Beginner's Luck

by Dayne
(Ontario, Canada)

As a kid, I never really managed to get a kite flying. The only kite I'd ever owned was a store-bought two-line stunt kite made to look like an airplane, and it was so difficult for me to even get it off the ground that I put it away and largely forgot about kites until now.

Then, recently, I had a dream I could fly.

My parents strongly objected to me ever trying hang gliding, so I figured I'd better scratch the flying itch with kites instead. I found this website, and then proceeded to make the 2-Skewer Delta kite. It looked so good! Then I went out on a day too windy, with clouds too ominous, and busted it.

Undeterred, I had a look at the soft kites here, and made the Soft Sled. No busted kite for me this time, no sir! It did my heart good to take it out (on a good day now) and see it effortlessly jump into the sky.

Comments for Beginner's Luck

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Good choice
by: Ian

Good to hear you kept trying. The soft sled is a great choice as I've made 4 of them in different sizes. They all like slightly different conditions but all fly well.

I find launching easiest by tying the line down with at least 4 metres of line out and hold the kite with both hands to get it to fill with wind and take shape properly. If it launches with creases in it it won't take long to come back down.

A very good reliable flyer though once up there. I tend to build them using 2 colours of plastic which looks great. I hope you keep flying.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Congrats
by: Tim P.

Good on you for persisting! Perhaps try a 1-Skewer design later. Although smaller, they tend to be more tolerant of a bit of extra wind. Also, you can add more tail if necessary.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to YOUR Kite Making Stories!.

 

For those non-flying days
For those non-flying days

As mentioned earlier, there's another alternative to towing indoor kites if it's just not possible to fly outdoors...

"Kites Up!" is my downloadable board game. It's a PDF file which has all the documentation for the game plus images for all the components. Tokens, cards, the board itself and so on. Anyway, just click that link to see more info :-)


Get A FREE E-book!

It's a printable PDF file. Make a diamond, delta or sled step-by-step. They fly hundreds of feet up for hours on end. Woohoo!

Could you do me just a small favor though? If you're over 16, please sign up for Tethered Flying - my free twice-per-month publication. Here's just a sampling of the total content...

* 3 "tips of the month" (for beginners, parents & experienced)
* A fresh "photo of the month" (+ link to big hi-res version)
* A fresh "flight report of the month" (my personal flying)
* Updates on the latest board game from my-best-kite.com

Any questions? Here's more info on both the e-book and the newsletter.

 

P.S.  If you're curious...

  view some previous newsletter issues