KITES & KITE FLYING PART 3

SOME OF MY KITES

The Circaflex is a very interesting kite which attracts lot's a attention from the public, especially when flown at dusk, (reported sightings of UFO's no doubt?)

They are quite easy to construct, they consist of one continuous piece of material and have a small 3mm fiberglass rod at the front, and a drawstring at the rear.

I constructed these two from Ripstop nylon but many make them from a material called Mylar which is considerably lighter, although not as strong.

The Whale devel oped in the 1990's is an inflatable, based on the Para- foil principles with, aerofoil sections and various stabilizing devices, among the many differing versions are kites by Martin Lester, Peter Lynn, and Jim Rowlands. (names in alphabetical order.)

The Sutton Flowform is a good stable kite, useful for hoisting banners and line junk, flags etc; Developed by Canadian Parachutist Steven Sutton in the late 1960's.

The Dopero kite is basically two Pearson Roller Kites combined, I obtained the plans for this one from Hilmar Rilling, the design
was by Ralf Beutnagek about 1994.

It develops an amazing amount of power, and I fly this particular one on 350lb line, (always use a strong ground anchor for larger kites.)

I have seen it used for aerial photography, but it was modified, replacing the keels with tapered open ended vents, giving it added stability in a wide range of winds.

This picture demonstrates the banner towing properties of the Sutton Flowform. Ideal for advertising Club or Business alike.

The small green kite behind the end of the banner, is a variation of Alec Pearson's Roller kite, he specifically designed it in the 1970's to fly almost directly overhead, which suited his main flying site, Kensington Gardens London.

This kite is quite simple in it's construction, designed by Hod
Taylor in the 1900's, the triangular shaped keel gives this kite great stability, it also fly's almost directly overhead, although in an extremely light breeze will often ride over the kite line and swoop in a large circular motion.

The Multi Flare is a fairly recent development in comparison to the Eddy Kite which dates back to 1891, the kite on which it's based, it has been used by many to win large quantities of ale at Festivals. The object being the kite that lifts the most ale wins it!

The Hexagon kite is based on a design by W.R.Birt dating back to 1847, I fly this particular one with two 10mt tails for stability, although there are many other versions of this popular kite.

If you look hard you will see the first kite I built, as mentioned in my opening page, a red and green box kite.

From left to right Rokkaku, small Flare, Multi Flare, Tri-D box, Serpent, Box, Star, Stone Mountain rear, Snowflake and laying on the ground a red, yellow and green Peter Powel, one of the first and most successful stunt kites ever produced

.

From left to right foreground blue abstract appliqué' Pearson Roller, Two Rokkaku kites, one abstract appliqué' and one Samurai Warrior marker pen drawing, front laying flat blue and white Eddy or Malay.




The American Flowform is an ideal kite for lifting, banners, li n e junk you name it. I find that a good flat banner keeps it so stable tha t it will keep flying in just about anything the weather can throw at it.

The Bols are very affective in pairs, I assembled
these so that they rotate in opposite directions, giving the appearance of gears running together, these are 4ft in diameter and develop a huge drag on the line, they also need good quality bearing spinners.

A closer photograph of one of my American Flowforms, They take approximately 20 sq. mts of material to make, for this one I used Balloon Ripstop Nylon.

I adapted the basic design for a Nasa Wing power kite for this one, despite it's size the power it develops is quite amazing. This kite I also constructed using Balloon Ripstop nylon which boosts the power considerably. Anyone thinking of purchasing a power kite is well advised to start small, get experience and then progress, they can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands!

The concept for this kite came as the name suggests from the American space programme. It's purpose was to bring back to earth safely the fuel rockets used to propel space craft into orbit, although it should be stressed the ones used for that purpose were considerably larger.

This is a an American Flowform that I made for my friend Dr. John Dimmock which he fly's with a 33 metre tail. It looked superb in the summer sky at Telscombe Tye, East Sussex England.

Next :- MY KITE EXHIBITION AT WHITEHAWK COMMUNITY CENTRE, BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND.

KITES & KITES FLYING PART 3 NEXT