Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 3 - KiteLife

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Flying withThe Old ProBy Bob IngrahamFounder, American Kitefliers AssociationIf you had been flying with the OldPro these past months, you wouldn'thave done much flying or learnedmuch . Due to circumstances beyondmy control, my flying has been limitedmostly to testing and dreamingabout it .One of the reasons during the midsummermonths was the constant threatof thunderstorms which I as a kiteflierfear more than any other weathercondition . This isn't fear for the kitein the air but for the flier far out in theopen and a likely target for lightning .Remember that hazard when you aretempted to go out and fly though thestorm seems far away. Storms oftenmove in fast .One of the few flights I made wasinteresting . Having made a delta ofblack nylon taffeta, I took it along ona short stay at Hawley Lake in northernArizona . The elevation there is 8500feet above sea level . On the lightestof winds (about two to three miles perhour), I sent the delta out about 800feet and about 200 feet in the air, overthe lake . When the wind dropped off,the delta began a long glide towardme with no stall dives, just a long slowglide . I kept the slack line up but didno pulling and the kite came in to landjust in front of me on the grass .I was delighted with the performancebut could assign no reason for it,since the kite was identical in configurationwith all others I've made .The only thing I can believe is thatthe material, which is more porousthan most nylon, might have been astabilizing factor. I built another kitewhich performed the same way . Otherdeltas will glide toward you when thewind stops, but the glide is usually aseries of stall dives .While at the lake, I determined totry flying from a boat . There wasn'tenough wind to launch without rowing,so I had the job of getting the kite inthe air and rowing the boat at the sametime . At a very slow rowing speed,the delta lifted nicely and flight wassustained at a wind speed of about fouror five miles per hour. Then thefun began .Out of nowhere came a big falcon tochallenge my black kite's right to flyover his lake . He made some swiftpasses very close to the kite and wasjoined by about 50 small sharp-wingedbirds which I assumed to be insectcatchers. For about five minutes wehad an aerial dog fight going on overheadwhich everyone around the lakewatched with interest .Since I couldn't row the boat to keepthe kite flying and handle the kiteline at the same time, I didn't stir thekite . I am certain that if I had the kitewould have turned on the birds,showed some fight and created someadditional excitement . My conditionsdictated my limits .One of the most perplexing problemsin making determinationsregarding a kite's ability is thevariables . Regardless of the windvelocity when you launch a kite, therewill be variations for almost everyfoot of rise as the craft climbs to thelimit of its lift capacity. In a recentfriendly argument, a friend insistedthat if you wish to determine how muchweight a kite will lift, all you have todo is add weight until the kite can nolonger rise with it .Offhand this would seem simpleenough, but anyone with kiteflyingexperience knows that the differencesbetween winds at ground level andseveral hundred feet in the air can beconsiderable . Those with calculatingability and engineering knowledgecan arrive at certain determinations,but at best the results remain generaland not specific .It is the real-world factor and theever-changing configuration of mostkites while undergoing confrontationwith variable winds that have madesome kiters abandon a kite as worthlesswhen under different wind conditionsit might prove to be a worthy craft .Kite performance cannot be basedon wind velocity alone . There areother factors we seldom consider . Airtemperature is one . I find that coldair supports flight better than warmair. Elevation above sea level can havea slight but positive effect . An anemometeris conclusive in only one respect .It establishes the required groundlevel velocity required to loft a kite .It does nothing to determine what thewind may be 200 or more feet above .Humidity is also a factor . It affectsthe kite's composite parts, makingfabrics heavier or lighter, spars moresusceptible to warping and kite linesheavier or lighter, depending on thepercentage of moisture content of theair in which you fly. Air at highelevations has a lower density, but therange of humidity variation is as greatas elsewhere .There is no doubt that kite performanceis puzzling at times . Onecannot help but wonder way a favoritecraft will fly on a five mile-per-hourwind at one time, serenely and well,and at another time in a slightly betterwind, appear sluggish .Unless you are an old fussbudget, behappy if your kite flies at a reasonableangle most of the time . Avail yourselfof different types of kites, each of whichhas its own advantage under certainatmospheric conditions . And don'tforget that various line weights canadd or detract from performance . Thekite that flew so well on a 30-poundtest line in yesterday's eight mile-perhourwind-and won't today-mightsurprise you if you cut the line weightand give it a chance to contend withlesser winds . 0
News From Here &There(Continued)housing development and it wasn'tjust rain . Although gray clouds hoveredthreateningly in the background,hundreds of kite enthusiasts happilytangled lines together in what lookedlike the dawn of a new phase in kiteflying.The third midzomervliegerfeest(midsummer kite festival) was organizedby the Amsterdams BallonGezelschap (Amsterdam Balloon Company),promoters of "soft aviation" whohad spent the previous day erectinglarge tents, stands, wind socks andwhat-have-you to accommodate thebands and theater groups .People like myself, who had wanderedinto last year's festival unpreparedand were thus forced to be helplesswitnesses, were back this yeararmed with Cody war kites, Parafoils(including a man-lifter on which somebodyhad spent 300 hours of sewing),deltas and every other conceivablekite . Cameras were sent up and downlines and pay-loads were dropped atcertain points .A group of people from the EnglishKite Shop Ltd . struggled with sixstubborn Cody war kites, each standingapproximately three meters high andlofted on a 12-miḷ -thick nylon cable .Tom Van Sant, the American artistwho had a current exhibit in Amsterdam'sStedelijk Museum, was flyinghis huge centipede .Size, though, was not the only goal ;many people had spent a lot of attentionon detail and new design . Therewas, for instance, a man flying-whatelse in Holland-a kite in the shapeof a windmill with turning sails .The festival was also a source ofinformation for those who had beenattracted to all those kites and wereas unprepared as I had been last year .Addresses were exchanged and advicewas given as to where certain materialscould be acquired . A translation ofDavid Pelham's The Penguin Book ofKites was available in most book shopsas of three weeks before and its influenceon the festival was apparent,judging by the designs . Hard-to-getmaterials such as rip-stop spinnakernylon are now easier to find . TalStreeter's book The Art of the JapaneseKite is suddenly a household wordamong kitefliers . Also the attentionthat kites are getting by means ofexhibits such as Tom Van Sant's aresigns that interest in kiting is backfor Dutchmen, too .Even though the rain did finallyextinguish the goings-on at thefestival (save for a few die-bards), itis certain everybody will be back nextyear and will bring their friends . Ifthe population of the most denselypopulated country in the world decidesto go fly a kite, things might just getout of hand .NEW ZEALANDThe Waikato Kitefliers Club in Hamiltoncontinued to be active, judging byits newsletter, which is also called"Kite Lines" (a coincidence ; selectionof the name was independent in bothcases) .At the Waikato Campus Kite Day onJuly 31, rain interrupted the activities,but a little paper tumblebug kite flew"through rain and all and it never sank,water and all," according to thenewsletter .Plans are underway for more kitefestivals, and the New Zealand kitemarket is growing . 0
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Contents "The American Kitefliers A
Page 8:
NEW LIFE MEMBERSAnonymousJoseph Are
Page 12: (Continued)when he was talking insu
Page 17 and 18: UltimateStudies,Questions:TAIL-PICK
Page 20 and 21: Profiles . . .Ansel Tony, 89,of Far
Page 22 and 23: Toto Santos:All Saints Day inGuatem
Page 24: Aerodynamics are of little concerna
Page 27 and 28: .storage and transportation (I use
Page 29 and 30: When the editor of K ite Lines rece
Page 32: 1 BREADFRUIT LEAF+6 OR MORE SPIDER
Page 40 and 41: . .7. 8. A The reel reel should be
Page 42 and 43: A I A CHART--KITE REELS
Page 45 and 46: Art students of Mary Frisbee Johnso
Page 47 and 48: flew 11 little Eddys in train end t
Page 49 and 50: Above, The largest of the Travis ki
Page 52 and 53: AUSTRALIAHelen Bushell reports from
Page 54 and 55: News From Here & There(Continued)MA
Page 56: of the homes destroyed . Whether he
Page 60 and 61: Mylar Star Hearing . . .(Continued)
Page 64 and 65: THEVIETNAMESEKITEfish, a moth, a bi
Page 66 and 67: William M . Allison files first sle
Page 68: The C.P.S.C. vs .the Aluminized Dra
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Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 3 - KiteLife

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