spiff

Yeah, I probably won't worry about the trailing edges too much. The tear right in the middle against the spar and the end where the spar is partially wearing through the velcro closure makes sense to repair. To be honest I'm kind of surprised to even be in this boat. As a kid I lost every kite I ever had and I didn't expect anything to be much different now. It turns out having a reel that winds in 3ft at a time makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks for the replies. Thanks Paul, that was the kind of specifics I was looking for. I was afraid of that. I'm looking at some cheap handheld sewing machines that might come in handy.

Well that didn't take long... my 16ft delta already wore through where it pushes against the horizontal support. Its only been flown about 6 times. I'm guessing it was the couple times I foolishly flew it in fairly high winds that was enough to bend up my reel. I guess I shouldn't be surprised the kite took some damage. I have a 12ft version of the same that I flew several dozen times and its still in pretty good shape except for some fraying on the trailing edges from extreme flapping I guess. Anyway, I bought some ripstop tape. I read somewhere that Tedlar tape is better but the cheapest I could find was $88 a roll. But I was curious if stitching was a better option for anything other than repairing the thick velcro fixtures. I would think putting more holes into the nylon would never be a better option, but I'm not sure. But it might be a better option to fix fraying on the trailing edge of the sail vs folding a piece of tape along its length. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks in advance

Right on.... I just brought this point up more as a conversation topic than I'm really concerned about getting hassled. Like you said I would be more worried about really causing an accident. It doesn't keep me from flying my kite past 500 ft, but I have moved locations when I noted the prevalence of low flying aircraft nearby. I think they were traffic helicopters that kept scoping out the same area's.. was time to move and find a new spot. I was given the boot when flying from a levee owned by a nearby casino, by the casino who apparently sent a cop my way. It was miles away, no one would have guessed they owned that river bottom land. It was perfect.. vast stretches of farmland on both sides (guess leased from the casino) and you could drive the whole length of the levee. Like you said, just packed up and left.. wasn't the cops fault, in that case was just doing his job. I'm still respectful even if I might argue who was being a bigger menace on the highway. But in this case you can tell the guy was a bit embarrassed and sheepish to have to run off a guy flying a kite. I was pissed at the casino though...

Exactly! But in my experience government policy rarely follows common sense. A good example is the last time I got pulled over (years ago) commuting to work. My hot-rod days being long over, I just fell in line with the rest of the cattle traveling a brisk 80-85MPH. It was a steady stream of synchronized traffic.(thank God, its not usually that way). so perfectly safe. BUT it was that time of the month and officer Joe had his quota to fill and just randomly picked me out and pulled me over. So I asked how he singled me out and he just says it doesn't matter because I was speeding and it was unsafe. I pointed out that the only unsafe condition was the introduction of him with his lights on causing everyone to hit their brakes, which was 100% true on all fronts. There were several instance that I saw myself of near accidents due to him. Azzhole still gave me the ticket. That exemplifies government mindsets IMO. Common sense never wins over their agenda.. and your example shows that a 5 mile rule could have just as safely been a 3000ft- 1mile rule which would have been plenty.. but no, they cover their asses and rule out probably 65% of the entire nation instead.

That's pretty interesting. Was that for some kind of kite event? Seems like lots of other flyers in your video.(looked like a sweet day for it) Being that close I would have presumed they would have erred on the safe side and flatly refused permission so I wouldn't have even bothered to ask. Actually, jaded me would presume that in just about all instances of even being within the 5 miles. So that's a surprise. Then there is the issue of even asking for permission. I once tried to contact our ATC just to pick their noggin and get their perspective just to see if it was in line with the FAA rules. I gave up after 3 days. I rang a general airport#, then the airport police and finally got the ATC but it was only ever an answering machine. I left a message and got one back 3 days later to call them back and... got another answering machine. That's a lot of BS right there to fly a kite. It might be worth it for an event though I suppose.

That was my point.. you have to drive for miles outside of a city if you want to conform to this law. In my state there are plenty of little regional airports spread about too making even that difficult. Who is going to make a day trip just to fly a kite? I have a school with a double sized field right across the street from me, I won't go any farther than that. Other people fly kites there too (obliviously I'm sure). Did you actually check a map and measure though? That 5 mile radius is significant. This is my point, everywhere you thought it was okay probably isn't according to this FAA rule. Wow, 17?! That's nuts. I thought the 6 my city had seemed like a lot. They perfectly box in the city limits. Its a conspiracy against kite fliers I tell you! 😉 I don't live in London, BTW.. was just referring to a recent issue they were dealing with. I haven't seen a US airport close yet due to drone threats..

Permission? I doubt even .01 percent of kite fliers bother with that, if anybody at all. I sure don't, do you? But yeah, avoiding a flight corridor is just common sense, just like ignoring an idiotic draconian rule that is tantamount to saying "Let's just say you can't do this anywhere! That solves OUR problem." That London issue, who ever they were was purposely trying to cause a drone/aircraft collision and they were doing it for months. I think that's beyond the definition of irresponsible.

An FAA rule says you can't fly a kite 5 miles from an airport boundary. Well, its almost impossible to find a spot of land that isn't within 5 miles of an airport. This is certainly the case in all major cities. Just for shits I hopped on kitemap.org.. you know, the repository for "best" places to fly and they listed three locations in my city and 2 were within half that 5 mile limit and the 3rd would still not comply if you took literally the FAA's definition of this going right up the edge of the airports property as the starting point to start measuring. (in other words... was exactly 5 miles up the airport boundary) So being curious I just picked another couple cities at random and all the locations listed there too were within 5 miles. A lot weren't even a mile. So it was 0-12 on best places to fly a kite conforming to FAA regulations. I have little doubt it would be the same if I kept looking. It would be interesting to get an airport map of the US... Not that I give a sh*t, just pointing out the idiocy with the levels of bureaucracy in this country.

My first kite was a red/white and blue diamond that came with a Hi-Flyer winder.. was a really cool winder for its day 50 years ago. A favorite that stands out was a white delta with big eyes on it. Then there was time I put a thread on the legs of a cicada named Max...

Thanks.. yep, that's exactly the one I was talking about that I bent all to hell. The axle bolt is only .25 inch.. way too weak to take the leveraging forces that the rest of the unit can generate. Even my 12ft kite can bend the bolt if using the handles in high winds, which is primarily what gives the damaging sideways torque that does the damage. The trick is not use the handles, but just grab the outer edge to wind it in as then the forces are exactly perpendicular to the axle bolt. This is what I do now if my kites are generating bolt bending forces. Its obviously way more of an issue when flying an even bigger kite. I almost can't use the handles at all when flying my 16ft delta. It is a nice reel otherwise... it holds 3000ft of 300lb Hurcules 1.2MM line with about perfectly, with about .75 inch to spare. I'm happy with that. The bolt shaft is also keyed.. that got all gouged out too and was barely reusable. I still haven't found a bike frame yet. I don't want to pay for anything for this project.. so I keep hoping I'll find one curb side one day somewhere.

Thanks for all the help. Both these delta's from Into the Wind do it.. but not too often. Both have single bridle points. (12 and 16ft) Its mostly an issue while reeling it in, so now I'm cognizant to not cause it to climb too much while doing so. But sometimes they do it all by themselves. A few times they did it while even being several hundred feet out. Its very strange looking straight up at your kite, especially when its still pulling fiercely. So far I have had 100% recovery from this condition as long as it was higher than a few meters. Its those last few during grounding that makes them want to dive. Otherwise they usually dive only briefly and the re-right themselves which usually fixed the angle too. I typically reserve tails for higher wind situations but this making me more likely to use them now at the expense of more launching failures. I could always stick a big Nerf basketball on the point.

Well, I just couldn’t get this idea out of my head. I have been happy with the 3000 ft that my current reel holds, but now reached limitations on leverage and structural integrity which is still prompting me to look for alternatives. Emma kites largest reel made dealing with a 12ft kite on windy days manageable so I tried a 16 ft delta and wound up bending the axle bolt all to hell. I straightened it back out on a vice after taking it apart, but it clearly has limits. I think I found the perfect platform: a kids bike frame! Cut it down to about 3-3.5 ft, put crossbars at the top and bottom. A built in coaster brake gives potential possibilities, but it would also be easy to incorporate a disk brake like the Emma reel has. Put eye bolts on each end of the bottom crossbar so you can either just stand on the crossbar or anchor it straight into the ground. Best of both worlds! Not too heavy to strap to the waist, but also tough enough to serve as an anchor. For leverage I’m picturing a foldout knob that effectively doubles the outer ratio that should allow one to crank in even a seriously hard pulling kite. Have a normal knob opposite for normal speed reeling, For a reel I found some nice pneumatic lawn and tractor tire hubs that are a perfect compromise of size and weight. No more worry about bending a quarter inch bolt. I guess one would have to worry about getting hit by the extra long winding lever, so having controls for either hand will have to be in place.. a two handed brake most likely. It would also be future proof, having both sides of the axle hub to take advantage of to easily incorporate a ratchet and disk brake. Other thoughts that I haven’t fully visualized in my head yet, one could possibly take advantage of existing gear systems, internal ratchets, and maybe even a built in pulley system between the two crossbars for extreme situations. Now to find an old bike frame and brush up on some rusty welding skills.

Wow.. thanks JoeDef.. yep, that's exactly what I was talking about. The video's you found are much better than the one I was talking about. Yeah, that last one showing them making it is perfect! It might be cool to play around with what different materials generate sound-wise. To save on weight I'm thinking of just rolling my own paper tubes and shellac them for rigidity, if they still give good sound reverb. I'm picturing a single tube clipped to the top and leading edge of a delta so that the ends of the tube extend past the edge of the kite frame for wind current exposure, but it would mostly be hidden behind the kite. Single tube would be single note.. but a good start for annoying the neighbors. Gonna try a paper towel tube first just see what kind of sounds it'll generate.

Thanks for the replies. I flew twice this weekend and it happened on both days again.. the first day was really strong winded, second day not so much. But both times I have been able to prevent any issues just by letting the line slacken and the kite always seems to self-right itself. I don't have multiple bridle points to try.