Hello and welcome. This page was put up after a Kite Making Workshop at the Seekonk Library. The outline the speaker spoke from was pasted and then fleshed out some.

DON’T RUN! A) It doesn’t work. B) It is dangerous. C) It can be expensive...

THE COMPLETE, TOTAL SECRET TO KITE FLYING: Know when to pull in string and when to let out string. A kite should fly like it is painted on the sky. If it is doing anything else, there is something wrong with the kite or the flyer. If the kite is pulling, give it string. The farther out the kite is when the wind dies, the more string there is to pull the kite in and keep it flying until the wind comes back.

As your skills improve, and you can feel what the kite is saying through the string, you will learn to let out string, even when the kite is sinking. Why? Distance is life. If you can get the kite OUT, you can always pull it UP. Said another way, if the kite is sinking, and it is going to go down no matter what, GET SOMETHING FOR IT. Let out string as much and as long as you can before the kite hits the ground (or anything else) and then pull the kite up by pulling in the string. What is the kite saying to you? At what height does the string pull more? That is where to let out more string. Distance is life.

Caveat: There is a point of diminishing return. Distance is life, within reason. For kiters, the only real challenge is the first 50 to 100 feet. After that, you are just playing with string. The goal is to get the kite flying and 'locked in', ready to be tied off and left alone. There are people who like to put a kite out of sight. Most kiters want to see and enjoy their kites. Not to mention that when a kite flys at over 500 feet, the FAA takes notice.

MY JOB TODAY IS TO TRY TO GIVE YOU 30 YEARS OF KITING EXPERIENCE IN 30 MINUTES.

THE SECRET KNOT! I got you here under false pretenses. You think you came to learn about kites. You came to learn this knot. Two kinds of people: Knot people and NOT knot people. Don't worry. The Knot won’t be on the quiz. The 'Secret Knot' is a Lark's Head. NOTE: Many 'Kite Knots' are adapted from Climbing Knots. The 'Lark's Head' used in Climbing is a 'Cow Hitch' to boat people, er, sailors. Grog's ties it like this. NOTE: Kiters add a small 'Overhand Loop' at the end of a larger Overhand Loop to make a 'Release Loop', something that is easy to grip to pull to 'release' the flying string from the kite.

Here is a good video of how to tie the 'secret' Lark's Head knot by Bruce Flora of Kiteman Productions. 'Insider' Tip: Bruce is the man behind the Kite Shows at Disneyworld. https://youtu.be/T-ivoIJEMnQ Listen for the comment about snap swivels...

If you have the string from the workshop, remember the instructions: Open up the big loop. Go through the big loop with any two fingers and pinch the string. Pull the pinched string back through the big loop. The pinched part is the part that is needed, the part to work with. Let everything else fall. Insert the knot of the kite. Cinch everything tight. Good to go.

KITES:

Kites are heavier than air.

Kites convert wind to lift.

Wind pushes it up, gravity pushes it down.

Center of Pressure, Center of Gravity, Center of Lift.

Bridle position balances all three.

Wind window. Low wind kites and high wind kites.

Kiters like 12 mph and today is forecast to be 9-14.

Hard to make a kite that is identical left to right.

Bridle positions: To high, too low, just right.

BRIDLE:

The bridle is that 'V' shaped string on the front of many kites. It is attached to the uppy-downy, vertical stick (Spine) in two places. It controls the angle of the kite relative to the wind. Airplane pilots know that 'angle' as 'attitude'. Stay with me. Said another way, a kite with a bad angle has a bad attitude. He is here all week folks.

Here is 30 years of bridle adjusting experience in a sentence or two: If the Tow Point is too close to the top, leading edge, of the kite, the kite will climb wonderfully, then dance and spin unpredictably. If the Tow Point is too low, too close to the bottom or trailing edge of the kite, the kite refuses to climb and mushes along the ground. The 'sweet spot' is to adjust down until the kite no longer climbs, then adjust up just a little. That is the balance point between 'climb' and 'stability'.

TAIL LECTURE: Common wisdom says to add a tail to a misbehaving kite. Common wisdom says that the tail then acts like a rudder to steer the kite up into the sky. Uh huh. That is almost, sort of, kind of, right. What is actually happening is that the tail adds weight, which changes the center of gravity. It adds drag, which pulls the kite lower in the sky, which gives the kite a flatter (more perpendicular) angle to the wind, all of which could have been done by adjusting the bridle downward slightly.

SWIVEL LECTURE. Short version: Never use a fishing swivel on the end of the kite string. Swivels are for things that spin. Hopefully, your kite is not such a thing. Swivels fail. A swivel that is about to fail looks just like a brand new swivel. The ideal way to attach flying string to a kite is using a Lark's Head with a Release Loop.

COMMON MISTAKES:

Sticks in delta. Triangle shaped kites are called 'deltas'. Actually, almost anything triangular shaped is called a delta, as in the mouth of a river. In any case, the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet is 'delta' and is shaped like a triangle. Hence the moniker. An interesting tidbit that was left out of the Library seminar was that the Delta (triangle) kite as we know it was invented by a NASA engineer named Francis Rogallo as a potential re-entry system for Mercury Space Capsules. NASA decided to use plain parachutes for the capsules, but we get to enjoy Rogallo's invention as kites and Hang Gliders.

But, oops, we were going to talk about the front (Leading Edge) sticks in the Delta Kite. They belong down in the wing TIPS, not up in the nose. Why are they in the nose? THE KITE FITS IN THE BAG THAT WAY.

Do not forget the Gremlin. In every house there lives a gremlin that eats, or at least takes, the Spreader stick for Delta kites. When people replace that stick, they stretch the kite tight, and cut the stick that long, and the kite never flys right again. Why? Now the kite is flat, it has no dihedral (bend). An experienced kite flyer or builder cuts the stick an inch or two shorter, the kite now has dihedral (bend) and it flys as though it were painted on the sky.

DIHEDRAL:

Many kites use a plastic piece in the middle to connect the sticks. The plastic piece is attached to the uppy-downy stick (Spine) and it holds two smaller sideways sticks (Spreaders). The plastic piece (dihedral, 'bend') holds the Spreaders at an angle. That angle, that bend, should ALWAYS go away from the flier, away from the wind.

WIND:

It’s all about the wind.

Less at surface because of friction. Better wind higher. I did not say it is always windy higher. But it is better.

Kiters gravitate to shorelines because wind off the water is cleaner.

Quality, not quantity.

Land wind is ‘hole-ey’. Lumpy, bumpy, and unpredictable.

FLYING: DON’T RUN. If there is not enough wind to get it up, there is not enough to keep it up. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of kiters more than someone who runs with a kite. When kiters see someone running with a kite, the people running are almost always running in the wrong direction. Where is the kite? Upside down, dragging along the ground, breaking every bone it its body. Don’t run. People are so busy running that they do not notice when their string crosses someone else’s. Most kite string today is synthetic which means it has a low melting point, which means that when two strings cross, the string that is moving the fastest will probably cut right through the other one. So the kiter that is minding their own business has just lost a kite because of someone doing everything wrong who does not even know anything happened. Don't run.

TAKE IT FOR A WALK. Less wind at surface because of friction. Have someone walk the kite down wind. Pull the kite up into the better wind. Hold the string and drop the string winder. It is okay. Drop the winder and use both hands to pull the kite up into the sky. When the kite starts pulling, it is easy to let out string and pick up the winder.

KEEPING KITES OUT OF TREES. There are a lot of trees outside. The good news is, if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. They don’t move around much. You kinda know where they are. Stay out of their way, and they will stay out of yours.

STRING. Can’t fly kites without string. String is either your best friend or your worst enemy. And that is entirely up to you. TWISTS. The string that we are using today: I tie the knots in the end. When I tie the knots in the end, I unwind at least a foot of string. And it twists into a pigtail. That is not fair to you. So I comb out the twists with a couple of stakes in the ground. Said another way, I rewind every one of these flying strings. I run the string between two stakes in the ground to comb out the twists.

How do twists get into kite string? Let's think about how you wind up your kite string. Do you wind around your spool or handle? Every time the string goes around, that is a full twist in the string. When you wind in - PICK A NUMBER - CHANGE HANDS. Wind so many times with one hand, putting twists in, then change hands and wind the same number of times using the other hand, canceling out the twists put in.

WHERE DO KITE FLIERS FLY THEIR KITES?

It is all about the wind. Kiters like open fields where the wind is not obstructed by hills, trees or buildings. Kiters tend to head to shorelines to get wind coming across open water that has no obstructions. They go there for the QUALITY, not the quantity.

Wind. Wind is the air pressure(s) of the earth equalizing each other. Wind is air flowing from areas of high air pressure to areas of low pressure. Then, since the Earth is a rotating sphere, Coriolis Effect kicks in. That means that air tends to flow clockwise around areas of high pressure, and counter-clockwise around areas of low pressure. No worries. None of that will be on the Quiz.

To visualize air movement, otherwise known as wind, windfinder.com is a wonderful site.

This page is geared towards people in southeastern New England. The primary flying site in southeastern New England is Brenton Point State Park in Newport, Rhode Island - most of the time. Why only most of the time? This page is based on the Seekonk Library Workshop. The folks who attended that workshop learned that it is all about the wind. Brenton Point has great 'wind exposure' for a wind that is coming from the South thru the West. Any other direction, expect lumpy, bumpy, throw-the-kite-around wind. How do you know what wind is or will be? Windfinder for Second Beach in Middletown is the best forecast.

What does a kiter do when the wind direction is lousy for Newport? They head for Colt State Park, half way down the east side of the bay in Bristol, RI. Kiters go past the rotary (circle, roundabout), past the Boat Launch, past the Old Stone Bridge, past the parking lot on the right and past the statue, and park in the first lot on the right that faces west towards Rocky Point. The big field on the left, that has water if there has been ANY rain, is where they fly. There is also a great open area to fly just north of that parking area. The 'perfect' wind for Colt State Park is Northwest. Anything from North to West will do. South or east, not so much. What is the wind forecast for Colt State Park? The Castle Island (Coast Guard) is great on Windfinder.

On the west side of the bay, Rocky Point is a great place to fly kites. There is a big, open grassy field next to plenty of parking.

Questions, comments, critiques? Rattle my cage and send me an email: CLICK HERE.