Kite Thoughts

One of our favorite customers, Jim Nicholls from Christchurch New Zealand passed along his thoughts on kite flying (along with a huge number of pictures from his kite flying adventures) and we thought they deserved to be shared with everyone. Well, everyone who reads our blog anyway.

We always love to hear from our customers. If you have any flying advice, suggestions, tips or general feedback let us know. Sharing what you know helps make kite flying the tops! Who knows, maybe we'll even post your comments on our blog! Now get outside and fly!

Although I am a fairly recent convert to kite-flying, and left it until quite late in life to start (I am 70 years old), I now own a large collection of single line kites, and a couple of two-line ones, and have accumulated many hours of flying experience. I go out every day throughout the year when the weather is even halfway suitable. I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and although the winters are cold, I have still managed to fly on average at least three times a week.

Almost all of my many kites have been bought from America, a lot of them from Into the Wind, as it is impossible to buy them here. Although I am no expert, I would like to pass on some thoughts and advice that may be of interest to other adults who are just starting out, or considering doing so, in the field of kite-flying.

First of all, I would say: “Buy quality.” Cheap, unbranded kites don’t usually fly well or last long. And certainly there is no back-up service if things go wrong.

Secondly, my advice would be: “Buy big.” If you start with a small kite and get interested, you will soon want a larger one, so why not start with the large one and save money and time? (I learnt this the hard way!) Flying a large kite is usually no harder, and is often easier, than flying a small one. Sure, a big kite pulls more, but even something like the 12ft Highlighter delta is very manageable for any adult or mature teenager.

Thirdly, in order to enjoy this wonderful hobby from the start, I advise: “Choose a simple style to start with.” Some exotic-looking kites can be attractive, but may be difficult to put together and to fly. If you don’t want to get discouraged, the delta is probably the best type of kite to start with, as it is so easy to assemble and flies reliably in a wide wind-range. Don’t go for anything under 7ft unless you want to quickly become bored; the 7ft Levitation is great value, and there is a 9ft version also. The delta conyne, such as ITW’s Rocky Mountain, is another good choice, but there is not the wide selection that there is in deltas.

If you fly in consistently very light or very strong winds, the Triton and the Elevation box, respectively, will probably meet your requirements better, but are not quite as simple. And when you want something a little different, there are great designs like the various rokkaku, the dragons (the Beast is my favourite, and if you can afford it the Twin-Tail is great), cellular kites such as the Star 7, parafoils including the useful Flowform 16, and special kites like the Sun Sea Sky and many others.

My fourth tip would be: “Have a selection of lines.” For example, ITW recommend 200lb line for the Highlighter, and certainly that is needed in the upper part of its wind range. But if you are trying to fly it in very light breezes, don’t be afraid to use line at half that strength, which will make it much more likely that you will achieve lift-off. Keep an eye on the wind, however, and don’t hesitate to bring the kite down and replace the line if conditions change.

My fifth pearl of wisdom is: “Don’t ignore tails and line art.” Delta kites fly well most of the time without tails, but really they are naked without them. Tails can make such a difference to the appearance of the kite, adding color, design, and movement and increasing the sheer size of the spectacle by taking up more sky. The Highlighter, at 12ft wingspan, is a big kite, but when it’s 200 feet up, it is much less impressive. With tails, it is so much better. My favourite combination is 24ft Transition tails at the wingtips and a 15ft Cube Tube tail in the centre, but it’s good to ring the changes. You wouldn’t wear the same clothes every day, so let your kite have some variety, too. Try the fascinating Helix tail, where two 20ft tubes revolve around a third, or the enormous, but easily lifted, 30ft Bubble Tube tail. All of these are on the ITW website.

Line art, or “line laundry,” is equally attractive, and can be used with any kite that produces sufficient lift, whereas there are many kites for which tails are inappropriate. Some line art is just cute, like the Henry Hound and Skippy dogs, which are very easy to attach to the line a few feet off the ground and attract great interest. Other items are simply beautiful, like the 8ft Peacock Wrasse fish (more expensive, unfortunately) or intriguing, like the Cephalopod, Hydroid and Isopod, any of which can be lifted by a medium-sized kite. Some items are a little heavy, like the Sea Pineapple, which needs quite a strong-pulling kite, so match your laundry to your kite. Some of the tails already mentioned, like the Bubble Tube and Cube Tube, also look great attached on the line. Carabiners are the very best way of attaching any of these to your line, and small ones are quite adequate.

My last piece of advice is the most important: “Just have fun!” Here in New Zealand, kites usually mean the big traction kites used for kite-surfing and kite-buggying; almost no-one flies single-line kites. Even children are not very interested, but maybe that is just part of modern life. However, I care not if I am the only kite-flier on the beach, because to me it is a most enjoyable and relaxing pastime and one that I hope to enjoy for a few years yet, and at all seasons.

Jim Nicholls

Christchurch, New Zealand.

It's hip to be a Square Flyer.

George Peters began making kites when he was living in Hawaii in the '70's. But it wasn't until he moved to Boulder that he linked up with Into The Wind. He says, and George Emmons, Into The Wind's owner, remembers it the same way, that having a kite store in Boulder was "a big incentive to start making kites with a vengeance."

When George's kites appeared on the Into The Wind scene in 1983, they came on with a bang, gracing the cover of that year's catalog. In fact, George designed that cover and used a variation of it for his product brochure for some time afterwards. That first year, the Cloud Bird sold for $185, the same price it is in our 2009 catalog. I guess you could say that making the Cloud Bird in China has taken 26 years off the price of a George Peters' original. George Peters' Dragonfly now sells for $95. In 1983 it was $185. And the $99 Twin Tail Dragon was $150 when George made it himself.

Over the years, we've carried George's products off and on. If it were up to us, we would have sold his entire line every year. Unfortunately, it was all too easy for demand to overwhelm George's one-man production capabilities. The 1984 Into The Wind catalog carried a smattering of his products and introduced George's version of the traditional Japanese Rokkaku. The catalog cover that year featured Into The Wind's co-owner, Jim Glass, flying the custom Into The Wind Rokkaku that George Peters designed for the fledging company. That image became the Into The Wind logo for many years to follow. (It was converted to a drawing that is still on the cover of the Into The Wind Pocket Guides that we include free with kite orders.) In 1993, the graphic made it's way onto a limited edition t-shirt in front of a screened, glowing sunset fade.

Although we did carry other Rokkakus from other kitemakers, George's kites disappeared from the catalog entirely for the next ten years. In 1994, he hired a sewer and we convinced him to let us sell his Flying Fish banners. The following year, the George Peters Indian Fighter made its debut. The Indian Fighter left the catalog in 1996, but was replaced by George's Square Flyer in assorted patterns and colors. (We currently sell not only his Indian Fighter which is still made in the USA, but three different designs of his Square Flyer made in China.)

The 1997 Catalog was full of firsts and many of them lasts: it was the only Into The Wind catalog printed in the Slim Jim format instead of the usual digest size. It also was the only catalog where George Emmons surrendered the layout to a graphics company which resulted in a catalog cover that pictured a conglomeration of 16 kites (hinting at the chaos you'd find inside the covers). And, it was the only catalog where we purchased a couple of "stock" kitefliers (up until then, and since then, all of the catalog photos with models have been taken by George E.). But on the positive side, it was one of the few catalogs with a dedicated designer section which included kites from Italian designer Maurizio Angeletti, Texan Joel Scholz, Jim Rowlands and Martin Lester of the U.K., David Ti's wind creations, one whimsical offering each from Stan Swanson and Peter Lynn and a page devoted to George Peters' Buzz Bee, Dragonfly, Cloud Bird and Square Flyer. After 1998, George took a breather again until 2007 when his Sky Bird once again found its way onto the cover, this time made by Into The Wind in China.

When I told George that I was going to do a little blog about his kites he emailed, "I'm flattered." But I think we're the ones that have always been flattered. From the very beginning, Jim and George were enthusiastic about selling his exotic designs in their new, tiny kite shop on East Pearl. Over the years we've been honored every time we convinced him to let us, once again, include his products in the catalog. And finally, he paid Into The Wind the ultimate compliment when he agreed to let us make his kite designs, in China no less.

Now that he's not making kites himself, George has tons of free time. (That's a joke.) To find out what he's up to check out the Airworks Studio Blog and while you're at it, think about picking up a Square Flyer. We'll make all three designs of the $35 George Peters 2009 Square Flyer $28 until July 15th just to get you in a George Peters frame of mind.

Kite Links

Here are links to a couple of kite related articles that caught my attention this week and that might be interesting to you as well. The first is an article from the Los Angeles Times that reports that the ban on kiteflying in Pakistan was lifted for a day, for either economic reasons or to temporarily distract protestors, depending on who you believe. Either way, I'm not complaining.

The second is a link to an article I came across when I was trying to determine for the blog earlier this week, exactly how much stronger the wind can be at altitude. This article from an August 2008 edition of The Observer discusses the ongoing testing of large kites to generate power in the Netherlands, a project called the Laddermill.

Heading into the weekend, it seemed like a little good news was in order. Fortunately, kites are almost always associated with fun and whether it's the intended purpose or not, a distraction from what's going on in the world doesn't hurt now and then too.

The jury is out.

Jury duty Tuesday and Wednesday, then catching up with work after that, prevented me from posting on the Flight Blog last week. But once the trial was over, it occurred to me that there were some similarities between the deliberation process and a few of the calls that we receive from customers.

In fact, just last Monday a customer called and talked to Sean. He said he'd been flying his 9-ft. Levitation Delta Light and shortly after launch, in a light wind, the spreader in the kite snapped. He brought the delta down and wrapped the broken carbon spar in duct tape so that he could continue flying the kite. Not long after, the kite was flying at over 1,000 feet when the kite line broke right in the middle.

Our jury instructions from the judge explained that we had to make our decision based solely on the evidence that was presented. Since the defendant didn't testify and we later found out that the primary witness was unable to testify because he was in China, we were left with very little to go on. However, the instructions did say that we could use our life experiences to "infer" what may or may not have happened.

When a customer calls, we're in a similar situation. We can't get a firsthand account from the kite. Instead, we have the customer's observations and our experience. In the case of the 9-ft. Delta, it seemed pretty clear to us that the kite was being flown in too much wind. That's usually why spreaders break, although occasionally the spar can be defective. However, when the line snaps, it's almost always an indication of excessive wind. The problem though, is the concrete evidence; wind on the ground measured by the flyer with a wind meter versus the unknown winds aloft where the kite is flying.

It's common knowledge (at least to us ;-) that winds at altitude can be very different from winds on the ground. According to research conducted by scientists in the Netherlands, 11 mile per hour winds at 250 feet translate to 16 mile per hour winds at 2,500 feet. Keep that in mind when you take your light wind delta out for a flight. And if the spreader breaks, consider it a warning that the winds may be too strong. Likewise, if your delta pulls hard and loops or dives, it's a sign to take it down (and not just to apply duct tape) and fly another day. (For the record, we don't recommend duct tape as a kite repair solution...ever. We have tons of repair parts and can get you back in the air in no time; just give us a call.)

Aside from that, it's important to realize that wind aloft can be substantially different from wind on the ground and that you risk breaking your kite, or worse yet, losing it completely like the guy last Monday, if you exceed the kite's recommended wind range. If that's the case, we'll have a hard time coming up with a "not guilty" verdict.