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"What if . . ."


Torus34
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One of the nice things about making kites is that you can follow up 'what if?'s'.

A 'what if'? It's the image that pops into your head when you look at a kite and mentally tweak it.

Case in point. For years, I've looked at Genkis -- pictures, plans and even 'in the ripstop', as it were. All were huge, all were flat and many required complex bridles and drogues for stability. The design went into my mental 'Not for me!' folder. Then I ran into a Genki on the 'net. It was small [4' span] and it was bowed. A 'What if?' image popped up. What if a small, stable kite was attached by, say, 10' of line to each Genki wingtip? What would happen to the overall stability? Could the drogue be reduced or eliminated? What if the two small kites were of a bird-like planform? How could the main kite be decorated to enhance the effect of a kite being held up by birds? If a drogue was still needed, what shape could it be?

Enter kitemaking, stage left. Tyvek® #10 and hardware store dowels are almost dirt cheap. In a couple of days, I hope to find out if this particular 'what if' is worth translating into ripstop. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Either way, I can quickly scratch this particular itch and increase my knowledge of kites. Like I said, making kites is a nice thing.

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The Tyvek® Genki required a simple adjustment of the bridle on first flight. Two bottomless foam plastic cups in series were used as a drogue. The kite hunted for the first 20' up or so. Then, it found its feet and rose steadily. At about 200', it was nailed to the sky. I tied it off and forgot it while I flew a new fighter. On the way down, it was stable until the 10' point where it tried to play 'Lawn dart'. No damage.

Next step is to make a couple of small [12" bamboo skewer 'bones'] Eddys and check them out.

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  • 1 year later...

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