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.

Tropical Storm Force Winds

Tropical storm Ana lies off our coast. While it will come ashore south of here, the outer winds are reaching here and along with them are the rain bands. The rain comes hard but doesn’t last long. Then there are long periods of sunshine and then more rain. The winds are too strong to fly kites and the rain chases everyone indoors.

MIle of Hope - Atlantis Lodge - Atlantic Beach, NC — Mile of Hope – Atlantis Lodge – Atlantic Beach, NC

Saturday morning the Carolina Kite Club was supposed to bring kites to the Mile of Hope outing for children with cancer and their families. The families get to spend the weekend at the beach; visiting the local sights, building sand castles, playing in the sand and flying kites. The kite club members fly some of their showy kites and Kites Unlimited provides kites for the kids to fly. Tropical storm Ana changed those plans. The winds were too strong for the kites of the club members and many times too strong for the kids’ kites.

Trial Flight of Kids' Kite — Trial Flight of Kids’ Kite

Several club members came to the beach and test flew a kids’ kite. It went up and almost immediately came crashing down. Too much wind. Meanwhile, another kite club member put up a ghost delta. While it did fly, it was dancing all across the sky. And the spar that was supposed to extend straight from one side to the other of the kite was bent in a “U” shape. The surprising thing was that it did not snap in two.

The weather did not improve for the weekly club kite fly. The winds stayed in the 20 to 30 mph range with some higher gusts. And the rain bands came through producing heavy downpours all day Sunday. So instead of flying, we hung out at the kite shop. The next kite event isn’t until June. Hopefully it will be a slow season for tropical storms and/or hurricanes and we will have some good flying days between now and then.

Fair Winds All.

Our Kites Are Multiplying Like Rabbits

This past week I scored some new kites on Ebay. Three, new-in-package, Sutton 4 flowforms were up for bids and I won two of them. Sutton flowforms haven’t been in production since around 2010. They were made by Air Affairs in Pennsylvania and came in several different sizes. Though I believe the largest sizes were only made by custom order. One of the first kites my husband bought was a Sutton 16, a mid-size flowform. My two Sutton 4s are the smallest of the Sutton family of kites.

Saturday night I made tails for the two Suttons and got them ready for an inaugural fly at the regular weekly kite fly at Fort Macon State Park. As usual, the wind was low and it was doubtful that the little guys would fly. But the weather was the best it has been in quite a while so it was a day not to be wasted. Brett, from the Kites Unlimited kite shop, arrived and together we got them up long enough for me to get some images. Then I packed them away, put up a Skate and sat back to enjoy the peaceful beach and visit with other kite fliers.

Brett Flying While Took Photos — Brett Flying While I Took Photos

My husband joined me later with a kite he had bought a couple of days before, a Malay Diamond by Into The Wind. It is a very large diamond kite which comes in two color variations. John chose the one entitled “Sunrise”. It should be no surprise that the other one is entitled “Sunset”. The wind was still low when he got there but this kite went up like a dream and hung in the sky like it was anchored there. So easy and so beautiful. In higher winds, we have a rainbow streamer tail to add to it for greater stability. Not needed today.

Malay Diamond - Sunrise — Malay Diamond – Sunrise

As the afternoon approached, the wind picked up and I was able to fly the Suttons. They flew very well with a little more wind. We ended up with quite a nice display in the sky. All kites flying calm and steady. And we fliers relaxing on the beach, enjoying the beautiful, beautiful day.

Fair Winds All

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