Tag: Carolina Kite Club

A Little Catching Up

The latest kite fly was again cold and very windy.  So windy, in fact, I only put delta kites in the truck and grabbed our heavier lines.  When I got on the beach, I quickly decided that two of the deltas I brought would have more pull than I cared to deal with that day.  So, once again, I only put up two kites and spent the rest of the morning visiting with the other fliers.

IMG_1099
Premier Mesh Delta
IMG_1104
Brasington Stealth Delta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a couple of out-of-town flyers joining us and they made a point of putting lots of kites in the sky.  Looking upwind, kite anchors were popping up all over the beach with no rhyme or reason.  Well, there was a reason.  We didn’t want to have a lot of tangled kite lines.

IMG_1133

 

One more community kite fly coming up and then it’s off on a trip to Maryland for the Maryland Kite Society Kitebuilders Retreat.  This year we’ll be building Chris Hanson’s Solar Cell kite.  I’ve still got the appliqué to do on my sail pieces but I, at least have them all cut out and the patterns transferred.  I should have no problem getting them done.  The big task after that is just planning what I need to take.  As usual, I will probably take more than I need.  Thank goodness we have a truck.

 

Looking at the calendar, it’s going to be a busy Spring and early Summer.  Hopefully, that means I’ll have lots to write about.  So here’s to good winds and good weather.

Fair Winds All

Where Has The Year Gone

The past year has flown by and it has been a busy one.  But I didn’t realize it has been a year since I had written anything.  And it hasn’t been because we haven’t been flying anything.  There have been festivals and workshops and just everyday flying.  I just haven’t been writing.  So here’s to beginning again and hopefully doing better.

Winter weather makes kite flying “iffy”, so the first beautiful day was late January.  Winds were very strong and gusty but steadied out as the morning progressed.  If fact, it was so nice on the beach, we could have stayed out all day except for the fact we had no food or drink with us.

Because the wind was so strong, I only put up three kites.  I only flew one of my latest builds because I didn’t want to risk broken spars and torn skin.  I knew my rokakku could handle it.  So after some bridle tuning, my Birds rokakku took to the air.  To keep it company, I also flew my Green Dragon dragon kite and one of my power sleds.

 

IMG_1005
The Birds
IMG_1026
Power Sled 24 by Premier Kites
IMG_1018
Green Dragon by Skydog Kites

 

The power sled and green dragon are patterns that are no longer available.  So glad I purchased them when I did.  I have the same power sled color scheme in two other sizes of power sleds.  Here’s hoping this weekend was a sign of the weather changing in our favor and there will be more frequent kite flys to come.

Fair Winds All

 

Great Wind, No Sun

Went out to join in on the community kite fly this past Sunday.  The weather app on my phone said there would be winds between 10 and 14 mph.  Perfect.  The report from the kite shop before I left the house said the flags were wrapped around the poles and flying was questionable.  Just to be on the safe side, I grabbed my bag of light wind kites, a couple of kites for higher winds and a variety of lines and anchors.  (Here I must admit I forgot my shovel.)

When I arrived at Fort Macon State Park I found that my phone was the most accurate.  The winds were around 10-12 mph.  Grabbing a couple of kites and the bag of lines and anchors, I walked down to the beach to join the other flyers.  This time of year it is just the usual small group of “locals”.  However, each of us put up at least two kites and provided quite a show for all the visitors to the fort and on the hiking trail.

IMG_0169

The first kite I put up was the George Peters Gypsy Moth delta.  It was the first time I flew this kite since I reinforced the trailing edge.  It wanted to leap out of my hand and into the sky.  And the trailing edge did not flutter as much as before and showed no signs of fraying.

IMG_0171

My second kite was my vintage rainbow double box delta.  This one has wooden dowels for spars and really pulls when the wind picks up.  Even on a cloudy day, the colors show brilliantly in the sky.  And I was lucky to find matching tube tails to make it even more of a “showy” kite.

I had brought another delta with me but decided two was enough as the winds were picking up as the morning wore on.  Also out on the horizon was a line of dark clouds indicating a storm front approaching.  Now, none of us wanted to be taking home wet kites so we ended the kite fly a little early and met back at the kite shop before the rain came.

IMG_0176

Despite the fact there was no sunshine, it was a very satisfying morning kite fly.  And, hopefully, there are more to come.

Fair Winds All

 

And Sunday Was A Beautiful Day

We finally made it to a local community kite fly.  The winds were low to moderate which made it hard to decide what kites to haul down to the beach.  As we get older, we find ourselves only picking two or three kites to fly and not pulling the cart with a ton of stuff.   Most times we make the right picks but sometimes we don’t have the right stuff and have to decide whether to walk back to the truck and change kites or not.  This day we picked kites that would fly at least for a while.  Until the wind died completely.

Weather-wise it was a great day to sit on the beach and watch the waves, the birds, the boats and, of course, the kites.  Temperature was comfortable with a hoodie and there was sunshine, blessed sunshine.  Just a small group of the regular flyers were there.  So relaxing.

I did put up my kite show kit.  I love how I can handle the lifter and all the associated line laundry by myself.  The lower winds actually added a new aspect to the kite show.  The crab was often just barely above the ground, so it looked like he was scuttling across the sand instead of flying above it.  I also flew a new delta kite.  Really wanted to put the tube tails on it but the wind was not quite strong enough.

IMG_0131IMG_0134

Some of the serious stunt kite flyers may take offense but there are times when it is just seems like too much work to put out the lines and assemble a stunt kite.  This was one of those days.  The quad line kite stayed in the bag.  Instead time was spent visiting.

Hopefully we will have the chance to fly on Thanksgiving Day before feasting.  We will see.

Fair Winds All