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

Celebrating The Earth With Color In The Sky

The Carolina Kite Club joined Fort Macon State Park in celebrating Earth Day. Local groups and organizations set up demonstrations and exhibits concerning ecology, conservation, animals and nature in the visitor center. The club put up a display of kites and banners on the nearby beach, all of which were easily visible while driving into the park and walking about the Fort. Quite a few people walked down to the beach to see the kites close up and talk to the fliers.

Large flowforms, power sleds and deltas dotted the sky. Many of which had long tails which added to the display. Because it was a special occasion, the park ranger brought one of his trucks onto the beach to be used as an anchor for some extremely large inflatable kites. We were able to launch a large gecko, a smaller trilobite and a large crab.

Gecko, Trolibite and Crab — Gecko, Trilobite and Crab

All of this was a major feat as the wind was not in our favor. The weather predictions were for 10 to 15 mile per hour winds. What we got were 5 to 7 with periods of no wind at all. I gave up trying to fly my collection of Xelons and flew a couple of Skates, a Dunston-Taylor box and a Fled. All low wind kites. Some stunt kites were up for a while but no one flew anything for long.

The sky remained cloudy all day and toward the end of the event, it tried to rain a little. Just enough to make us all take the kites down and pack them away. As the last of the large kites were being stuffed into their bags, the wind jumped up to around 25 miles per hour. The sand was swept across the beach with such force it looked like clouds skimming the surface. We were thankful that there were no kites up, especially the very large ones, as they could have easily broken loose and been lost.

All in all, it was a good event. Kites were up and we got to visit and catch up with some of our out-of-town club members who came to add to the “color in the sky”.

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.

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.

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

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