janola

My apologies admin. I was sure I put this post up in the one liners section, but seems not.

I've just had a pretty great day, swanning around on a great queensland beach playing with some of the toys - so I just have to gloat got up the spike ball, and pretty soon there were some kids having a great time under it. flew my airplane. And then took all that down to have mess about with a lifter and some lil fish I'd been making Wanted to test out aluminium carabines. Turned out really well. Easy to attach an take off again. Considering I was on my own. My fish went pretty well, I've spent some time making some 3 very different ones over the past month. With a pretty good clown fish (that I thougt was a fizzer) making a debut. the q is how do I stop them spinning like crazy. I made a wee sock in the clown thinking that might help - filled it with sand, but it chucked it out. Should I be making a 4 part pattern for more fatter things like this - making the body more rounded? rather than a 2 part convex shape.?

It would be nice if there was a standard force scale in kite flying. As a half ex yachtie (still sail occasionally) I tend to measure wind in knots. mph means, well frankly I'm not even sure what a mile is anymore. 0-5 knots: is anything from a whisper, zephyr, to a breeze enuf to make wavelets 5-10 knots: great small to mid kite range wavelets to just beginning on form, to get lil horses on the water 10-15. (great sailing weather) and great for any kite that you've ever flown on an inshore breeze. 15-20. great breeze to getting gusty. not so nice. anyhthing above that- well madness.

G'day all, thought I should be polite and introduce myself since I've already had a few posts - and replies. Pretty new to kiting, its only taken me 2-3 years to get a couple together (S*#t, I hate work) anyway, excuses besides. Theres no better way of messing about on a great beach and having some fun. Cheers all.

Excellent, its great to get some comparison, and also agreement! moving right along to plan b, or was that c now? Think I need to buy some more line!

Thanks Smarties good tips, and I think a decent tail on the small paraform is definitely the answer. My second experiment can be seen here - under the Coolum link Morticia is still being worked on, and I hope to make a start on her drogue this weekend. Recently I made a flowform from Rowlands book, which is an almighty success! and using up scraps from previous escapades, I'm working on some fish laundry. cheers

Perhaps I should've phrased my question a little better... What causes the to and fro motion, where the kite will go from side to side across the sky, before flipping upside down. I have a feeling that my lines are too short, should they be at least twice the length of the span?, or perhaps even longer?

As a new comer to kites, and have only been to two small kite fests. Have had a great time in both. I am looking at designing my own softform this time round. I am sticking to cells for the moment, as I have a reasonable good idea of why and how they fly. I am looking on tips for solving problems, such as spin for a small free form. (I was looking at Martin Lesters bumble bee). My second prototype on this design(copy-cat ) has the addition of a heavier tail and a keel, the keel I have not been able to test yet (no wind) - most frustrating. my second design with a far simpler pattern, wants to fly, but after my test today, changing the tail to a little heavier (had to ride 50 k's to find a breeze). I have the feeling that the addition of the keel will help keep it heading into the wind without the unsteady side to side. If anyone has any links to creating and testing, please let me know.