Kite Lines - Vol.2 No. 4 - KiteLife

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We've all seen kites like thishuge,crude and dangerouscraft that can give our sport ablack eye (literally) . Mel Govig assembling his multihued Guatemalan-style kite .A stack of three birds byHod Taylor. The lead kite is a20-footer and the other twoare 18-foot span .tacular (monumental) sight thanJack Van Gilder's train of 100kites flashing in the sun and cloudsat Ocean City, Maryland, last year .Also I hold in memory a pictureof an India fighter kite with asilver ribbon tail at the SmithsonianKite Carnival in the early 70s .This tiny kite with its 100 feet orso of tail drew pictures in the skyand held the crowd spellbound .Finally, two-line control displayscan be breathtaking, such as SteveEdeiken's Rainbow Stunters andAndrew Jones's Flexifoils-verybig displays I've been privileged tosee-with kites of moderate size .I love to be thrilled by a spectacularkite display. I rarely havefelt that thrill at size alone .RAY HOLLANDRoswell, NM. Kite manufacturerand experimenter .Large size demands respect . Thekiteflier has to know what he isdoing or he can get in trouble .A large kite may be capable ofpicking up a person-and that canbe serious. Even kites that are notthis large can cause trouble . Theyrequire special know-how forlaunching . They can start up andcatch a gust and turn right backdown, with- enough speed andweight to cause personal injury . Ihave been there . It was a large experimentalkite, and I dodged it,but I tore a muscle in the calf ofmy leg getting out of the way .Also on a large kite you can geta bad string burn or you can havethe line wrapped around yourhand or a few fingers, to keep itfrom sliding, and you will wishyou hadn't!But if you respect them, largekites can be impressive. The dragof the line becomes relativelysmall, the sag from the ground tothe kite is reduced and high flightscan be made . But if the kite becomestoo large it is an aircraft inthe eyes of the law. For years thedividing line has been five pounds .Any kite weighing this much ormore comes under Federal AviationAdministration regulations .That should be looked into byanyone flying large kites .In testing some large kites whichwe made for the Lawrence RadiationLaboratory (for lifting instruments),we anchored the kite to asection of telephone pole, overwhich were piled other sections ofpole . The kite was flying normallyuntil a dry tornado (dust devil)happened along, perhaps doublingthe wind speed at the kite. Wewere not aware of it until we sawthe telephone pole section hoppingacross the field, dragged andlifted in a series of rough bounces,heading right for a highway withheavy traffic . Our anchor hadbeen pulled apart spreading theoverlying poles like jackstraws,and the pull of the kite picked upthe pole section to which it wastied . Fortunately, it was not tiedvery well . After about a 100-yarddash, the loop of anchor lineslipped off the end of the poleand the kite relaxed and settledharmlessly to the ground .These experiences taught me torespect large kites .KAREN SCHLESINGERNew York, NY. Manager of Go Flya Kite store .The trend in our store is to largekites. I have a 22-foot delta byMaxwell Eden, custom-made andvery expensive . My 11-foot and12-foot kites can't keep up withthe demand . Jalbert's J-15 andJ-25 do well, too. They are a teamworkthing, really, and it's a struggle,a thrill . People want a challengewith kites now .KEN CONRADSeattle, WA . Owner of the GreatWinds kite shop in Pioneer Square .For business reasons, I've stayedaway from big kites . Customersburn their hands on them, and soon . However, in Hamamatsu, Ireally enjoyed the big kites andages old traditions . Spectators hada sense of when the kites were goingup and coming down andwould stay clear of the kites . Idon't see that kind of awarenessover here .H . J . (HOD) TAYLORAustin, MN. Current President ofthe Essex Kite Group, England,and noted maker of giant kites.I have made a large number ofkites over the last 10 years, spendingall of my time during our fourmonths' stay in Florida each wintereither working at the benchmaking them or flying them .I became interested in kiting observingthe enjoyment Scotty(Walter Scott) was getting out ofhis kiting activity. I started outmaking five- and seven-foot kitesof every kite that I saw picturedin the kite books that I could getAn example ofvery successful scalingup : a larger-than-normalRogallo Corner Kite constructedas a single cell by "Rog" himself .my hands on at that time . I didreceive a lot of help from Scottyat that time and Mrs . Scott of lateyears with material .It was soon evident that I had tomake them larger if I was to seewhat the kites looked like in flightabove the 50-foot height that Iwas flying them at that time, sojust naturally made them larger . Inow fly the larger kites up to 200feet but very seldom above that .I will not say that bigger is betterbut I must say I have noted that itis the large kites that interest thespectators and draw the crowds .With the large kites, the flier mustassume the responsibility for thesafety of the spectators . We havea standing rule that we will notput a kite up or keep it up unlesseveryone stays behind the kiteflier .While my eyesight is not thebest, I do get around very well,can make kites in a simple way byusing tapes and glues and do reallyenjoy my kiting, making between70 and 100 small kites for thechildren each year. It bothers meto have the newspapers harp onmy blindness in connection withmy kiting activities . I actuallyhave seven percent vision in theone eye that I can use .JOHN F. VAN GILDERSeattle, WA . Insurance agent andstalwart of the Washington KitefliersAssociation .In my opinion, flying a verylarge kite is a lot of trouble . TheBad News : (a ) they tend to giveyou rope burns ; (b) they presenttransport problems . The GoodNews : (a) the sense of accomplishmentis vast (if successfullyflown) ; (b) they usually draw acrowd-good for the ego .The Question : "Is the trouble e-qual to the return?" We have a familyjoke about the city cousin visitingmy wife's farm as a child whowas warned that he'd be spankedif he rode the horse while wearinghis good trousers. He did, theydid and he stated, through tears,"Yeah, Ma, but it was worth it ."I think every collection shouldhave one .
Weight Watching Japan's GiantsA. PETE IANUZZI, POCKET CALCULATOR IN HAND, QUESTIONSTHE WEIGHT CLAIMED FOR JAPAN'S LEGENDARY MAMMOTH KITES .There is a story that has beenhanded down from book to bookabout a giant kite which was builtin Japan some time ago . The datevaries depending on which bookyou read, some putting the dateas early as 1909, others as late as1936. Apparently the kite wasflown for several years in successionand may have been the samekite rebuilt each year . A goodguess is that it was a new kiteeach year built using some of theparts from the previous year's kite .A kite that big would almostcertainly be badly damaged onlanding .This great kite was known as thewan-wan or the wan-wan-dako andit was designed and built in thecity of Naruto on Shikoku island,probably by the master kite makerNagajima Gempei. There is someagreement from the varioussources that this monster was anoval-shaped kite, 60 to 65 feet indiameter . One source puts it at 90feet in diameter, but that sizeseems highly unlikely .I make this last statement on thebasis of a photograph of anotherkite, the Hoshubana o-dako, whichappears in several places . This pictureshows a nearly unbelievablerectangular kite propped up on itsside, with its flying team of 5 3 menand a Shinto priest standing infront of the kite . The caption statesthat the kite is 36 by 48 feet . Ifthe kite is that size, the men are711011 tall-a possibility forWatusis but a bit tall for Orientals .Assuming the men are 511011tall, the size of the kite scales outas 24 by 35 feet . A kite 90 feet indiameter would have about seventimes the area of the monster inthe picture! Even if we accept thefigure of 65 feet in diameter, thewan-wan would still be about fourtimes the size of the kite in thephotograph .The size of this kite is very interesting,but I am puzzled by thefact that so many sources reportthe weight of the wan-wan withoutgiving any thought to the impliedresults . The weight is given as aminimum of 1700 pounds and amaximum of eight tons, with severalreports at about 8000 pounds .The Guinness Book of World Recordsgoes further, to nine and ahalf tons. I just don't believe it .I have built a large, heavy kite .It is rectangular and 6x8 ft. i nsize, giving an area of 48 squarefeet . A wind of about eight milesper hour is required to fly it andit weighs 5 .24 pounds, which isabout 1 .7 ounces per square footof area. Also for comparison, mostkitefliers know the Peter Powellstunter kite . It is a heavy plastickite which flies best in strongwinds, as at the seashore . It weighsabout 1 .9 ounces per square foot .Now let us consider the wan-wan .If it is 65 feet in diameter, it willhave an area of 3 318 square feet .(I am not quibbling about the lossof area for the oval .) If this kiteweighs 8000 pounds, it will weigh38 .6 ounces per square foot, whichis ridiculous . If we take the lowestfigure quoted, 1700 pounds, theweight works out at 8 .2 ouncesper square foot, still not veryreasonable .To get some idea of what one ofthese kites might actually weigh,let us assume a monster-typeweight of 3 .0 ounces per squarefoot . Then the wan-wan wouldweigh about 622 pounds . That, asfar as I am concerned, is an absoluteupper limit . My educatedguess for the actual weight of a65-foot wan-wan would be 250 to350 pounds, or a surface load of1 .2 to 1 .7 ounces per square foot .Anything from 800 pounds up issheer nonsense .That photographed big rectangularkite mentioned with its 53-man flying team would be 16.3ounces per square foot if itweighed 800 kilograms . At a reasonableloading of three ouncesper square foot, it would weigh324 pounds . However, if it were35 by 24 feet, which seems morelikely, it would probably weighabout 160 pounds. That is still apretty husky kite .I have prepared the accompanyingchart of large kite sizes andweights from two sources : (1)available published information,from which I have taken averagevalues for the sizes and weights ofthese large kites, since there isconsiderable variation from bookto book (the exact values are notvery important ; after all, what is1000 pounds more or less whenyou are discussing a kite thatweighs 8000 pounds?), and (2)actual measurements and weightsof large kites which I have flownor know have been flown recently .As you can see, none of the kitesin the second group goes abovetwo ounces per square foot andthese are not low-wind kites.TAL STREETER REPLIESI cannot believe that the Japaneseare mistaken or exaggeratingthe weight of their giant kites .This seems improbable as manyof us have raised the question tothe Japanese on many occasionsand have been reassured that theweights are correct . No doubtPete Ianuzzi's question will serveto urge the Japanese kite expertsto settle the matter to everyone'ssatisfaction .The improbability of the giantkite's flight is in itself a keystoneof its appeal over the centuries .As long as we don't quite believeit, it's a heck of a lot more interesting-don'tyou think?
Page 4: Contents CopyrightMONUMENTALITY in
Page 8: LettersCOFFEE STIRRERS TO THE RESCU
Page 12: What's New:Kites, Books,, Sundries7
Page 19 and 20: MONUMENTALITYin kites: a symposiumW
Page 21 and 22: coming construction errors andpoor
Page 31: tures such as flying birds, swimmin
Page 36 and 37: Profiles . . .Louise Crowley: FreeS
Page 38 and 39: For 23 years, Bill Trebilcock, Prin
Page 40 and 41: Kite Traction Record EstablishedIt
Page 42: ILLINOISWilliam E. Temple writes wi
Page 46 and 47: AUSTRALIAThe Australian Kite Associ
Page 48 and 49: Right, Art Kurle under his Super Co

Kite Lines - Vol.2 No. 4 - KiteLife

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