2 Skewer Diamond Kite Bridle

by Stuart Meyers
(Trinidad, West Indies)

Q:

I made a two skewer Diamond kite that don't fly. Do I tie the bridle to the top and bottom or to the sides? Also which side of the kite does the bridle attach to? The side that has the skewers or the other side?

I scaled the design up a little bit about 3". Made a tail out of garbage bags 5 times its length and after it failed it's flying test I tried putting a slight arch in the vertical skewers. I have tried putting the bridle on the vertical skewers no luck, then I put the bridle on the horizontal skewers no luck. Then I tried the bridle ends farther in on the horizontal skewers and it worked a little better but has no stability in the air.

Where do you recommend in dumbie's terms to put the bridle and should I lengthen the tail. And what do think about the arch in the vertical skewers. My daughter's kite day in school is tomorrow and I am desperate L.O.L.

A:

I have a 5 year old boy in school this very moment, so I'm giving this answer the very highest priority ;-)

1) Remove/un-tie the bridle lines from the spars.

2) Poke a hole in the plastic sail, over the vertical spar and exactly half-way between the nose of the kite and where the spars cross each other. Yes, the bridle line will go through the hole, later.

3) Poke another hole in the sail, over the vertical spar, and roughly half-way between where the spars cross and the tail end of the kite. No precision necessary here.

4) Thread a bridle line through each hole, and tie off around the bamboo skewer. Yes, the skewers are on the far side from you, when the Diamond kite is in the air.

5) Hold both lines in your hand, above the kite, with the kite flat against the floor or table-top.

6) Here's the important bit! Adjust the bridle lines so they are both tight. However, the upper line (the one nearest the nose), should be vertical. This should guarantee the kite flies up, with enough wind.

7) Tie the bridle lines together, maintaining the correct lengths, and attach the flying line.

Whew. It looks a lot, but the kite should fly now.

By all means, keep adding more tail if this Diamond kite tends to loop around instead of climbing.

I really hope you get this in time! Best of luck.

-----------------

Alternatively, you can run a single length of line, about 2 skewer lengths long, from one hole to the other. Then, the flying line can be attached with a sliding knot, and adjusted to the correct postion. The nice thing about this is that you can tweak the position to get the kite perfectly trimmed for the prevailing wind strength. Maybe later hey?