Kite Flying Adventures Blog

This happened down at our second day at the Adelaide International Kite Festival venue (Semaphore Beach), although it was actually the first official day of the event. Unfortunately for the organizers, very light winds prevailed almost all day, which prevented the most spectacular kites from even getting launched. However, this blog post concerns just our own flying on that Saturday...

We had come prepared for a range of wind conditions, so it was natural to pull out the premier MBK light-wind kite. The 2-Skewer Dopero! I love this thing, it has an amazing wind range for something so cheap to make. BBQ skewers, the very cheapest garden bags from China, some Aquadhere, sticky tape and insulation tape spar caps. It hadn't flown for some time since we've had a long run of windy weather this year. Hence we walked to the grassed area where a few other people were flying and put it up for a test fly.

Even up above the rough air near the ground, it was clear that the little Dopero had a tendency to loop right. Easily fixed with a tweak on one tether line and the upper bridle loop knot. Soon the kite was flying straight and true, so it was time to walk past the jetty and onto the Southern side sand.

As I backed onto the beach, I flew the Dopero just high enough to avoid obstacles. Out a bit further, there was more room and the kite willingly climbed up in ideal wind speeds. For it! The large Deltas and Roks over on the north side were struggling to stay up. However, there were still variations in the wind speed from minute to minute. It wasn't long before I had found a nice spot to get all 150 meters of line out, with ample space between the lines of kites on our left and right. The Dopero hung up there very stable in the smooth ocean air. It wasn't the expected SouthWest fresh sea breeze though, which the bigger kites were waiting for.

During lulls, line tension dropped and a huge bow developed as the kite descended 50 or 100 feet and found equilibrium again. As a little wind strength came back on, line tension would rise a little, the line would start to straighten up somewhat and I could just see the kite making a slow but steady climb back to 400 feet above the sand. It's kind of hard to spot how fast a kite is climbing or dropping against a totally blue sky! May, my wife, took a turn flying the kite while I headed off to the jetty to get some photos of a couple of nice cellular kites.

It was a pleasure to realize that no other kite on the entire beach was within 200 feet altitude of our humble little bamboo and plastic creation! With no thermal help either. OK, there were a lot of short kite strings on the south side of the jetty... Even so, most of them were small diamonds, sleds or novelty kites that don't have the efficiency of a Dopero.

After some time, maybe half an hour or more, we decided to bring down the Dopero. As it neared the sand, I was able to pull it down slowly and almost vertically before catching it in my hand. A nice flight to remember, and the very first for this kite from a beach!

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March 27, 2009 18:15 - Dowel Diamond Struts Its Stuff At Festival

Actually, the Dowel Sled went up first, down at Semaphore Beach. Very briefly, several times. The breeze was just too stiff for it, despite the relatively smooth sea air. The leading edge kept folding inwards and collapsing the kite, so we gave up on it after a while. Out with the Dowel Diamond, with its slightly-too-heavy 6mm Tasmanian Oak spars! One day we'll make another one with 5mm spars which should extend the bottom end of its wind range quite a bit.

With the Diamond up a few meters it was clear the sail was not quite right. The kite sat to the left somewhat, which would limit how high it went. Not to worry, I just brought it down again and tightened the left side panels a bit by re-doing the tie. However, this time it started leaning to the right! Some days you get it pretty well right on the first try, other days it takes a little trial and error. Never mind, we soon had the Dowel Diamond soaring high on the moderate breeze. The kite exerted a firm pull on the 50 pound Dacron line as I continued to let it out, right past the 100 meter mark. The Diamond was just over into the registered kite fliers area, not far from the entrance of the jetty. The kite's vertical spar fish-tailed slightly, indicating the strength of the breeze. The stronger the breeze the more it waggles!

Meanwhile, we relaxed under our tent on the beach, not far from all the other fliers on the south side of the jetty. Today, Friday, was not an official festival flying day but quite a number of other kites were in the air, and everything else was set up in preparation for Saturday when the bigger crowds would turn up. May, my wife, served hot coffee in a thermos flask while I sat back with the winder under my calf and half a turn of kite line around my leg. The Diamond was out of sight, but I made sure to check the tension and angle of the line once in a while!

Just as well. Eventually, the bottom cap tape on the kite gave way. Maybe the heat of the car boot (trunk) had weakened the gum... I noticed that the line tension was down a bit. Thinking that maybe the wind strength had dropped, I poked my head out to check the kite. The bottom few centimeters of the vertical spar were bare - oooops. Quickly, I went out and started reeling the kite in. By now, the sail had slipped even further up the spar, and sail area was down to about half! The Diamond was dropping faster, sitting right over on its left side but not traveling to the left. Reel, reel, reel, must ... clear ... jetty ... ! One or 2 people on the jetty realized the kite was in trouble and gawked. Finally, the kite was safely down on the south side and I went over and repaired it on the spot, with some new tape.

Soon, the Eddy-like orange Diamond went back up and it continued its tail-less display at around 200 feet above the sand. By this stage we had discovered a bit of sun-burn so decided to go home medium-rare rather than well-done!

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March 23, 2009 22:32 - New Dowel Sode Flies Off Into The Sunset

Actually, I didn't it go too far, down at the reserve near the school. Only as far as letting out 10 or 15 meters of line, as it tugged and flopped around in very gusty moderate winds, flying in the general direction of the setting sun. Earlier in the day the winds seemed quite light. Perfect for testing a new large light-wind kite. Of course by the time we actually got down there to fly...

Vainly attempting to shelter from the breeze behind a very scant bush, the Sode took shape on the grass and dirt as I inserted spars and connected bow-lines. Doing the ties is fiddly, but I'm getting better at it - as you will too if you persist with these roll-up Dowel kites! The bottom edge pockets worked wonderfully keeping the bottom horizontal spar in place. Just a matter of bending the spar slightly while locating it in the pockets, then letting it spring back into place.

The leaf-noise coming from the nearby trees was a worry. However, time was short since that newsletter is due in a couple of days! Also the weather has been rainy on and off recently. It took a few launch attempts before the kite sail stayed attached! All the movement was tending to make the corner straps slip off the spar tips. Finally, I got them all tensioned up a bit more, moved the towing point back a touch and then the flight in the video resulted. It lasted less than a minute, as the towing point was still a bit too far forward and the kite kept nosing over and flailing around in the stiff breeze higher up. It was nice to see it fly at last though! The modifications that were necessary after its first back-yard trial kept me busy for a while and delayed the first real flight out in a field.

Judging by the first flight, this Sode should do fine in conditions that suit it better. Less wind, smoother wind! Also, a 3 or 4 point bridle would stop a lot of the wallowing action which caused a bit of trouble with the sail coming off. However, lighter winds would make it move around less anyway. Give this kite a go if you are in a light wind location!

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