Welcome K'Tesh

[John Barresi]

Hello @K'Tesh,

Welcome to KiteLife®!

Although this is an automated message, it is written with heart - I love kites deeply, and I believe the KiteLife community represents this passion with a very friendly and helpful environment for everyone. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Need to tweak settings?

Edit your profile here - View Member
Edit your settings - http://kitelife.com/forum/settings/

Other than that, here are a few handy links that you might have a use for...

Member Chat
Member Map
KL Shop

And while it's never an obligation, we always love hearing about our new members if you'd like to share some of your kite stories, videos, and/or background... Tell us a little about YOUR kite life!

[K'Tesh]

Hi All,

I'm not a stranger to kites.  I used to work for my cousin Steve Lamb (under Shirley Gardner) at the Florence, Oregon location of Catch The Wind back in the summer of 1987.  I flew a string of eight 6' Stacker Flexifoils back then, as well as 1, or occasionally 2 Hawaiian Team Stunt Kites, an 8 pack of Trilby kites, and a Double French Military (as well as many others).

I made my dent in the hobby (or more accurately the hobby made it's dent in me) back in October of 1990 at Brill Hill in Buckinghamshire, UK, when my stack of Flexis dropped me on my head (long story) to my concussion below.   This started a string of really bad Octobers (an assult (with another concussion), laid off, fired, struck by cars, broken legs, nerve damage, torn ligaments, and a twit (among other issues)).  I HATE October! I LOVE Halloween as it means another October is OVER!!!

I'm now living and working as an English Teacher in the PRC and working on a few designs of my own in my spare time.

[makatakam]

Hi, and welcome to the forum. 

[Exult]

On 2018-04-24 at 7:08 AM, K'Tesh said:

October of 1990 at Brill Hill in Buckinghamshire, UK, when my stack of Flexis

And I thought my (nearly total) kite pause was long (about 15 years). No kites since the 1990 Flexifoils for you?

On 2018-04-24 at 7:08 AM, K'Tesh said:

working on a few designs of my own

I'm curious about the ideas and the development of the projects (along with any nice techniques that would be nickable).

[K'Tesh]

3 hours ago, Exult said:

And I thought my (nearly total) kite pause was long (about 15 years). No kites since the 1990 Flexifoils for you?

I'm curious about the ideas and the development of the projects (along with any nice techniques that would be nickable).

The opportunity to fly the stack of flexi's dried up after I returned to the US.  Northern Jefferson State (often mistaken for Southern Oregon) didn't have many suitable places for flying that monster.  After that, I relocated to Portland Oregon, and when the weather was good, I worked at PSM...  When the weather was bad, I didn't.  Also large places for flying powerful kites were hard to reach w/o a car (which I did, and still don't have).

My one major foray into kites after the 1990's was flying the US flag from my DFM kite on 911.   I flirted around with my Hawaiian Team Kites in Maui and on the Big Island, but when you're on a Fam trip (familiarization trip) for the travel agency you work at, you don't get many opportunities to have free time (23 hotels, 2-3 Islands, 2 days, 3 nights, back to work on Monday)

I doubt that you'd want to nick my sled...  It's a 2x Upscale of a trashbag sled design done in ripstop.

[Exult]

3 hours ago, K'Tesh said:

I doubt that you'd want to nick my sled...  It's a 2x Upscale of a trashbag sled design done in ripstop.

I don't know. Never really seen a sled kite close up, less so how to make one. I'm in the process of demystifying QLKs, while SLKs are just exotic. Also every time something is done in a different way than you do or intend to do you can always start to think of if you should try it later.

On 2018-04-24 at 7:08 AM, K'Tesh said:

when my stack of Flexis dropped me on my head

Talking about the risks of flexifoil stacks. I vaguely remember a warning about flexifoil stacks from some time about the end of the nineties (though I have forgotten the probably written source - never seen the kite type). There were some small/mid(?) size ones that gave a very large pull when stacked, but turned very quickly. If instead using one flexifoil with a larger span width it couldn't turn as quickly into the power  zone and left more time to think so that surprises were avoided. It is in a way remarkable that I now 20 years later might be "talking" the origin (or one of the origins) of that flexifoil stack warning.

Yes, I forgot ... Welcome to the forum!!

[K'Tesh]

On 4/25/2018 at 4:58 PM, Exult said:

On 4/26/2018 at 12:13 AM, Exult said:

I don't know. Never really seen a sled kite close up, less so how to make one. I'm in the process of demystifying QLKs, while SLKs are just exotic. Also every time something is done in a different way than you do or intend to do you can always start to think of if you should try it later.

Talking about the risks of flexifoil stacks. I vaguely remember a warning about flexifoil stacks from some time about the end of the nineties (though I have forgotten the probably written source - never seen the kite type). There were some small/mid(?) size ones that gave a very large pull when stacked, but turned very quickly. If instead using one flexifoil with a larger span width it couldn't turn as quickly into the power  zone and left more time to think so that surprises were avoided. It is in a way remarkable that I now 20 years later might be "talking" the origin (or one of the origins) of that flexifoil stack warning.

Yes, I forgot ... Welcome to the forum!!

 

Well, I'm a fan of a picture says a thousand words, and I don't  have much time before I have to go into work (which is where the build site is too).  I'll try and take some pics for a later reply.

About the Flexifoil stack.  I'm not that guy. 



My story went like this... I took a cab from my base RAF Upper Heyford on October 8, 1989 along with our First Shirt's kid.  He was outfitted with my Hawaiian, I had the stack.  Now everybody I'd met had told me that Brill Hill was the place to go for kites, and it is windy, and offers (at a distance) the kind of place you'd want to fly a kite.  However, it's not the place to go for power kites.  I had this image of an area like a soccer pitch, and it wasn't.  The grass on the hill was in clumps, the dirt between was full of evidence that sheep had been grazing.  The windmill was very nice. But I had just spent 30 quid to get there, and was looking to spend at least that much to go back.  I pulled out the kites and the harness, buckled myself in and started flying.  Fortunately for me, I had my combat boots on, because I had encountered a similar field on a previous trek to go flying in the past.

Because I couldn't ski, I braced my feet on the edge of a railroad tie that had been driven into the ground as a stop for cars parking near the windmill, but due to the wind direction, I couldn't put them on the flat side, but on two of the faces, with the edge dangerously pointing towards my groin.  When a power loop made my feet slip, I jumped over it, rather than take it in the crotch.  I found myself landing 15+ feet downwind and danger close to a 3 year old girl who had frozen in my path.  A jump to the left and I impact a parked car...  A jump to my right, and I go down a "grass" lined gully.  I chose the gully, but instead of going straight down it, I'm being pulled diagonally down it, right foot lower than the left.  The kite is still pulling as I'm trying to get it out of the power loop and allow for the maneuvers need to get me out of this situation.  I'm afraid that my right foot is going to catch and collapse under me, sending me into an upside down superman.  So, I opted to try another jump, and with the kite finally getting out of the power range, I'd be able to stop skiing.  However, my foot did catch, and all the power went to the uphill leg resulting in a jump that had me arch about 15' in the air (and about 30' downwind) and land on my side and head.  I was out cold after that.

The kite crashed into a pine tree, undamaged, and people came down, got me unbuckled from the harness, and called for an ambulance (likely not in that order).  I came to a couple of times on the way to the hospital, and was checked out.  I had a concussion, and a few bruises.  The Shirt's son called his dad, and he came out to the hospital, and recovered us, and my kites.  I ended up spending the night in the base's hospital.  

A year to the day later, I was run off the road (on a dead end street)  while bicycling (no helmet), then assaulted by the driver and his buddies when I confronted them about it.  Result another concussion.  Next year, fired from my job... and the hatred of October 8th was cemented.  A few years later the 8th forgot about me, but remembered and ran a car into me on the 12th (broken leg, torn ligaments)...  that October wasn't thru with me, and it took 3 weeks of intense pain before my (insert expletive here) doctor finally ordered a MRI.  That was when they found the breaks and the torn ligament that didn't show up (unless you actually looked) on the Xray taken on the night I was hit.  Needless to say, I fired the doctor.

[K'Tesh]

Not long after the 1989 crash, Kitelines magazine did an article on kite injuries, and I was quoted in that article.