K'Tesh

The plans changed... We didn't get to see the Oregon Coast. I brought the kite, showed it to some people, and ended up repacking it.

I won't be bringing my line with me... to big, bulky, and heavy. I'd buy a spool when I get to Oregon. Likely 1000' of line.

Well with my pending trip back to the US, and lousy conditions, all kite flying (and making) in China for me has been suspended indefinitely. I'm debating taking a couple of kites back stateside with me. I suspect I will, as a coastal trip is planned.

Today sucked... The kite wanted to go up, and it would for quite a distance, but the moment I wanted to attach a light to it, the wind would die. Of course my lights that did get up, went swimming. One crazy incident... I'm reeling in like crazy to keep the line up and over the guys who were fishing on the waterfront, but then it dropped sharply into one of their rods. of course it got tangled up on the light. Several attempts to launch, but the wind wasn't cooperating.

I'm working on a 3D print of the Estes Cineroc (I've labeled it the CinerocDV), using an 808 #16 keychain camera for my rocketry hobby... I'm thinking that a few experiments using a kite would be in order for that. My partner in the project is close to finishing it.

Didn't even try to fly yesterday. I was informed around 5pm that I had a demonstration lesson instead of my typical "English Corner". This was unique as it was at a public school several miles away. Fortunately, I was driven there and back again. I even had to turn down a free dinner from the boss as I had a ton of report cards dropped on my desk Thursday night to finish for today's classes. I worked on them at a McDonald's until they turned off the lights (I had about 5 left to do). Today was one of my long days at work. The morning was hot and muggy. I was dripping wet within 20 minutes of arriving in class. Fortunately, someone found the remote for the AC, and we got that turned on. As the day continued, it just got hazier and hazier (fog). So, by the time I left this evening, it was nice and cool. However, there was no wind. I've left the kite and the line at work in anticipation of getting off early tomorrow (thanks 1/2 of my advanced students having to take a test this week (on Sunday)). I just hope there's wind tomorrow. May the wind be at your back!

I'm a fan of line climbers... yet I've never flown one successfully... I've tried my own designs, but have been hampered by weight and strength. I've got a number of lights that I've hung from my line since coming to China (mostly balloon lights, or cheap LED light sword toys). I've also flown various pinwheels as fun little ways of decorating my lines. So, what's out there? What works, what doesn't?

Tonight's a bust... No wind when I went out there. There was a breeze behind the tall buildings, but the waterfront was dead calm.

Last night's flight... Winds are from the ENE, but very light when I arrive around sunset. I sit and blow bubbles trying to recover the strength to return home after a long hot day at work (3 classes, and tons of report cards). The kids were well behaved in the first of the kid's classes, but I came into the 2nd class with one kid screaming as his father is lifting him up and carrying him out of the classroom, and another kid crying to his mother. Of course I'm concerned but I can't understand Mandarin all that well, but I'm guessing a fight had just been split up. I'm told to go ahead and start the class by the Chinese teacher (the CT). Class goes well, but the room is quite hot, and it's muggy. Worse, they didn't bother to turn on the AC until 10 minutes before class, and had left the curtains open all afternoon on the SW facing side of the building... Think greenhouse combined with sauna, and you get the picture. I'm drenched in sweat, I smell bad (even to myself), I'm tired, and when I get out to the waterfront, and I can't fly. Worse still, while biking to the waterfront, I'm fighting a strong headwind created by the tall buildings, and hoping that this is a good sign for flying. After a while the winds pick up, and I decided to actually try to fly. The kite goes up quickly at first, so well in fact I decided to attach a string of lights... More line, and I attached a 2nd string of lights... But this can't get off the ground. So, I reel it in, remove it, and let the kite go higher. Then I try the 2nd light string again... No dice... A third attempt is in vain, and I give up on the 2nd string of lights altogether. The kite then starts to drop, and despite good winds at ground level, it just won't climb. I finally reel it in, and remove the first string of lights, in a hope that I can let out more line, get some good wind, and then put up one or more of the lights. For all the line I played out, I was never able to get the kite to stay up consistently. My friend showed up, and took over while I wrapped the lights up, and like me, he was able to get it to take line every now and again, but it wouldn't stay up for long. So, tired, sweaty (stinky), and frustrated I headed off to find something to eat, and go home. The good thing though is that I was able to get all the loose line that was on the real played out, and wound back on a tad tighter (no loose loops). I've got to get some time to work on that 9' DFM kite (I couldn't yesterday... too hot in the "Lair"). Now, I have to go... Today my 1 on 1 class starts at 10am, and I've got to get through all the report cards before I can do anything else.

Ok... I'm back again... Edmond, I'm really sorry to hear about the damage and injury caused by your experience with Kevlar lines. I've also had a kite cut down by someone else's poor choice in lines. At a kite fly I organized in Ashland, Oregon, back in the 1980's, someone was flying one of those old plastic delta Hi-Flier type kites (that oldtimers may remember being the kites of choice when we were kids (cheap and reliable)) on over a thousand feet of monofilament fishing line. My Trilby 8 pack was flying in the only open space suitable for a stunt kite though there was a lot of space still in the park for other fliers. I had no visual indication of their kite... it was too far out to see when your vision is focused on 8 kites spinning and twirling a 150' away. Nobody in the crowd around me apparently could see it either, as nobody told me that there was another kite flying there.. Every now and again, I'd fly close to the line, and this group of people sitting on a blanket would get excited, but I couldn't see why. My kite was nowhere near them (or so I thought). Turns out they were trying to warn me away from their invisible line. You can guess what happened. One second my kite is flying fine, then they start shouting something I can't hear (again), next thing it was like my kite hit an invisible wall and starts fluttering to the ground like a butterfly hit by a shotgun blast. My kite's bridle was cut through in a couple of places, a few of the sails were badly sliced. Their $2 kite was lost, as well as all the line they had played out. I ultimately had to replace a couple of the sails and the cut bridle lines... Not much actual $$$ lost, but for an unemployed high school student it was. In retrospect, had they sent someone over to actually tell me that there was a kite out there, we wouldn't have had a problem. Better still would be if they hadn't flown a kite on an invisible line, or perhaps yielded that area to me (there was a lot of space for them all over the park, but not so much for me, and I was the one who had organized it.

Hi Edmond, There was some back channel conversations going on. Someone let me know you're Romanian, that's how I found out. Google translate did the rest. I read and speak English fluently (though it was my 2nd language (Hawaiian Pidgin (which is actually a creole language) being my first). I left Hawaii when I was almost 6, and lost the accent and the language (for the most part). Now, it's almost a quarter past one in the morning... Time for bed. Peace.

Tonight's flight report. Winds were strong and from the ESE... Translation, though there was wind, those tall buildings blocked most of it. At one point, the line is screaming off the reel, and then the kite was literally slammed into the ground. I kept moving west and trying again. I got the kite up, and it felt like I had found a spot with "clean" air, then the kite got twisted up, and ended up in a power dive. Yup... it didn't go flying... it went swimming... again. I walked all the way down to the far end of the waterfront, and the wind was swirling. At that point I called it a night, and headed home. Oh, and all those tall buildings? The only ways out of the waterfront area are by going between them. I nearly was blown off the bicycle trying to make it home (which is south, and uphill). Oh joy... headwinds on an uphill.

buna Edmond, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot. Your message prior to the "whatever" comment you cited by me felt very troll-ish. I've not interacted with you before, and haven't had a chance to read any of your posts. I was unsure of your meaning, and I measured my remark to try and not start a flame war. I realize that English is not an easy language, we have ambiguity everywhere, there are often several meanings for the same word (patient for example, someone under the care of a doctor, or someone who is willing to wait?). Even "Good Luck" can be twisted into a negative. "Whatever" wasn't intended as the dismissive meaning, but it's likely that you were struggling to decrypt the version that it was meant to have. Also because this is a typed medium, you can't tell if someone is being serious, or snarky, typing doesn't give you "tone" clues. Then there's the whole idiom thing (e.g. wrong foot). Karma implies that good things happen to people who deserve it, and bad things happen to people who deserve that. My kite going swimming was bad. My friend's kite going swimming, being lost, and all the lost lights that he had was a bad thing. "Karma ?" was not the response I was expecting. So with that, I hope we both have learned something. Toate cele bune

OK... Today's news. I was able to backtrack to the closed restaurant and found the kite there. I took it to my "Lair" and washed the sand and seaweed off of it. I've also written my name and email address, as well as the phone number of the school's secretary (her idea) on the kite bag. So, if it gets lost again, someone can call her and she'll notify me. I've also added a handle to the bag to allow me to hang it from my bike, and not need to hold it (or put it down when grabbing something else). My new spool has had a few issues... The supplied strap was too short, and was cutting into my neck. I made another strap for it, but it was too long, and it was cutting into my neck (despite me adding a pad to it), also the hooks I was using came from another bag that I have but wasn't using, but they kept opening up at the oddest moments. I've since shortened the new strap, and took the hooks from the spool's original strap. I also added a neck pad made from a microfiber (microfibre?) washcloth. It's working a treat. I could feel the spool moving as I was bicycling (how I get around about here), but the strap didn't feel like it was trying to cut my head off. FWIW, The new strap is only about 4" longer than the original. The sky is hazy (heat ~30C/(High 80's F) and humidity is pretty high)(read: Hot and sticky). Winds are strong but I can't determine wind direction from here as the many tall buildings make things very strange. I'm planning on flying later on, closer to sundown, presuming that no afternoon storms spring up.

A few people have been in touch with me regarding Edmond's post. They've explained that Edmond is not a native English speaker (which I had already gathered (I'm an English as a foreign language teacher, it's my job to know things like that)), and he usually means well, but sometimes has problems with the language.

Just what do you mean by that?

Mixed bag, and a lot of disappointment. Tonight I went out to fly my kite with the new lights. The wind was coming from the south which means that the buildings were screwing up the winds close to the waterfront. Try and try as I might I can't get the kite to go up for more than a minute. I move, and try again, and move and try again. There's wind up there, but those buildings are messing it up something fierce. I spot the 3 meter kite of the guy who has the really neat lights, but I can't find him. He finds me instead. I don't know how he did it, but he got my kite launched. After it's well established, he passes it back to me, and we go to where he tied his kite up. His is flying fine. His kite flies to the right, mine pulls left, so we're in no danger of crossing the lines. He starts putting his lights up, and even in daylight they are showing up beautifully. Mine go up, and they disappear until just after sunset. I let my kite considerably farther out than his. As it's getting dark, I notice that his lights are dipping lower and lower, and eventually one after another goes into the drink. Some stay on, others are out of commission. My kite starts to dip, and I decide to bring it in. Things are going well until I get to the first light, the simple lark's head knot is so tightly clamped down on my lights, I have to cut the light's string. By that time, several people are helping to bring the kite in before it goes into the drink... When we get to the windmills, they are completely tangled up, and again, I have to cut their line, and several people start unwinding it from the line. But the kite is falling fast. So a couple of guys start hand over hand and bring it in quick, but not quick enough. My kite goes into the drink, mere feet off shore. My kite's wet, but the other guy lost his kite. When it went down, it went down between two anchored motor boats, and I suspect that it fouled on an anchor chain, and got cut through by barnacles. I don't know how much he lost, but the kite was 200 RMB (~$31 USD). I think he lost most if not all of the string of lights except for those that were attached below the point where the line broke. We part ways from the beach, me with my soggy sandy kite, and all of my gear (plus one of the lights he gave me). But on the way home, I stopped to get something to eat. I was 3/4 the way home when I realized I didn't have my kite with me. I've backtracked my steps to the restaurants I went to (one was closing, the other was still open)... closing one was still cleaning when I got there, and remembered that I had the kite, where I actually bought dinner was dark when I got there. I do have a chat line with them to verify that they have my favorite dish, and they didn't remember seeing it. There's one other place I stopped at before I noticed it was gone, but by the time I got back there, it too was closed. My name and email address is on the kite, so I've still got a chance to get it back if it's not there. The sad thing is that I was planning on writing my name and email address on the kite bag, and putting a handle on it so I could hook it on the bike. So, I'm really bummed right now, but feeling a lot of gratitude to the people of Yantai for all their help.

You can think whatever you want. I know Kevlar is strong, and can cut other lines. But I take every step I can to avoid contact with other kites. I'm often flying during the weekdays at mid-day when other fliers are busy at work (I work evenings and weekends). The waterfront in Yantai often has strong winds blowing from the south (towards the sea). Tall buildings face the ocean, and do a great job of messing up the winds around the waterfront. If you want to fly, you have to get the kite out over the ocean, as far as possible from the buildings. *If* there are other fliers out there, they are trying (in vain) to fly small, cheap, preprinted ripstop kites that are available for a few RMB. Kids might be able to get them up for a minute or two, but then the wind shifts, and the kites drop like bricks. Only serious kites (2 meters wide or larger) can get up in those tricky winds. Those are few and far between. I'm often the only large kite up, or half a kilometer away from the nearest other flier (who's kite is also pointed out to sea). The line that was sold with my kite snapped not long after buying it (though long enough not to be eligible for a refund/replacement). I had to pay a few guys with a motor boat to go and catch the kite (it wasn't fluttering down after snapping, it had enough drag from the toys on the line to keep it airborne) before it had a chance to fly to Pyongyang, North Korea. Doing that wasn't cheap, but less than replacing the kite, toys, and lost line. After inspecting the line, and cutting away imperfect areas and splicing the remaining line together I put it back into the rotation. I continued to use it until it failed again. The wind was from the west, not light, but certainly not heavy and the kite broke free again, and this time went down in a tree. I got it back, but it was damaged (I've since bought a replacement, and this is what I'm flying currently). There was no damage visible to the line that would have given me a warning that it was going to fail again. I'm not going to risk any kite I value on that line. From now on, I'll buy lines that I know the properties of.

You wouldn't be trying to launch them upside down would you? I know it sounds stupid, but it's a possibility.

I tend to fly at orbital distances. If I have the line, I will fly all of it whenever possible.

Amazing how large a 9' wide kite really is. This is the rough pattern for 5/9 ths of that. WOW, this is going to be a monster. Next I'll have to make the patterns for the individual parts before I can start cutting ripstop.

Ok... I finally have enough money to spare to score some serious kite related bling here in China (my first job in China was a real (not reel) dud (I'm being polite here... just in case kiddies are are around). My new job has been paying well. However, I had a few setbacks (e.g. needing a new computer was a real kick in the teeth, I've also been trying to save money for an upcoming trip back to the US (and being able to buy clothing that fits me)(China is not the place to try and buy clothing if you're big and/or tall)). Finally, I'm within reach of my travel budget goal, so I can splurge a little. Surprisingly, Kevlar kite line is sold with pound test (and not kilogram test) measurements. I scored 1000 meters (yes... 1 Kilometer) of 225Lb test line (252 RMB/$39 USD). I've got a new 30 Cm OD stainless steel kite reel (150RMB/$23 USD). So, I spent several minutes today unreeling the 500 meters of 600Lb Kevlar line (bought by mistake w/way too heavy a line (I was thinking Kg, not Lbs)) and then wound the new line onto the reel. D'OH!!! The line is too long for the reel. It's threatening (more like blackmailing) to fall off the reel. Now it looks like I need to get a 36 Cm OD stainless steel kite reel (243 RMB/$37 USD). Nice thing is though, looks like you can buy replacement reels for those and swap them out when you want to use different test lines. Of course, the line went on kinda loose, so if it was under tension, it may have stayed on nicely. But of course, there's no wind at all, so I'd have to come up with another idea on how to do that. [EDIT] I've wrapped .25" (or metric equivalent) elastic around the spool to keep the line from falling off. It'll work for the short term, but I need a long term solution.[/EDIT]

Ok, I've been working on a Double French Military Delta/Twin Conyne Delta kite. I've now got the materials together (or at least enough to get started, I might want a tad smaller diameter spars for the cells (currently at 9mm, thinking of going to 7mm)). However, I'm a little uncertain as how to do the sleeves for the leading edges, as well as those that are located at the cell/wing and wing/center panel joints. I'd like to make this kite last for a long while. My idea is that the material will extend 2.125" or 2.25" beyond the leading edge of the kite. I'd fold the material back (back to back) with a .125" or .25" overlap, then fold the pocket over the leading edge and sew it at .75" away from the leading edge (giving myself a .25" seam allowance). I could sew it down again a little farther out for even more strength. This seems like the easiest method I can come up with where I don't have to buy some kind of bias tape or any other product. Am I on to something here? Or is there a better method I'm overlooking? Thanks!

This afternoon, I got a shipment of ripstop for this build... 1.5M (wide) x 4M (long) black cost me 40 RMB ($6.23USD). Now it's time to get serious.