Category: Kite Building

I Missed A Kite Flying Day

As much as I hate to admit to it, I did not fly a kite today.  This morning was the weekly club fly and I didn’t go.  I got up this morning and didn’t feel quite right.  Couldn’t tell of it was an oncoming cold,  a possible sinus infection or just exhaustion due to the fact I was up until 2:00 am sewing on my parafoil.  Yes, foolish me!  You would think I would know better and not stay up until the wee hours of the morning.  I’m not exactly a young college student anymore who could do things like that without batting an eye.  But I guess some habits are hard to break.  I would stay up late after the family went to bed to work in my darkroom and still get up and go to work the next day.  I survived that.  Well, maybe not in the best condition but I survived.  However, now, after a couple of late nights, I’m wiped out.

So, I stayed home.  I rested, worked on the computer and started sewing again.  I finished sewing on the ribs to the upper panel of the parafoil.  All eleven of them.  I should have picked a foil with a smaller number of ribs.  And I got the six keels sewn on the bottom panel.  Now I just have to sew the top to the bottom without catching extra pieces in each seam.  Then it’s hemming the trailing edge and attaching the bridle.  And I’m done, at last.  This project shouldn’t have taken this long.  I am such a procrastinator.

My friend at the kite shop loaned me her painless parafoil so I could see how it flies and how it was put together.  So far, things match between that one and mine.  The sewing on that one is a lot neater.  And, since it is a proven flyer, I’m going to finish my trailing edge that same way that one is finished.  Maybe tomorrow, I can fly that one and see how the bridle is set.  One less thing to guess at.

Almost Done

The dog was kind enough to let me use his space to get a current photo of the parafoil.  As long as I didn’t try to move his moose, all was good.  He’s very possessive.  By the way, a little birdie told me that there was no wind this morning at the beach.  I guess I didn’t miss much.

Fair Winds All.

 

 

A Holiday Weekend Has Come And Gone

I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July weekend.  Our celebration was kind of low-key.  Mostly because the kids did not make it home this year.  We did attend the annual Neighborhood Cookout and were able to put faces to a lot of the names of people living on our road.  Still don’t know everyone but our reputation is growing.  We heard a lot of “Are you the people who fly the kites?”.  Several have seen us cleaning out the bags in the yard or loading up the car to go to a fly.  Most of them haven’t flown a kite since their childhood and fondly remember the paper diamond or box kite of their youth.  They have no idea of the kites available today.  Nor do they believe that we have so many kites for so many different kinds of wind.

Sunday was the regular weekly club fly.  It was all the more special because there were more kite friends there from out-of-town.  We got there earlier than usual but not as early as most.  We remain the “second shift” of the fliers.  The sky was filled with kites of all shapes and sizes.  I couldn’t begin to describe all that was there.  The kites ranged from the large Suttons with banner tails and mesh and flo-tail deltas to the flakes, dragons, smaller deltas and the most unusual kite of the day, the flap kite sun beam by HQ.  There were several dual-line stunt kites flying along with a couple of quad-line Revolution kites.

The sky was so full we only put up three kites ourselves, the Flo-tail Delta by Premier and two limited edition dragon kites by Go Fly A Kite, the Flying Tiger and the Jester.   After a while I flew the Vamp Devil.  I’m still having a bit of trouble getting the brake lines exactly right but each time it’s getting better.  I’m getting a better understanding as to how the four lines work together and how some changes make things better and some make things worse.  It’s all good.  The only bad thing about the Sunday fly was that I forgot my camera and my iPod died.  The sky was so beautiful that I was kicking myself for not being able to get some photos.  I am also trying to figure out a routine for the Vamp Devil for the kite festival in October.  And I was really inspired to listen to some music while I was flying.  I guess I’m going to have to work things out on paper first and then add the music.  Thank goodness I have a few months and the option of backing out at the last-minute.  After four hours on the beach, we went home and nursed our sunburn.

Monday, being the official holiday, was crazy at the beach.  Many people came to the beach for the day, many people came to the beach for the weekend and were trying to go home and many people were staying for the week.  It all added up to a lot of traffic and a lot of people on the beach.  Parking was hard to find.  We didn’t fly but did hang out at the kite shop for a while.  What holiday flying we did was done today.  A good friend had to come down to work in the area and made it a “busman’s holiday”.  For those of you who don’t know it, a “busman’s holiday” is when you combine a workday with some sort of non-work recreation.  In this case, flying a couple of kites for a couple of hours on the beach before returning home.  For him, it was a long day of driving.  But we met on the beach and had a nice visit and a good couple of hours flying.

For those who are following my kite building progress, I finishing the replacement bottom panel late Saturday night.  I looks so much better than the first one.  I changed the way the pieces were assembled and stitched.  Now I’m not afraid to have anyone see what I have done.  And I’ve learned a lot.  About appliqué and about my perfectionism.  So the kite was not finished in time for the holiday.  In fact, I have not sewn a thing in the past two days.  The pieces are laying on the table waiting for me.  I will probably finish this week and try to fly it at our next club fly.  Just a week late.  But better late than never.  And I will not let this project reach the never stage.  So, until the next time we fly…

Fair Winds All.

The Secret Revealed

The building continues on the Painless Parafoil.  I have all of the pieces hemmed and ready for assembly.  I have been keeping the pattern for the bottom panel a secret until I could see how it would turn out.  The pattern is quit striking.  I finished the applique and have to admit from a distance, it looks pretty good.

But up close, I am not happy with the sewing.  I’ve been told by several kite builder friends that I should go ahead and finish the kite since it will look good in the sky.  And others have said that I should redo the panel because if I’m not happy with the kite I probably will not fly it much.  That’s the core of the problem.  Others will see the kite in the air and will want to see it close up on the ground.  I really don’t want to show off sewing that is not the best I can do.  I don’t mean perfect sewing.  Just sewing that doesn’t show poor or sloppy technique.  I know I can do better.

So I have started a second bottom panel.  This will set back the completion of the kite.  But I will have a kite that I am proud to show off.  I believe I know how to improve on the first one.  So here goes.  Wish me luck.

And the pattern is…

The Eagle

Fair Winds All.

 

Smoke In The Morning

We have woken up several mornings to the strong smell of smoke.  It seems that a good portion of the eastern part of our state is on fire.  We are in the middle of a drought and the land is parched and dry.  There have been a couple of thunderstorms but they haven’t produced enough long-term rain to wet the land.  In fact, lightning is to blame for at least two of the fires.  Thank goodness we are not threatened by the fires but we are downwind.  So no rain, high temperatures, high humidity means we have been staying at home in the air conditioning most of the week.

I have been sewing a bit.  I say a bit because most of what I have had to do is hemming the pieces for the parafoil I’m building.  And I hate to hem.  I’m putting a 1/4 inch hem on all the pieces per the instructions.  I’m not good enough at sewing to roll the hem as it goes through the sewing machine.  So I have to fold and crease the edges before I sew the hem.  Yeech!  So I put it off and put it off and now I’m pushing the deadline I set for myself.  Finally getting the hemming done, I have started the applique on the bottom panel.  That is going so much faster.  I enjoy it more and that makes the work easier.  I’m hoping that by Thursday I will begin final assembly.  And hopefully, flight on the Fourth of July.

Chiroptera by Will Sturdy

Sunday there was absolutely no wind.  I mean NO WIND.  I got to the beach late and there were only a couple of people there.  The main activity was standing around talking.  There were several Walas and a Laima (both low wind kites) laying on the ground.  Even the Breeze by HQ would not fly.  And that is a pretty reliable dual-line low wind kite.  I only took one kite out of the car to take with me.  It was the Chiroptera, my newest kite, labeled an indoor and ultra-low wind kite.   I started flying it on a short line with a wand.  I actually got some nice glides and a couple of swooping turns.  The wind picked up to about 1 mph and I put it on a spool of line and it flew wonderfully overhead.  When the wind let up, it just hovered and drifted and waited for another breath of wind to climb again.  The only kite that would fly that day.  Because I came by myself, I did not bring a camera with me.  So the only photo I have of the maiden flight of the Chiroptera was taken with a cell phone camera.  Not the best but it will do in a pinch.  Thank you Will Sturdy for building a great kite.  Thank you Barry for the photos.

Fair Winds All.