My-Best-Kite Site Blog

Welcome 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?

You'll be kept 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 Flight Report in the title.

Become Part Of The MBK Site Blog!

It's easy to post your own story here, so it becomes the first link in the list below - until someone else makes a post. However, your post remains on My-Best-Kite.com as a permanent page for others to enjoy at any time. See how others have done this, below...

Flight Report - Ever Tried The MBK Dowel Delta?

In a few days time, when the site pages and the eBook for this kite design are updated, it might well be time to take another look. The Dowel Delta is now in its third version, and a quick backyard test seems to confirm that it's the best flier yet. Stable and steep. And I'm pretty sure it will be much less prone to snapping its spreader ;-)

It's been quite a while since I last flew a kite out of our tiny back yard - let alone something as big as the Dowel Delta! Right above the lawn, the wind gusts through and occasionally changes direction by 180 degrees as the airflow swirls around the house. Above gutter level, the wind direction settles down somewhat, but is still prone to extreme gustiness as it flows over and around the neighbor's roof.

Plus there are the kite-catching hazards - a peach tree, a row of rose bushes, our house gutters, the TV aerial, the list could go on...

Anyway, the Delta behaved very predictably with no tendency to pull left or right under pressure. I'm glad I took the trouble to accurately weigh the dowels and pick a matched pair for the leading edge spars! Not to mention putting the heavy ends towards the tail end of the kite. The vertical spar too.

Keep an eye out for it.

About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are comments on a recent outing. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to the corresponding new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo.

Here is a link to all those full flight report pages on this site.

MBK Site Map

This site map lists links for every visible page on the My Best Kite site, under broad categories.

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Hyperkites - Rip Stop Nylon Tails

Q: My name is Ray Miller and I have been flying Hyperkites for over 25 years. I used to get Hyper Tails from Randy Tom and now I can't find him or the

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Flight Report - Tiny Tots Diamond Kite Soars

The Tiny Tots Diamond Kite, on 60 meters of line, flitted around for nearly an hour in a very gusty breeze.

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Flight Report - Barn Door Bends, Box Braves The Breeze

Been spending too much time indoors, so out we went with the Dowel Barn Door and the 2-Skewer Box. A gusty southerly was blowing, and it didn't feel promising, trying to rig the light-wind Barn Door while it tried to escape. But I persisted, wanting to explore its upper wind range a bit.

To summarize a dozen or so short flight reports (!), the breeze kept forcing the kite to the ground. A little adjustment of both the towing point and the upper bridle loop knot got the kite flying pretty straight. In lulls it would pop up to respectable line angles, only to sink back down tail first, all 3 spars bending considerably. Still, nothing broke!

Under a lot of air pressure - approaching 15 kph at times, the lightly built Barn Door becomes a real drag bucket. Often, it would slowly keel over in one direction and settle firmly on the ground upside down. Held there with line tension.

Winds were averaging 6.4 kph gusting to over 14 kph, while the Barn Door was flying. And landing, and flying...

Having enough of that, it was out with the 2-Skewer Box. This kite is showing its age, with loose panels and bowed main spars. Not to mention peeling tape caps which have been replaced more than once! Never-the-less, the little Skewer kite loved the breeze, and flew about on 60 meters (200 feet) of line for 20 minutes before we took it down. Very large cumulus clouds were blotting out the sun most of the time, and occasionally sucked the box kite up higher.

It always pays to bring at least 2 kites, with different wind ranges, doesn't it...

About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are comments on a recent outing. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to the corresponding new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo.

Here is a link to all those full flight report pages on this site.

Grandson Flying 2 String Stunt Kite

5 year old grandson flying a 2 string job... He and I went out the day before he returned to school after Xmas holidays. It was very windy and blustery.

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Scaled Down Dowel Delta Experiment

Since the local hardware barn had 6mm and 4mm hardwood dowels, but not 5mm, I decided to adopt a two-pronged approach. The plan is to build two delta kites

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Building Box Kites - Two Unconventional Approaches

Every kiting enthusiast knows the basic box kite structure. Here are 2 *unconventional* approaches to building box kites that have been proven to work.

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2 Skewer Rok! Thanks!

Built the 2 Skewer Rokkaku last night, and flew it this morning, to see what all this is about ;) What a brilliant little kite! It went up with ease

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Photos on Kites

Q: Greetings from NYC! This spring, I want to make a kite out of a photo enlargement. Do you know of an ideal photo paper, or other material, to use

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Trilby Kites What Happend?

Q: I lived in Long Beach, WA. From 1989 thru to 2000. Got my Rev 1.5 signed by Dave and one other brother at the first World Cup in lb. Anyway, cabin

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Box Kite Design Examples - A Few Different Approaches From MBK

Several examples of box kite design are shown here, from the quick and simple to a larger high-performance fresh wind kite.

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Flight Report - The Big Sled Anchored With The Spring Scales.

The sky was almost overcast, but the cloud layer was thin and the air quite warm. With barely any movement in the bushes and leaves, it seemed an appropriate time to rig the big 2-Dowel Sled - a 3-spar design based on the original Allison Sled.

Initially it was hard going, trying to get the big kite more than a few meters off the ground. The line of tall trees just upwind wasn't helping, although this Sled can easily cope with turbulence. The wind speed was barely enough to inflate the sail, but I knew faster air was up there past tree top height.

Finally a convenient gust helped the kite surge up into the more constant airflow higher up. From there, it was easy to climb the Sled straight up to 180 feet altitude. I fed the line around my back and from there to the hose reel which stored the line. A cloth glove on my right hand helped keep things under control. As the kite climbed, it pulled line off the reel while I applied the brakes now and then. Using my back as the brake drum... Got a bit warm once or twice but the shirt's OK!

A little later, with the 2-Dowel Sled parked up around 200 feet, I attached the line to one end of my spring scales. The other end of the scales found a convenient branch of a strong sapling to anchor the kite. Here's what I found - to just stay airborne, the kite pulls at around 2 to 4 kilos (5 - 10 pounds). When a little sunshine peeped through and thermal gusts tugged at the huge Sled, the meter twitched up to 8 kilos (18 pounds) on one occasion.

Perhaps flying in a moderate breeze with thermals might pop the tension up to 20 kg or so. One day I might try it, and report the results here of course. Why not try this 2.4 meter (8 feet) tall Sled for yourself - there's no gluing, it's a super-reliable flier and it's just magnificent in the air!

Winds today averaged 1.5 kph gusting to 7.5 kph, near ground level.

About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are comments on a recent outing. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to the corresponding new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo.

Here is a link to all those full flight report pages on this site.

Ripstop Nylon - A Short Look At This Ideal Kite Sail Material

An overview of what ripstop nylon is, and how it is used in the kiting world.

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Box Kite Plans - Complete Instructions for the MBK Box Kites

Here are Box Kite plans for three MBK designs in a small, medium and large size. One using dowel spars, the other 2 using bamboo skewers. Also, there are supporting tips and hints.

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Ever heard of a Winged Tetrahedral Kite

Q: Hi, I'm quite interested in learning about tetras. I mean tetrahedral kites, not the tropical fish. Over in the Willamette Valley, where I live, we

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Flight Report - The Genki On 50 Meters, Until...

There seemed to be a moderate breeze outside, with plenty of sunshine, so it seemed a good time to pop out with the Genki. Down at the reserve, the breeze was quite gusty, as usual, but at least there would be no problems getting the kite away.

With the line reel anchored just upwind of a shade-throwing tree, I carried the fully rigged kite downwind, pulling line off the reel. The Genki rose up readily from a hand-launch, then decided to hang on a wing-tip for an anxious moment or 2, before righting itself. At this point, I had a few meters of line out and quickly pulled on a bit more tension to urge the kite up higher. Up it went, drogue fully inflated, while I hurriedly moved upwind and let more line slip through my hand. I can't believe how steep this thing flies.

A minute or 2 later, there it was, sailing quite steadily on nearly 50 meters of line. A great sight! From time to time it moved around somewhat from side to side, and also dropped some height during lulls in the breeze. Then I took my eyes off it for a just moment while I let out a final meter or 2 of line...

When I looked back at the kite, it had dropped a wing-tip way down and was soon heading straight for the ground.

Here we go again... All I could do was to release all tension in the line while the kite was still several meters up. It plopped down on the leading edge of one side, snapping the trailing edge tape on that side and pulling out the batten tie yet again. Sigh. To add insult to injury, I discovered that both rolls of packing tape in the bag had only centimeters of tape left on them. This was not enough to get the kite back in the air.

This Dowel Genki is close to being called a 'failure', but with yet more weight along the trailing edge and perhaps sea-breeze flying only, it might yet put in some great flights.

If you're waiting for the eBook, it will probably feature a 3.6 meter Genki which will be better than the current one in a dozen different ways... But it might be a few months coming, sorry.

Winds today averaged 5.4 kph gusting to 11.7 kph, near ground level.

About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are comments on a recent outing. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to the corresponding new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo.

Here is a link to all those full flight report pages on this site.

Tails For Diamond Kites

Q: How did you make the tail? A: A pretty short and simple question, but fair enough - there are a heck of a lot of people out there who make a Diamond

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The Listing Rhomboid Box Kite

At one point in time I thought newspaper would be a good sail material... Then I tried using it on a box kite. Let's just say my use of newspaper sails

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Flight Report - Dowel Sode Kite Trimming Revelation

The day after flying the box kite down at Victor Harbor, there was another chance to fly while others checked out the shops. Not far from the causeway, the tide had uncovered a narrow strip of sand. Again, the breeze was coming off the ocean from the South East, meaning I had to keep the Sode kite on a fairly short line to avoid any contact with the tall trees downwind.

Winds were around 8 kph, gusting to 12 kph which distorted the 5mm spars of the Sode kite quite a lot despite the 4-point bridle. At one point a large helicopter swept past, hugging the coastline and flying across the causeway. I braced for some horrible effects on the kite, since choppers make a real mess of the air they fly through. But nothing much happened - the turbulence must have dissipated or missed us completely, perhaps going straight overhead at 200 feet or so.

The kite had a small lean to the left, so I fiddled with the sliding knots to fix it. To cut the story short, I discovered the upper loop knot had the most effect in making the kite turn one way or the other. But it was in the opposite direction to the way I would trim a Diamond or Barn Door kite! Interesting - is it the small direction offset of the vertical spar that is causing the turn? Or the drag imbalance between left and right portions of the kite? Or perhaps a bit of both!

There's nothing like a constant smooth sea breeze to instantly see the effect of trimming changes. It was so clear.

All up, some nice flying! Flying inland is good too, but a lot different with the extra gustiness and thermal mayhem.

About This Post: There are 2 kinds of Kite Flying Reports at MBK. Reports like this one are comments on a recent outing. The shorter Flight Report listings here link straight to the corresponding new page on the website, complete with video and in-flight photo.

Here is a link to all those full flight report pages on this site.

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