Liferaft kites

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Graham_Wright

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When I were a lad;- my folks bougth me a kite that had been designed for (I believe) an airborne life raft as fitted to WW2 aircraft. It was superbly packed in a long thin canvas sleeve and could be assembled in a matter of minutes.

Having just returned from the Med and spent ages watching the kite surfers, it struck me that the distance from which the kites could be seen (miles) could be an idea picked up for liferaft use. Before deployment, the kite could occupy a very small space and could even be fitted with inflable arms (on a small scale like the kite surfers kites). Developing the idea, it could even provide some propulsion but probably only downwind. Add radar reflective material? Bit unstable for that possibly. Wind or solar powered light?

Anybody know of any history of such an idea?
 
Available here. Doubles up as an inflatable splint and a body warmer (so they say).

08:40 and I'm already bored - it's going to be a long day... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Andy
 
I spoke to some guys selling kites at the last boat show I went too. They said the main problem would be keeping the correct tension in the control lines as he said if the control lines do go slack the control line would tangle and become useless.

The kite I saw were inflatable so would be ideal as no long poles would be required.
 
I have one of these ex MOD ones at home (bobbin of flying cord mislaid at the moment)
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Here are my thoughts on it, FWIW.

Flying a kite will require active control by someone on the LR. In the first hours after getting into the LR, no-one might be strong enough (either mentally or physically) to do this. Putting the kite into the raft would add to the "task loading" of already stressed people. They might feel obliged to try it and in doing so make their situation worse.

You would have to consider whether the kite should be designed for light winds or strong winds - it is unlikely to work in both.

Would it be attached to an individual or to the LR? If the individual, the risk is he will be pulled out of the LR by a gust, or let go of the lines and lose the kite. If attached to the LR, the attachment point would have to be VERY strong.

What would be the purpose in flying the kite? If it is for increased visibility, you would either hope that - someone sees it who wouldn't have seen the raft alone AND recognises that it represents a LR/people in distress; or it makes the LR easier to find, for someone who is looking for it (this is possible - but how much more visible would it be?).

If the purpose is to move the LR, I can only think this would be useful for people who face a very long stay in the LR. In most cases I would have thought you would want the LR to stay close to the place the boat went down - it will make the job easier for searchers. If you are going to be in the LR for weeks, perhaps it would make sense to get moving as quickly as possible to wherever the wind might blow you.

IMO kites might be worthwhile for long distance cruisers - to help move the boat in the event of a mid-ocean dismasting. I don't really see the utility of having one in a LR.

Much better to spend the money on an EPIRB and/or a satphone.
 
When I was in the RAF a friend at Lossiemouth had one of these, we took it out to the beach one day to try it in a fair bit of breeze. It is a very powerful piece of kit and took two of us to hold it!!

In the right conditions I am sure it could move a liferaft, but perhaps not necessarily in the right direction !
 
I had one exactly the same as this between about 1955 - 1958. It was a most remarkable kite, would fly itself right out of my hand and required absolutely no attention once it was in the air. It would fly all day and I often launched it before going to school and recovered it when I came home for tea. (Don't know why, it's just one of those things that young boys do) Made in dayglo material I would imagine that it could be a very useful identifier of a liferaft seen from a craft on the surface.
 
I seem to remember that the main purpose for the kite provided with R A F dinghies was to hold up the long radio aerial. They were not intended to be in any way steerable, in fact the dinghies had drogues and pockets designed to minimise movement on the basis that they'd be centring the search at the point you went down.
 
Pagetslady said:
Wow that takes me back to around 1948 my dad gave me one, first time I flew it on Hordle cliff it lifted me off the ground and dragged me through a Goorse bush most uncomfortable Mike
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I do wonder what makes peeps respond to 13 yr old threads? It might take YOU back... But how did you trip over it?
 
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Is the purpose increased visibility, in which case a big stable orange thing (box kite) would undoubtedly help, flying a couple of hundred feet up in clear air, or is it traction, in which case a modern surfers' kite would provide an opportunity?
 
Max Campbell said:
Is the purpose increased visibility, in which case a big stable orange thing (box kite) would undoubtedly help, flying a couple of hundred feet up in clear air, or is it traction, in which case a modern surfers' kite would provide an opportunity?
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To be visible over a long distance requires a big kite. A couple of weeks ago, someone was flying a vast, brightly coloured kite at the Naze tower at Walton on the Naze, and it was easily visible at Walton pier - perhaps a mile or so away. But that was about 2-3 metres long! A kite that would fit in a liferaft wouldn't show up over any great distance. As others have mentioned, the point of the RAF kite was to lift an antenna, not to be visible.

I did once have an experience that suggests a possible role for a kite, though. I was flying an aluminized mylar dragon kite with a very long tail on a long line. Suddenly a couple of jets came past at what looked like rooftop level, and buzzed the kite. I think it had shown up as a target on radar, prompting investigation.

So, a kite flown as a radar target sounds like a better bet than increasing visibility.
 
Didn't somebody a few years back invent a helium balloon with radar reflector to be used to help locate a LR or MOB? would seem to need much less active management than a kite.
 
Kelpie said:
Didn't somebody a few years back invent a helium balloon with radar reflector to be used to help locate a LR or MOB? would seem to need much less active management than a kite.
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A properly designed kite needs no management, and also doesn't need a tank of helium. There are plenty of kites that are launch and leave - for example, the "hawk" kites used to scare birds.
 
In the days before GPS, I can see a kite being a very good idea, especially if aluminised, but it seems it would take up a lot more of the limited space available than an EPIRB and be useless in either very light or very strong winds. I think I'd rather have the EPIRB these days
 
Kelpie said:
Didn't somebody a few years back invent a helium balloon with radar reflector to be used to help locate a LR or MOB? would seem to need much less active management than a kite.
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A good few years ago, I remember someone trying to market a kite made from reflective material designed to be a life raft radar reflector but Google not showing any results. Kites sometimes used by Kayakers could be made out of reflective film.

TopKayaker.Net's To Sit-on-top Kayak Kite Sailing

Sky Alert Parafoil Rescue Kite
 
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