Low Wind High Flyers
by Doc Rod Hardin
(Germantown, Maryland, USA)
In the 1980s I made a 0.75 oz RS combination box kite based on a winged rombus tail and a forward Cody biplane. The longeron was about four feet down the center cutting unneeded weight. The wing span was roughly 4 feet. All hardwood dowel.
This kite was intended as a prototype. It would fly on one knot with almost no effort. It would glide at the top of a vertical line in a circle until it picked up another headwind. It won a Masters trophy from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC in 1996.
I scaled it up to twice the dimension later on that flew well enough, but it was never quite the same. It was my third and last trophy from that festival.
Comments for Low Wind High Flyers
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Wind Speeds
Light air
1-5 km/h
1-3 mph
1-3 knots
Beaufort 1
Light breeze
6–11 km/h
4–7 mph
4–6 knots
Beaufort 2
Gentle breeze
12–19 km/h
8–12 mph
7–10 knots
Beaufort 3
Moderate breeze
20–28 km/h
13–18 mph
11–16 knots
Beaufort 4
Fresh breeze
29–38 km/h
19–24 mph
17–21 knots
Beaufort 5
Strong breeze
39–49 km/h
25–31 mph
22–27 knots
Beaufort 6
High Wind
50-61 km/h
32-38 mph
28-33 knots
Beaufort 7