KITE FESTIVALS ARE GETTING BETTER AGAIN The first international kite festivals I went to- in the 1970’s (whoops showing my age a bit here)- were exciting events. We flew our kites with real passion back then- or maybe it just seems that we did because it was [...]
RE-INVENTING THE WHEEL The ‘something more dramatic’ that was to have been my subject this month is delayed on account of unsuitable weather- that is, it’s been kite flying as usual. But my ear to the ground tells me that no-one is breathing down our necks or [...]
Pilots and Lifters (skirt lifters that is) (A passing wind to get your attention, that last bit). The first America’s cup in 1851 was an unequal contest between the schooner ‘America’ and a fleet of the best of British- and to tilt the playing field even further, [...]
Yes! We have Air Banners.- An account of a kite flying journey that has taken some unexpected directions; being further evidence, if any is necessary, that ‘the foreseeable future’ is as mythical as steady mid range wind, government assistance, goat proof fences, and innocent bystanders (whoops, showing [...]
FOUND IT, THEN LOST IT AGAIN. (The Kite and the Plot) Probably. During June and July, Peter Lynn kites Ltd made a 20kgm prototype to test and refine a design for the next world’s largest kite (a ray which will be nearly 70m wingspan, 1250sq.m and weigh 200kgms). In [...]
I’VE LOST IT. (The kite, not the plot- or is it both?). There’s to be a new world largest kite; first flight to be ?????????????????????? It will be a Ray of the new style (smooth tail), approximately 75m wingspan and 150m long (including tail), 1250square metres. Or [...]
Anecdotal Fallacies: Wrong conclusions that come from being overly influenced by exceptional examples. Photos of kites for example, and especially of soft kites. By waiting until the wind is just right, the light and background are complimentary, and then discarding all shots in which kites are leaning a bit [...]
NEW ZEALAND HAULED FROM THE SEA BY A KITE! Though probably not in quite the way you expect- but please read on. A life-long and involuntary (this is my excuse anyway) obsession with kites and kite flying can’t easily be indulged by staying at home, especially if that home [...]
At the Cervia Kite Festival in 2009, I was ceremonially presented me with a Tee shirt by Klaus from Luxemburg labeling me, not entirely unfairly, as the “Master of Disaster”; see accompanying photo. I wore it with pride at every kite event after that for more than a year [...]
Going Fast on a Kite Buggy. 28th March ’10. I’m in a 777 somewhere above the Pacific, heading for the Mojhave desert at 1100km/hr to go buggying for a week (NABX 20th anniversary celebration of the development of the modern kite buggy). Yes, 1100km/hr; because there’s a tailwind of [...]