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.

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

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