It Usually Starts With a Big Honking Delta

It started with a Flowform 16. It started with a Flowform 16 and worked pretty well until the Flowform 16 decided to snap its string and sink itself in the Cape Fear River. It hadn't even occurred to me to take a photo of the Flowform or even of that first wooden camera rig that the Flowform 16 smashed to kindling when it went swimming.

When I first started messing around with this I was living in the heart of Washington, DC and the idea of owning, driving, parking or paying insurance on a car was just a silly idea and everywhere I went was by foot, bike, metro or cab. Big, bulky sparred kites were a nonstarter. One thing I loved about the Flowform was that it packed up in about 2 minutes into a bag about the size of a package of ballpark peanuts but not as heavy. I could tuck it in my courier bag and fly it on the Mall after work or even in my pack while on a 10 day every ounce counts backpacking trip along the AT. Indeed, I flew that Flowform in the shadow of three different Washington Monuments: the big phallic one on the National Mall, the shorter, uglier one erected by the Masons across the river in Alexandria, VA (too close to National Airport to fly it too high) and the original Washington Monument along the Appalachian Trail in Boonsboro, MD. It took a good year before I was able to put together a camera and rig and kite combination able to take a decent picture, but it was a fun kite in the meantime. Eventually, I'll get myself another Flowform but right now I'm still holding a grudge at that faithless floater which left me in the lurch on a Bad Day at Battery Buchanan.

On light wind days I often fly two Delta Conynes in a train as pictured to the left. The top DC in red and black was made from a Hang 'em High 8 foot Delta Conyne kit. The lower is a 7 1/2' DC of the type sold by many kite shops for less than the cost of the kit kite. The Red & Black does fly better than the Made in China special (slightly lighter, slightly larger, higher aspect design, carbon fiber spars and those tres cool DC United colors which were the original motivation for buying the kit) but when I think of the hours I spent sewing that kit by hand, I'm not sure it flies THAT much better. It did provide some motivation to learn how to use that toy sewing machine in the closet. The second kite is flown on a second line. The second line is about 20 feet in length and attaches about 50 feet below the first kite to an alpine butterfly knot in the primary line with a galvanized quick link. It is necessary to bridle the two kites differently otherwise the lower kite will repeatedly snag the main line and go for a power dive. I usually bridle the lower kite further towards the nose so it will fly at a lower angle (slightly behind) the lead kite. You lose some efficiency this way but it's best to keep these two dogs separated.

My primary KAP kite these days is a quasi Rokkaku known as Red Rok 1. There is no Red Rok 2 but I like the way the name flows. I also like the way the kite flies.

The kite is 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The original intent was to built a true Rokkaku but the limiting design factors became the spars I had on hand. I planned to use a 6' bamboo landscaping stake as the main spar and a couple of 4' bamboo tomato stakes as the cross spars. So the kite was going to be 6' x 4'. I've since re-sparred the kite in carbon but the legacy dimensions remain.

This kite too was hand sewn. I've really got to learn how to use that sewing machine. Knowing that it would be hand sewn was another motivating factor in choosing such a simple design.

It's not the light wind performer I'd hoped it would be but in a moderate to strong wind it's as stable a kite as I've seen. Pick a spot in the sky and spot weld Red Rok 1 to it. RR1 pulls very well as well. I'm glad I switched to 300# line, otherwise, I might well be referring to the "former" Red Rok 1 after some breezy days. p>