Tag: Kite Flying

Have You Ever…

Have you ever gotten up in the morning and just felt like crap.  No distinct symptoms, just a general blah feeling.  Well, this was my morning.  Today was the weekly kite club fly and I just didn’t feel like packing up the car and going to the beach.  Egad!  Did I really write that?  Not going to the beach?  There is definitely something wrong.

I ended up going to the beach but not to fly.  I returned the borrowed blue Vamp Devil and made an equipment exchange with a friend that was promised last week.  Then, after a short stop at the kite store, I went home.  And didn’t do much.  I watched TV, dozed a bit, and equalized some quad lines so they would be ready for the next flying day.  And I started getting the pattern ready for my next kite build.  That’s about it.

Just before sunset, I was feeling the urge to fly.  So my husband and I went to the beach.  There was no one there.  Of course, there was only an hour to go before the gate to the park was closed for the night.  And clouds had started rolling in and taking a beautiful sunset away from us.  But the temperature had cooled down and the breeze was coming up.  And I pulled out my latest acquired kite.  Yes, it was the Vamp Devil Quad.

The Vamp Devil by Flying Wings

Right now I am finding out exactly how to set the lines so that I have a comfortable feel for the kite.  The really hard point to find is the right setting for the brake lines.  I thought I had found a solution and I was right.  Today I felt I had the best control that I’ve ever had.  It’s just a matter of tweaking until it feels right.  I flew for a little less than an hour.  The sun went down and the gate was about to be closed when we left.  That’s twice this week we’ve been the last car out.  Keep this up and the rangers will start to know our car on sight and tell up to lock up on our way out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am really loving this kite. It is such fun to fly and almost makes a spectacle of itself it in the air. It is not only me who is captivated by this kite. One of our out-of-town fliers has purchased another color Vamp Devil and is having it shipped to him. Another flier is seriously, seriously considering a purchase. That’s three gone in one week. I don’t know if it is catching on as fast in other areas of the country but it’s making a stir here. Who knows? We may start up a Vamp Devil flying team and fly at our fall kite festival. Well, maybe not. I may not be that brave.

Me and My Vamp Devil

Fair Winds All.

It’s Here! It’s Here!

The Vamp Devil quad line kites by Flying Wings have finally arrived at the kite store.  All four colors came in and two were already spoken for.  Yes, one of the two was mine.  I now am the proud owner of a black Vamp Devil.  It does look devilish.  So many quad line fliers don’t like this kite because it is slow and not too precise.  But it is fun and that is what I’m looking for in a kite.  It has a long tube tail that is pointed on the end.  This slows the kite down but adds a great effect in the sky.  Being I prefer “old school” kites, this one flies just the way I like to.

I took it out last night just before sunset.  The wind was very light so I flew it without the tail.  (Yes, the tail is removable and the kite flies with or without it.)  It is going to take some time to get the lines tuned just right.  But it was fun, fun, fun!!!!!  Photos soon.  But in the meantime, check out this video.

Fair Winds All.

Wow! What A Weekend!

I hope everyone had as good a weekend as we did. Ours involved a lot of kite flying time and a lot of time in the sun. Family came down for the holiday weekend but that didn’t deter us from flying our kites. Saturday was family day. We spent time together which was wonderful as we don’t see each other that often. Because it was a holiday weekend, the beach was crowded. Gave us an idea on how to plan for kiting.

Sunday was our regular weekly club fly. The beach was crowded. We got there very late and were lucky to find a parking spot. There were quite a few out-of-town kite fliers there and most of the time was spent visiting and renewing old friendships.  Revolutions were up as well as the blue vamp devil.  People are trying that kite out and it is winning over new fliers.  The light winds made flying stunt kites a challenge. The winds did pick up as the day wore on. There were a lot of single-line kites up. By special request, I flew the three kites I made this spring. My husband finally got his Wala XL together and up. It flew very well and looked great. In fact, there were several Walas in the air.  They are made by Flying Wings and are one of the hottest kites this year.  The rest of our family spent the time relaxing, swimming and shelling. Despite the heat, we spent about three hours on the beach. Except for a picnic lunch under the trees by the visitors’ center.

Wala XL by Flying Wings

Monday was a most spectacular day.  The local maritime museum holds Maritime Day on their grounds by the water.  Maritime Day is a day to get the public out to see what the museum is all about.  They have live music, activities for the kids and the kid in all of us, boat rides and free food.  They encourage the public to come out and have a good time.  It is really fun.  When else would you get a chance to ride in a breeches buoy?  Personally, I’d rather ride one here than when my life depended on it at sea.  Or make a fish print on a T-shirt?  In the midst of all this, the kite club puts as much color in the sky as is possible in a small area.  Or rather as much red-white-blue in the sky.  Because it is Memorial Day, we try to all fly red-white-blue kites.  Of course, other kites are welcome.  The only request is that we leave the stunt kites home as there is not much space to accommodate them.  Most of our out-of-town kite fliers were there.  That made it a fun day.  Plenty of chatting as well as flying.  The winds started out light in the morning and picked up as the day went along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The predominate kite was the box delta.  Usually with tails or streamers.  There was a regular delta, a parafoil, a diamond and a faceted star in the colors the day.  Because of the lighter winds, there were also a collection of Wala XLs.  They really look good in the sky.  Especially when you have a group of them flying together.  The best kite of the day, in my humble opinion, was the red-white-blue eagle.  I’m not afraid to brag.  I managed to get an original Sky Delight eagle kite.  Signed and dated by Joel Scholz, I have been saving it just for the Maritime Day fly.  It went up right away and hung in the sky the whole time.  Well, maybe not the whole time.  It did have a couple of altercations with the Uncle Sam della porta but they worked things out and both flew peacefully afterwards.

Only two kites bit the dust this year and both of them belonged to the same flier.  The parafoil took a nose-dive into the neighboring brushy trees.  It went in so deep into the stand, a person couldn’t get to it.  But due to the ingenuity of some members of our group, they used another kite to lift it out of the trees to an area where it could be recovered.  It was pretty amazing to watch.  And, of course, I didn’t get any photos of the process.  However, during the recovery of that kite, another kite line was cut and a box delta took off on its own adventure.  Its line snagged on a power pole in the neighboring development on the other side of the field.  So it was recovered also.  No kites lost and some excitement to the day.

So, after adding another five hours of kite flying and sun to the weekend, it was time to go home.  The kite bags are still in the back of the car.  And everything needs to be taken out and re-bagged to where it belongs.  Especially the lines and the anchors.  We can’t find anything.  The next special event on our calendar isn’t for a few weeks.  I expect I will be starting my next kite sewing project soon.  The hardest part will be deciding which one as my list has grown.

Fair Winds All.

Guns To The Right Of Us, Ocean To The Left, Here I Am…

It was the day of our weekly kite fly with the kite club.  And it was the day we slept late.  Every other day this past week we’ve up bright and early.  But not the day we need to be.  So, once again we are late to the kite beach.  No wonder we are known as the “Second Shift”.  We come later and stay later.  What made this day more interesting was a) the lack of wind, b) the new kite brought to the field and c) the civil war reenactment going on at the fort.  We were lucky to get a parking space close to the beach end.  Otherwise, it would have been a long, long trek with kite bags.

When we arrived, the other kite fliers were reduced to flying fighter kites.  The lower the wind the better for kite battles with fighter kites.  Most are made from bamboo and tissue paper or mylar wrapping paper.  Although there are some made with ripstop nylon and thin graphite spars.  Those last kind are usually made for looks and not battles.  With our crew, fighter kites can be very entertaining.  No one is serious about fighting.  They’re just happy to keep them in the air.  There were two casualties that had to go to the kite hospital that afternoon.  And the flier who caused the casualties is still claiming it wasn’t his fault.

Flo-tail Delta by Premier

We were in no hurry to try to put anything up in such a low wind.  However, the owner of the kite shop just received a new kite which I had seen online and thought immediately that my husband would like it.  It was a fifteen foot delta with long flowing tails.  Now my husband has several large deltas and the thought had crossed my mind that he didn’t really need another one.  Not to mention that these just barely fit in my car.  But the colors of this one are so beautiful and the tails so flowing,  I could easily let this one into the house along with the rest.  But would it go up in such light wind?  Amazingly, it did.  We put on extremely light line and it went up.  It was glorious.  The look on my husband’s face let me know it would be his.  And on a day with proper wind and some added altitude, it would put on a show all by itself.

Buka-Dako-Esche by Premier

As for me, the wind began coming up a bit and we decided to tryout the bridle modification on my new-ish “lizard” kite.  The Buka-Dako-Esche.  Last time it was a dive bomber that was a hazard to all around it.  This time it went right up and hung in the sky.  The modification was a success.  One last little tweak and it will fly like a champ every time.  I also got up my gecko totem.  It is a companion kite to the “lizard”.  Both decorated in the same style with the same colors.  They looked pretty good together.

The Australian Themed Set

Now, about those guns.  We fly at Fort Macon State Park.  Fort Macon was built before the civil war and was occupied by Confederate troops.  It was taken over in 1862 by Union forces who held it until the end of the Civil War.  Several times a year, there is a re-enactment of events in the history of the fort.  Today, the Union forces attacked the Confederates that were in the fort.  There was a lot of musket fire from both sides.  And some cannon fire from the fort.  It was pretty exciting and a lot of people came to see it.  The re-enactors did a magnificent job.  At other times, re-enactors come to show visitors how daily life was in the fort.  Fort Macon is really an amazing place and I enjoy visiting it again and again.

So, after a stop at the kite shop and a stop for a mid-afternoon lunch, it was time to go home.  And then it was a quiet evening in the backyard, watching the fireflies and sipping wine slushies.  Nothing finer on a summer evening.  Oh, and spring, too.

Fair Winds All.