Kite Lines - Vol.2 No. 4 - KiteLife

evening of November 5, 1903 . The American-borncowboy, sharpshooter, showman,kite inventor and pioneer Britishaviator used a collapsible 14-foot canoepulled by a train of his kites .Perhaps the very earliest known exampleof kite traction, though, was in thebirthplace of kites, China, across the Chinaplains, according to Gordon Gillett ofSouth Carolina . Gillett could be calledthe contemporary dean of the tiny fraternityof kite sailors . Six 10-foot GordonGillett Tow Kites were purchased andused by Briton Keith Stewart in a reenactmentof the Cody accomplishment, crossingthe English Channel . Stewart (norelation to Bernard) in his Amphi-Kat (a10-foot catamaran) traveled from CapGris Nez beach, France, to Folkestone,England a He took 4 hours 20 minutes andsix-in-train steerable Gillett deltas to traversethe distance of about 24 miles . TheAmphikiting, Ltd ., Co . has applied thesystem to its Amphi-Kart, a land vehiclewith balloon wheels for rough terrain .Gillett has been experimenting withkites as boat sails for about 14 years andbecame well known in 1977 from a PopularScience magazine article . Gillett usestrains of four to eight deltas and concentrateson management of kites as validalternatives to conventional sails ratherthan on record-setting for distance . He isplanning instead to set a speed record next .spring, aiming for 40 miles per hour . Hefeels the potential is there-for perhaps60 miles per hour . To him, this is moresignificant than distance, which he says isonly a question of "how long you can gowithout being bored to death ."All of which is to take nothing fromAngus White, age 6, pulling up John White's24-foot delta, London, October 29, 1978 .the proud efforts of Bernard Stewart . Heis now planning to further establish hisrecord by crossing from Victoria to Seattle,WA, "within the next three months-astraight-line distance of approximately 75miles ." And, evangelistically, he plans tohold a kite tow race in the Strait of Juande Fuca on the first Saturday with suitableweather in May, 1980 . All interested kitersare invited to enter and compete for asubstantial prize . Participants will be requiredto bring their own kites, boat, safetyequipment and extra kites ; chase boatswill be provided . For further information,contact Bernard Stewart, 1615 BelmontAvenue, Suite 207, Victoria, B .C ., CanadaV8R 3Y9 ; telephone (604) 595-1369 .Junior Record ClaimedJohn H. White writes to Kite Lines fromLondon, England :I wish to claim a world junior kiteflyingrecord on behalf of my son Angus Whitewho, at the age of 6 years 8 months, between12 :05 and 13 :00 hours GMT onSunday, October 29, 1978, flew my 24-foot span delta wing for 55 minutes entirelyon his own . The only help he hadfrom me was to hold it up and launch itat the start and to wind up the line as hepulled it in hand-over-hand at the end ofthe flight . The wind was extremely lightaboutforce zero to force one-so thatconstant tugging was required to keep thekite airborne . Altogether, he let out about400 feet of 240-lb . nylon line and the kiterose to about 200 feet . This took placeon Clapham Common, South London, inthe view of several other kitefliers whowere also having difficulty in keepingtheir kites aloft due to lack of wind .I enclose a photo of Angus pulling thekite up during an earlier unsuccessful attemptto get it flying on the same day .The kite, which I call my Autumn TintsDelta, is made from brown, yellow andred rip-stop nylon, obtainable in the U .K .in widths varying between 34 and 38inches . Thus, it is about nine feet long inthe center and the wing area is approximately108 square feet .I trust this letter will constitute a challengeto other young kitefliers to do evenbetter . Maybe we shall eventually hear ofa 5-year-old hauling up his or her parent's30-footer and still managing to stay firmlyon the ground!Might I suggest a formula for comparingjunior kiteflying achievements :In a later letter, John gives further detailsof the type of kite Angus was flying :It is a scaled-up version of one of mystandard Folded Keel Deltas . Instead ofsewing a separate keel on the bottom, Imake the kite from one piece of rip-stop,forming the keel by folding the material inthe middle . This, of course, also producesa swept-back trailing edge . I make bothnarrow and wide versions as shown in mysketches below .The 24-foot kite flown by Angus is athree-times blow-up of the wide versionof my FKD .