Kite Flying

[K'Tesh]

dhbarr..... what's the winder you've got there?

I've got an 8' flexifoil and a couple other less fancy kites, but haven't flown them in a while. Might pick it up again in the spring. I need new lines for a lot of them.

-Hans

I have a stack of 8 six foot stackers back home... That was the kite that put me in the hospital with my first TBI (October 8, 1989), over on Brill Hill in Bucks, UK.

If your kite can't kill you, it's too small.

 

[K'Tesh]

I'm genuinely curious as to how this happens. Like, does one go actively searching for a thread about kites in a model rocketry forum? Or was it the result of a Google search on kites? It would be more understandable if it was a recently created thread, but this one was likely buried.

Say what you will, it's active again now.

 

[K'Tesh]

For some reason, this thread reminded me of this...



And I love my Frog (my niece)!!!

 

[HHaase]

I have a stack of 8 six foot stackers back home... That was the kite that put me in the hospital with my first TBI (October 8, 1989), over on Brill Hill in Bucks, UK.

If your kite can't kill you, it's too small.

....... I'm awkwardly trying to decide if I should give you a high-five or a hug.

 

[mbeels]

I have a stack of 8 six foot stackers back home... That was the kite that put me in the hospital with my first TBI (October 8, 1989), over on Brill Hill in Bucks, UK.

If your kite can't kill you, it's too small.

What is a "TBI"? I'm a bit afraid to ask. Thyroid Bone Intrusion? Therapeutic Blister Injection?

 

[_kestrel_]

If your kite can't kill you, it's too small.

My wife says I'm not allowed to fly my biggest parafoil by myself. This after it picked my up and drug me across a field, leaving me grass stained and bruised. It was a windier day than I had normally been flying it and the first cut across the wind window caught me a bit off guard. I've since flown it in stronger winds knowing what it was capable of. Currently looking at getting a new Flexifoil or Ozone.

 

[mbeels]

It was a windier day than I had normally been flying it and the first cut across the wind window caught me a bit off guard.

I had a similar experience, I got a dog stake and a pulley, so I could run the parachute line through the pulley. It pulls me down, instead of up, which is easier for my imposing (not) 140 lb frame to handle.

 

[K'Tesh]

What is a "TBI"? I'm a bit afraid to ask. Thyroid Bone Intrusion? Therapeutic Blister Injection?

Traumatic Brain Injury... AKA: "Concussion"

 

[K'Tesh]

....... I'm awkwardly trying to decide if I should give you a high-five or a hug.

A high five would be safer... Typically I was getting dragged down the beach at about 20mph. I was even able once to go waterskiing, when I hit a puddle on the beach, and due to the lift and angle, I hydroplaned.

It was a "near" hug, that caused me to go over the edge of Brill Hill, to my concussion below. I lost my footing while the kite were in the power cone. I started getting dragged towards a 3 year old girl who froze at the sight of me being dragged towards her at some speed. I had 3 options at that point... slide into her (would have seriously hurt her, and quite possibly me), jump left, into the side of a parked car (to my injury), or try to get down the hill by jumping right. Once I went over the edge, my downhill leg collapsed under me, and I ended up power jumping into the ground headfirst.

 

[mbeels]

Traumatic Brain Injury... AKA: "Concussion"

Ouch.

 

[cbwho]

I'm genuinely curious as to how this happens. Like, does one go actively searching for a thread about kites in a model rocketry forum? Or was it the result of a Google search on kites? It would be more understandable if it was a recently created thread, but this one was likely buried.

Perhaps my being exists outside of the 4th dimension where there is no past or future?

 

[cbwho]

A high five would be safer... Typically I was getting dragged down the beach at about 20mph. I was even able once to go waterskiing, when I hit a puddle on the beach, and due to the lift and angle, I hydroplaned.

It was a "near" hug, that caused me to go over the edge of Brill Hill, to my concussion below. I lost my footing while the kite were in the power cone. I started getting dragged towards a 3 year old girl who froze at the sight of me being dragged towards her at some speed. I had 3 options at that point... slide into her (would have seriously hurt her, and quite possibly me), jump left, into the side of a parked car (to my injury), or try to get down the hill by jumping right. Once I went over the edge, my downhill leg collapsed under me, and I ended up power jumping into the ground headfirst.

I have a knife with me if my biggest gets out of control. One time I had to cut the line. Without the stabilization, the kite came down and I retrieved it...

 

[tsmmiller]

As most kids in the boonies do, you play with what you can find.
In this case an old parachute. We did everything from pulling us on a sled, tying it to the goal post at the football field. It got away from us, trying to reel it in my buddy got tangled and drug across the parking lot, composed for crushed red cinders. It took about 10 seconds to wear thru his Levi’s and undies into his bare skin.
I got tangled in it trying to stop him and the parachute, jerked off my feet and broke three ribs. I made it out of the hospital before he did.
After that episode we cut it up to make a kite. Just a small 17 foot delta. We flew that on 1/8 parachord. The thing is still in the shed at my moms.
I didn’t learn, I still love and fly all sorts of high power kites, I’m just better at it now.
For me the best place to fly around “here” is at the beach located on the South Jetty, Columbia River and Pacific Ocean. Lots of room, no ignorant folks walking into a dangerous flight zone.

 

[K'Tesh]

I have a knife with me if my biggest gets out of control. One time I had to cut the line. Without the stabilization, the kite came down and I retrieved it...

My harness had an "Ejection" system (seatbelt buckles leading to each handle attached to the strap that went behind my back), but I was disinclined to release >$1K in kites to crash into the ground, and I didn't have time to even think of the option, and cutting 300lb test line would have been heartbreaking (but head saving).

 

[HHaase]

I would like to pick up another flexifoil stacker at some point, doesn't even really matter what size. But they're not easy to find since they were discontinued. They claimed a re-release was going to happen a few years ago but I never saw anything come out.

-Hans

 

[Five]

Someone mention kites?

 

[K'Tesh]

I would like to pick up another flexifoil stacker at some point, doesn't even really matter what size. But they're not easy to find since they were discontinued. They claimed a re-release was going to happen a few years ago but I never saw anything come out.

-Hans

I'd love to pick up another pair of Hawaiian Team Kites... Those were fun... Sounded like nothing else in the sky, and were quite the workout when flown stacked.

My stacked kites include the plastic skinned Trilby Kites (6), the nylon Trilby Kites (8), a pair of Hawaiian Team Kites, 4' long Flexifoils (3), and the stack of 8 6' Flexis. I'd love to fly a stack of Double French Military Kites someday.

 

[Funkworks]

This thread is mind-boggling for many reasons.

In any case, all I can say about kites is the first time I tried one worth more than $10, they took it away from me because I kept crashing it into the ground. I just couldn't resist trying "stunts".

 

[Five]

This thread is mind-boggling for many reasons.

In any case, all I can say about kites is the first time I tried one worth more than $10, they took it away from me because I kept crashing it into the ground. I just couldn't resist trying "stunts".

They?