Haulover Park Kite Festival

Lisa, my wife, and I went down to the kite festival today at Haulover park in Miami-Dade County.  The festival was on the bay side of Collins Avenue.  Traffic was unreal getting there, we finally got there about 4:15.  There were still plenty of kites in the air, all shapes and sizes.  It was great to see all the little kids, bigger kids and like me the much older kids having fun flying kites.  There were two or three giant sled kits flying.  The music was great.  Families were there with picnics.  The wind had died down some, but was still moderate.

I got the Enterprise prototype up and flying.  It took a few tries, but once it cleared the trees tops, it was up and gone.  It flew at 50-55 degree angle.  It was out about 300 feet of string, over Biscayne Bay.  Tied it to a palm tree and tried the next one.

I made a new Winged Box kite today, with yellow plastic fabric.  It took about 1½ hours.  Even got a "great looking box kite" comment, as I was getting ready to launch it.  Took a few tries to get the bridle set in the right position.  When it was right, it took off.  Good climbing reaction to tugging on the string.  Let it out all 500'.  It flew at 70-75 degree angle.  It looked great with the yellow kit against the bright blue sky.  Tied it to a tree and brought the Enterprise in.

It was near 6:00, when I tried getting the third kite up and the wind was noticeable lighter.  The third kite is a third or fourth redesign of a tapered Winged Box kite.  First design(four month ago) was a typical aerodynamic shaped wing shaped over the top.  It failed miserable, but as I've learned,  if it doesn't fly like you designed it, flip it, turn it over, re-attach the bridle and try again. Which was attempt two.  Now it flew.  Good angle.  It looked like a delta wing.  The only problem was the bottom vertical dowel keep breaking.

Today, I replaced the broken dowel, cut the delta wing fabric down the middle.  Now it looked like the Apollo space capsule with some extra fabric flapping in the breeze.  Any ways,  put a three point bridle on it.  Adjusted it several times.  Got it 30-40 feet off the ground walking it back.  Just not enough wind to keep it there.  But it will fly given  enough wind.  It might even fly flipped with the wide wings on the bottom.

Unfortunately, I forgot the camera and flip video, but I will pictures up on the site shortly, as well as, diagrams and step by step instructions for the Winged Box kite.

"You have to keep your head up, when you're flying a kite" 

Walker

NASA Beginner's Guide to Kites site

Use the link below to go to NASA Beginner Guide to Kites website.  It provides a lot of information, terminology, principals of flight and even a Interactive Kite Modeler program to help evaluate flight characteristics.  I am looking forward to using it soon.
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/shortk.html

Setup in Progress

This Blog Site is being setup, as time allows.  I hope to have useful information by the end of March.  Eventually, there will be plans and instructions for building your own kites, ordering materials and patterns.  Check back often  Walker