sunseeker said...
No bridle and no 5th line 2004 style c-kite which looks to be about a 16sqm. Make sure you don't go out in more than 15knots.
You'd also have to bring out the old swim towards the kite to flip it on its back and then manouver it round to the edge of the window trick for re-launch.
And the sand on the folded wingtip beach self launch.
THE FULL STORY:
Yep, it was 2004, and an old-style 4-line, and actually, it is 23.6 sq m!
I still have it. It did fly; I did kite with it a few times but as you can imagine, it was ummm, a bit well, big. At the time, we were frustrated that there never seemed to be enough wind on the Northern Beaches for the kites we had so we were trying to make something that would be useful (i.e., big enough for the typical summertime wind on the northern beaches in Sydney.) We didn't realise at the time that bigger size also means LOTS more weight, slower turning, less apparent wind and less useful wind range! Live and learn.
It was one of those "sounded-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time" adventures that turned out to be about 20X more complicated that expected--but I just didn't want to give up until it was done!
About 8 of us started out-- All weekend in a gymnasium -- but that was only the beginning. I think four of us actually finished and made a working kite, which came about three months later. Yes, it is 'ruff' -- it was made with a grandma-style Singer sewing machine, woefully inadequate for the task. Probably took me about 100+ hours all up, 2km of thread and and about three dozen broken needles.
The worst bit was after we attached all the struts to the leading edge only to realise we'd put them on upside down and had to take them all off and do it all over again. That was a near-suicide moment.
Yeah, relaunch is a challenge. Best technique is not to put it down in the first place.
I'm happy to make one for you anytime--as I said in the last slide: Price: $50,000 for the base model! (not including bar and lines...)
Experiential learning is knowledge you never forget.
