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.

“I’m MELTING! Melting!”

And so said the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. And that’s just the way I felt at our most recent kite club fly. Thankfully, I had brought a cooler with water and drank all that I had. Otherwise i probably would have become just a puddle in the sand.

It was scorching hot but the wind was up and too good to miss. I finally had the opportunity to put the complete Xelon collection in the air. I love these kites. My only problem is that HQ did not put a tube tail on the fourth kite in the series. I added a streamer tail to match the two side streamers but it just doesn’t seem right. I’m thinking that sometime over the winter I’m going to construct a tube tail to match the other three and add it to the fourth Xelon.

While the Xelons were flying, I put up my new Peter Powell stunt kite. It was a perfect day for this kite. The diamond stunters need a little more wind to fly well and to have the long tails stream out behind them. The Peter Powell flew slowly across the wind window, doing graceful swoops, dives and circles. The tail tracing the kite’s path around the sky. My favorite type of stunt flying. Unfortunately, there was no one available to photograph this kite in the sky. So we have to settle for a landed Peter Powell. Nonetheless, it is still a good-looker.

Fair Winds All.

(And try to stay cool!!)

I Am A Kite Addict

As per usual, we arrived at the beach for the weekly kite club fly and the flag was glued around the flagpole. There was absolutely, positively no wind. No one even opened a kite bag. Speaking of kite bags, I got a new one this week. It’s a black MLD bag with red pockets. All my long kite bags are black with red pockets so I can readily identify my bags from my husband’s. Instead of flying, I decided to repack all my bags and do a kite inventory. At this writing, I have four bags done: Large Dragon Kites, Vintage Dual Line Stunt Kites, Dual Line Stunt Kites and Collector Single Line Kites. I have one bag left for Single Line Kites. Of course, I could not have gotten all this done alone. I had a helper. Though I’m not sure how much help Miss Kaylee actually provided.

I thought I was doing pretty good and then I remembered the kite bag in the back of the truck. It is my traveling bag for the kites I take to the beach. At the moment, it is full. There are definitely more single line kites than will fit in one bag. Ohh, My!!

And, now that I think about it, there are quite a few other bags that I also need to inventory. This includes a flat bag for hatas and dragon kites, a bag for Revolution and quad line stunt kites, a bag for the hyperkite stacks, a bag for the Trlbys, a bag of line laundry, a bag for ground display items and a bag of banners for festivals and events. I think I need to find a Kite Fliers Anonymous group to deal with this addiction. Fair Winds All.

A Week Of Firsts

It’s been a week of firsts; first flights of new kites, first time on a new flying field, first visit at a new vacation location.

First things first (sorry, I couldn’t resist). We recently got home from a visit to Corolla, NC. It was a restful time with walks around the Whalehead Club grounds, the historic village and the Currituck lighthouse. We also went on a safari to see the Corolla wild horses. And, of course, the trip included kites. We have some friends who have a kite shop in Corolla. We stopped in several times and I bought a new kite from them. A bit of history first. One of the first stunt kites developed was a diamond stunter made in England by Peter Powell. It was easy to fly and became very popular. It has been out of production for many years. But now, the grandchildren of Peter Powell have begun manufacturing the diamond stunter again, with only minimal changes from the original. Our friends had one of these stunt kites in their shop and I’ve had my eye on it for a while. Well, I finally bought it and flew it on the beach at Corolla. Thus, a first vacation in Corolla, the first time flying a kite there and the first flight of the Peter Powell stunt diamond.

I also scored a new kite on Ebay. It was a HQ rokkaku that has also been out of production for a few years – Sun and Moon. This kite had never been out of the package. It’s a smaller rok, only measuring about four feet tall. Monday was a beautiful day on the beach and the winds were about 12-15 miles per hour. I assembled the kite and it went up easily. The sun and moon motif looked wonderful in the sky. I also flew my large Xelon, the latest of four Xelons also made by HQ. I added some tails to this kite and it made all the difference in the flight and the appearance. I now have a complete set of Xelons and one day I will put all four in the air at the same time. It should be quite a show.

Sun and Moon Rokkaku & Xelon IV Kite by HQ

My husband flew his latest acquisition, a Skydog penguin kite. A really cute kite that flies well in a wide range of wind speeds. It is one of five animal kites that Skydog has produced this year. There is also an elephant, a monkey, a tiger and a panda. The elephant is definitely going to be added to our collection soon.

We been acquiring a lot of kites lately. Probably way too many. But you can never have too many kites.

Fair Winds All.

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