Ah, those were the days when the boy might have considered joining me for KAP. Enjoy it while you can.

It sounds like you did some useful experiments with fuzzy tails. Maybe a little keychain camera right on the kite recording video would be a good way to compare kite stability.

An SD1100 was also my first kite camera. Great choice.

I think the best lesson is that it doesn't take much wind to fly a kite. You avoided the common mistake of waiting for a windy day to try kite photography.

Can't wait to see your rig flying.

Chris

Chris, agreed on the best lesson being how little wind it takes to fly a kite. Yesterday, I was able to sneak in a 45 minute kite session where I learned the opposite lesson. On the same hilltop, the wind was blowing fairly hard, much more than a breeze. So I took out the 7-foot Hi Sky Delta. As soon as it was in the air, I knew that I would never hang a camera off of it in similar conditions. It darted to either direction fairly violently. I let out all of my line, thinking that cleaner air would make a difference, and it did, to a degree. Brought it back in and attached the fuzzy tail before launching again. That helped a bit too, but not enough that I would risk a camera rig. It took a long time to reel in all the line (haven't finished the new reel yet).

When I looked up the wind speed for our area for the time that I was out, it was between 24-39 km/h (15-24 mph). Now I know.

Another excellent lesson. But part of that lesson is that 25 mph winds are a problem that can be solved with money. A big soft kite like the Parafoil 10 (http://www.brooxes.com/newsite/BBKK/kitesales.html) or a sturdy delta like the nighthawk (https://publiclab.org/notes/cfastie/10-12-2015/pfk-nighthawk-debut-at-leaffest) can handle 25 mph winds if they are steady enough. You might also need 200-300 lb line and good gloves.

I'm excited to hear you're experimenting with the tails in the kite pack to place your camera where you want it. I've had a good bit of success flying off wind by using asymmetrical tails:

here are my notes summarizing my methods and those of others, primarily people who use fishing kites like the Nighthawk delta that @cfastie suggested:

https://publiclab.org/notes/mathew/2-1-2013/how-pauls-fishing-kites-flys-wind https://publiclab.org/notes/mathew/2-1-2013/american-kite-fishing-low-tech-kite-balloon-hybrid https://publiclab.org/notes/mathew/2-14-2013/flying-wind-dazzle-delta

Chris, I've been researching soft kites since my experience yesterday. Perhaps as a reward to myself when I've mastered the basics...

Mathew, I'd read your research notes on flying off-wind with the Dazzle Delta, but those kite-fishing videos were new to me. Very interesting. Thanks a bunch.

Awesome post @Rural! If it's alright with you I'd like to tag it to the blog!

Sure @stevie. With the expectation (and fear) that more people would see my post, I gave it another read and spotted some errors and missing bits of information. I'm not seeing any way to edit the original post. Am I just over-looking something obvious?

You are overlooking something hidden. The edit button is in the "Follow" "Like" bar at upper right.

Chris

Ah! Found it. Thanks. The gear is a red-herring if you are looking to edit.

So I received 1000' of 150-pound Dacron this morning. Early this evening, I dragged my sons out to a nearby football field to try giving a kite 1000' of line. There was enough wind that the Hi Sky Delta was our choice. That went well and uneventfully.

When we got home, I realized that my Redstone-based camera rig only needed about half-an-hour of work to be useable. I finished with was enough time before dark to take it out for a test. So I was back at the park with a hastily filled backpack with some extra bits-and-bobs so that I could anchor the kite and attach the picavet. Not all of the right bits-and-bobs, as it would turn out, but enough that I was able to get the Dazzle Delta and the rig into the sky. With about 500 feet of line out, and only three minutes into the air, things became interesting.

At that point, the Dazzle Delta decided to point its nose back at the Earth. Down it went, with the camera rig on the line. Before it hit the ground, I decided to run backwards to try to keep everything on the football field, but it was out further than I thought. It went down in a nearby trailer park. I could see that the line was draped over power lines, trees, and a row of trailers.

Hastily, I rolled up what line I could, packed up my stuff and left the roll of line in the football field. I followed the line without having to trespass, found the rig was intact and sitting on someone's porch, and the kite was in a small tree right at the far edge of the trailer park. Another twenty feet and it would have been on a well trafficked roadway.

I knocked on a door and eventually got someone to answer. With fear of trespassing charges removed I was able to get to the kite. Detaching the kite from the line was quick and easy since I have recently adopted the Lark's Head knot. Packed up the kite and headed to the camera.

In my haste to launch, I had left the camera in "automatic" mode. So every ten seconds, it would take a picture with the flash. The camera was sitting on the property owner's front patio and the flashing had attracted their attention. They had just stepped outside, in their house-coats, when I walked up. I apologized profusely and they were ultimately relieved when the situation was explained.

I hopped a fence and went back to reel up my line. It only caught once, and was freed with a single tug.

So no equipment lost, property damaged, or charges laid (as of yet). I think I may have even made a friend.

Figure 1. This image was taken as the kite began to rapidly descend. The camera is headed for the patio at the top right.

Figure 2. Ten seconds later the camera is a whole lot closer to the ground and moving fast.

Figure 3. Another ten seconds and the camera has stopped, hanging about six feet off the ground. I found it sitting right next to the garbage can. Very exciting, but no contribution to science was made.

Whew! All's well that ends well!

@Rural Every once in a while a freak gust or wind shift will send a kite headed downwards (or high wind conditions outside the kite's flight range) there's a quick but counter-intuitive fix-- let line out until the kite rights itself, then give it a tug to lock in a clime.

Letting line out is the secret to correcting dives. remember "when in doubt, let line out!"

In the five or so seconds I had to react, I ruminated on giving the kite line or taking it in. Unfortunately, I went with the intuitive solution. On the walk home, I was pretty sure that letting the line out, or running with the wind, would have been a better solution. Its good to get some confirmation for the next time this happens.

Certainly, I was flying at the upper edge of the Dazzle Delta's range. Chalking this up to experience.

We need a lot more stories like this of KAP sessions gone awry; there is a lot more to learn here than when everything goes well. But maybe most of these stories are never shared (or have some details left out) to protect the innocent. Now that I review my 2011 post about losing my new Fled kite to a tree, I see that I neglected to mention that I pulled very hard on the line as the kite dove into the forest. I had no knowledge that the first lesson of kiting should be that pulling the line just encourages errant kites. The Fled should have had a tag which said "Let line out fast to stop a dive" (and also "Do not remove under penalty of crashing").

I am glad Rural's gear survived to provide more stories.