Flying a kite

[jimi]

Presumably one of these new fangled kite sails is great cos it'll get higher where the wind is stronger ( a la Mary Poppins) ho long would the string need to be to get into the jet steam and what lights should I wear at night when so doing?

 

[sheeplove]

String needs to be 9.0556 N miles long. Pink flashing 1 every sec

 

[Vagabond]

Funny, I was thinking of getting a couple of kite surfers kites and try flying them from somewhere near the base of the mast.

 

[sheeplove]

Let me know when - I'd like to take pics.

 

[tyce]

does anyone actually know the point of jimi ever posting on here.
is he just a complete loon

 

[Vagabond]

I'd have to rig up some fixing lines and pop down to Andy Biggs Windsurfing and see if I can pick up a secondhand kite!

 

[Twister_Ken]

>does anyone actually know the point of jimi ever posting on here.<

Yes.

(He is, incidentally, an incomplete loon, despite the fact that when last spotted he was wearing a tie.)

 

[jimi]

Why thank you Tyce, have you tried a kite yet?

 

[Vagabond]

Right ... I can get hold of a kite the only thing is how to I set about flying it!

12m of Kite on the deck is something that may lead to trouble!

If I dump it overboard and fly it in the kitesurfing fashon then I really need to be stationary....

ideas please!

 

[jimi]

Think you'd be better starting off almost dead down wind until its flying?

 

[jimi]

see
[urlwww.dcss.org/speedsl/]http://www.dcss.org/speedsl/[/url]

[image]www.dcss.org/speedsl/cover2.JPEG[/image]

 

[jimi]

Upon reflection, I think that you are right. Things ain't wot they used to be.

 

[Vagabond]

Great idea and I had it in mind .... the SWMBO is a little worried about my ideas....

 

[catmandoo]

I think you had better do some sums first . If I remember Kites also have a vertical lift

You may have to provide stailisers on either side with an aerofoil section to help the boat weight counter the up wart thrust

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

I seem to remember over 20 years ago in the early 80's or so(?) hanging around Lymington with a bunch of us nutters from LTSC (including John Claridge & John Pearce + others if I remember right) with a then young and enthusiastic yacht designer - the bearded nutter of us all - called Rob Humphreys when he was convinced of the future of kites for sailing.
Rob would persuade us of the need to experiment (not that we needed any real persuasion) and so we experimented both on the water in the Solent and off the water in the open spaces of the New Forest with a kite Rob had come up with called 'Jacobs Ladder' if my memory serves me, which always resulted in shed blood and bruises on the aerodrome and sheer terror, followed by capsizes and broken boats on the water! I think we started by using the hull of an International Moth on the water?
Anyway..... the point of this reminiscing is that those days taught me that kites belong to kiters, not to sailors, unless you have a steady platform and intend sailing very long distances in a straight line without needing to turn around!
Great fun...... but..........? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

Remember in the days when I used to turn up for speed week at Portland, there were always a few kite boats to be seen. Good fun watching them tangle the string around the other competitors' bizarre rigs.

Then wind surfers ruined it all.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Twas indeed Jacobs Ladder, and when combined with a boat, she held the outright speed record for a good few years...... before being overtaken by one Baron de Rosenay on a windsurfer.... I remember it well....

Sadly, de Rosenay was later consumed by a shark while windsurfing across a strait somewhere or other than I can't remember leaving behind his stunning wife Jenna...... (who I also remember fondly!)... as she was a top swimsuit model of the time....

 

[Twister_Ken]

>his stunning wife Jenna...... (who I also remember fondly!)... as she was a top swimsuit model of the time.<

Not only that, she was also the first person I saw sailing a sinker.

See her here

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

Wow! Eaten by a shark!? So she's free now /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MoodySabre]

You're not mad Jimi (well, not on this occassion), nor the first to think of it. Yachting Monthly did a test on using a kite sail here:
http://marinedirectory.ybw.com/reprints/results1.jsp