My-Best-Kite Site BlogWelcome to the My-Best-Kite Site Blog! Are you looking around for general info on flying kites? Perhaps even thinking of making your own kite? This blog will keep you up to date with all the latest changes or additions to this website.
However, if you are more interested in the kite flying activities of Tim, May and Aren, be sure to keep an eye out for posts with Kite Flying Report in the title. You can even post your own kite-making experiences here! Keep an eye out for the latest photos and stories from others, down below...
Subscribing To This BlogLook for a little square orange button near the top of your browser ... found it? If you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, click the button, then click the Subscribe to this feed link. Maybe you are using Mozilla Firefox for your browsing. In this case, click the orange button then click on the Subscribe Now button. Soon you won't be missing any new information which goes up on this site! Jul 30, 2010, New Kite TailsI made the tails for this kite from nylon. The kite is 7 feet across the bottom. The tails are 2 ft. wide x 10 ft. long. I just went to the beach 24th Permalink -- click for full blog post "New Kite Tails" Jul 24, 2010, Barn Doors And Pelicans - Kite Flying ReportToday I flew a couple of Dowel kites at a new location - having dropped off the wife at a large shopping complex! First up was the Dowel Sled, but it had some trouble with the leading edge caving in and bringing it down. Several times. Not sure whether it was thermal turbulence or lee-side turbulence from the very large building upwind. Luckily, I had also brought along the Dowel Barn Door kite as insurance! The Barn Door soon lofted up in the light and variable breeze down low. By this time I had moved out of the big building's wind shadow. A little higher up, on 30 meters (100 feet) of line, the breeze was more consistent and a little stronger. Bordering on 'moderate' perhaps.Like the formation of 6 pelicans which appeared from nowhere, the Barn Door took advantage of frequent but small and gentle thermals under the leaden sky. Now floating on over 60 meters (200 feet) of line, the Dowel Barn Door kite spent some time at very high line angles. It went practically straight overhead actually. For a moment I wondered if it was about to cruise on upwind of me! Hey, it's happened before, but not with the Barn Door. Might just leave it there. If you are curious about this kite, have a peek at How To Make A Barn Door kite. A re-design of my original Dowel Barn Door, it's quick to set up and a joy to fly! About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are short comments on a recent outing, which keeps you up-to-date with the latest kite-making and flying activities here. No pics or video, although there might be a link to a related web page. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to a new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo of the kite on the day of the report. Jul 21, 2010, Dowel Rokkaku Suspended Between Jupiter And The Moon - Kite Flying ReportWell, it was after sun-down, and the Dowel Rokkaku kite was just hanging up there in a smooth moderate breeze. In terms of position in the sky, almost midway between the planet Jupiter and a fairly full moon. Maybe a few of the brightest stars were out too, but I didn't notice. It was a last minute decision to race down to the local reserve so late, and things weren't that promising at first. It seemed like an almost dead calm. However, a little bit of backwards walking and careful letting out of line saw the Rok start to nibble at the breeze above the tree tops. There was quite a wind gradient from ground level up to around 200 feet. From not enough to fly to a smooth moderate breeze which curved the sides of the sail in typical Rokkaku fashion. From about 100 feet up, it was a continuous elevator ride right up to 400+ feet. Nice! With the darkness deepening by the minute, we didn't leave the kite up very long. After several minutes flying by itself, anchored to a tree trunck, we slowly brought the Dowel Rokkaku kite down. This was when I noticed some wisps of cloud scudding past the moon, showing just how brisk the breeze was up there. Perhaps even faster than at 400 feet. Want to make this kite for yourself? Have a look at How To Make A Rokkaku kite on this website! About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are short comments on a recent outing, which keeps you up-to-date with the latest kite-making and flying activities here. No pics or video, although there might be a link to a related web page. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to a new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo of the kite on the day of the report. Jul 15, 2010, The Dowel Sode Kite - Kite Flying ReportAfter a dead calm earlier this morning, the Dowel Sode kite had a wonderful flight just 2 hours later. Permalink -- click for full blog post "The Dowel Sode Kite - Kite Flying Report" Jul 12, 2010, Kite Lost Kite FoundI had a homemade tail-less diamond kite that I built using actual bamboo poles for the frame. Like most stories go I was flying the kite at around nine Permalink -- click for full blog post "Kite Lost Kite Found" Jul 11, 2010, The Kite Eating TreeI remember I was flying a small home-made delta kite in my backyard. Unfortunately for me though, my backyard was covered by tall trees. I take 2 seconds Permalink -- click for full blog post "The Kite Eating Tree" Jul 8, 2010, Stunt Kite Self LaunchIf you are like most kite fliers you probably spend the majority of your kite flying time by yourself and like myself the beach sands are not always available Permalink -- click for full blog post "Stunt Kite Self Launch" Jul 7, 2010, Dowel Sode and 1-Skewer Delta Scratch Away - Kite Flying ReportGlider pilots use the word 'scratching' when they mean 'struggling to gain height in very weak lift'. Well, it was a similar situation today with the 2 kites we took out to a large local reserve. Barely any wind down low, and not much more higher up! The top leaves in the trees would show some movement only occasionally. Since the flights were so marginal, I've decided to do just this short post on them, rather than the full 'new page write-up' on the website. The little Delta went up first, after a failed launch attempt or 2. Finally, with 60 meters (200 feet) of 20 pound line out, it found just enough wind speed to stay airborne - for a while! Then it came fluttering down again, despite much working of the line by yours truly. Still, it was fun to fly the 1-Skewer Delta kite at a decent height for those 20 minutes or so. Time to crack out the big Dowel Sode kite, which I felt should handle the light winds better. Again, the 1st tow up resulted in a slow descent back to the grass. It seemed there wasn't actually a big difference in the light-wind performance of the 2 kites! On the next attempt, with more line let out, the Sode contacted slightly faster air and the line tightened up in a promising way. I had shifted the towing point back a centimeter too, since the kite had previously been flown in moderate to fresh winds. We spent quite a while - perhaps an hour - struggling to keep the Sode up there. The best I managed was 90 meters (300 feet) of line out. We ended up threading the flying line between several trees as we edged back to one side of the reserve. It kept me busy! Not a bad outing really, and it was the Dowel Sode kite's first flight in very light conditions. About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are short comments on a recent outing, which keeps you up-to-date with the latest kite-making and flying activities here. No pics or video, although there might be a link to a related web page. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to a new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo of the kite on the day of the report.
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