, there were boll races for young and old and giant soap bubbles floating across the field. There were three remarkable demos performed on Sunday. One was a ballet using a white indoor Rev, another was a pairs stunt kite ballet and the third was a ballet using a standard Rev (the flier spent a lot of time walking backwards). Amazing feats in little to no wind. One enterprising young man ran up and down the mountain pulling his giant octopus behind him. It should be noted he only did it once.

MileHigh2

I did fly my Dunton-Taylor box and my sport kite, Wisp II, a few times. The Skate wouldn’t go up and we didn’t think to pull out the Laima. In between flying attempts, we visited with old friends and met new ones. From our point of view, it was a great weekend. We’re looking forward to next year on Beech Mountain.

Banners

Fair Winds All.

Today’s Timing Was Just Right

A good brisk wind and a moderate temperature.  It was a morning made for kite flying.  The fact that it was mostly cloudy made it even better as we took our not-quite-three year old grandson with us.  He takes after his father’s Irish heritage and burns quite easily.  So after slathering on the sunscreen, we walked (he ran) down to the beach to the sound of a little voice saying “Kite, kite, kite”.  He was just a little excited.

He is the proud owner of a lime green delta kite that doesn’t fly all that well but stays up long enough to make a not-quite-three year old happy.  There are some modifications that I can do to make this kite fly better.  And I will before his next visit.  But for now, it does the job nicely.  He laughs and grins and then drops the spool as his attention is caught by something else on the beach.  My husband and I took a couple of kites of our own with us but this was all about the grandson, so they stayed in the kite bag.  We helped him with his kite, played in the sand and marveled at his boundless energy.

Next Generation of Kiter
The Next Generation of Kiter
Next Generation of Kiter
The Next Generation of Kiter

And how was the timing just right, you may ask?  Well, we had our time on the beach and lunch at a local restaurant and were heading home when it began to rain.  Our outdoor excursion was done and it was nap time.  What could be better?

However, because of our house guest, my kite building project has been put on hold.  I had to put it aside for reasons of safety (hot cutter, scissors, extension cords, etc) and curiosity (patterns, nylon ripstop, sewing machine, fabric markers, etc.). His, not mine.  I have managed to complete a couple of trials of the base pattern to determine the best way to do the appliqué.  I have to pay much more attention to fabric layering and the order of sewing the pieces on this project.

Trial Applique
Trial Appliqué

I will start on the actual kite skin when I can bring out the sewing machine and all associated equipment again.  And when I can totally focus on what I am doing.  In the meantime, I am enjoying just being a Grandma, watching “Curious George”, “Thomas the Tank Engine” and “Dinosaur Train” and wishing I had just a little bit more energy.

Fair Winds All

At Last

At last, it was a sunny warm day for the weekly club fly.  According to the weather report on my phone, the winds were around 8 mph.  Which means it could be anywhere from 5 to 12 mph.  I selected my kites and set off for the beach.  As I drove to the parking lot, I noticed quite a few kites in the sky, mostly small deltas.  And as I walked back up the road to the path to the beach, I could hear the buzz of an “old school” dual line stunt kite.  I also noticed the wind felt a little stronger than 8 mph.

There were more people flying than had been in quite some time.  The kites in the air included three small deltas, three 6-7 foot deltas, a set of Martin Lester legs and a penguin.  And the satisfying “old school” buzz was from a Joel Scholz fish stunt kite.  And then I saw the movement of the sand.  It was blowing across the surface of the beach in waves.  A clue that the wind was much higher than the weather report.  I got out my trusty wind meter and it was blowing 17-20 mph.

18.2 MPH
18.2 MPH

There was not a thing in my bag that would safely fly in those winds.  And I stood there thinking of all the high wind kites that were sitting at home.  I was not the only person there with the same dilemma and so we stood around and talked about many things and waited, hoping the winds would die down little before it was time to go home.  Just before everyone left, I took a chance and put up my Waif train.  The wind was about 15 mph at this time and I had seen other trains flying in strong winds.  It bobbed and weaved quite a bit and pulled quite a bit but it did stay up without damage.  So I can truthfully say I flew a kite on this blustery day.

Later in the day, I returned to my kite building.  It’s going to be a little more complicated than my past kite projects.  And take up more space than just my craft room.  Already I’ve lost the use of my dining room table.  I can easily see the guest room being next.  The target date for completion is our local kite festival at the end of October.  Wish me luck.

The Dining Room Table
The Dining Room Table

Fair Winds All.