Anyone else fly kites?

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Cope

Cope

Fusing with fire
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So kite flying has become one of my strange addictions. Im big into model aircraft flight, fixed wing and rotor wing.

A few years ago i randomly bought a kite for my sister's little girls. They were a little bit to young to fly it but they really enjoyed seeing it up in the air. Turns out i also realy enjoyed seeing it up in the air.

While they may not offer the satisfaction of of a high dollar flying model they do give me a strange amout enjoyment.

No lie, i have way more money into kites now than i will admit. Like a stupid amout.. but I enjoy it as dose my lady and my mom.
Its something we can all do together, is low stress and just downright entertaining and enjoyable.

Our new thing (the last few years) is we take my mom, my ladys mom and we attend the Berkeley kite festival. We all fly kites and its a GREAT time.

Heres some pics from today. If anyone lives near Berkeley Ca. Its well worth the trip.

The big kites are tied to one ton pickup trucks, 100' long and take half a dozen guys to get in the air.

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Go fly a kite!

Its fun, low impact and burns calories!

Enjoy!
 
My sis' fiancee fly's a kite every night after work (4pm-ish) up on his roof deck. Grabs a beer, hooks up the kite, sits down and lets it fly. Only lost one, and he found it the next day on his doorstep! Seems everyone in the neighborhood knows he's the kite guy. He has a few biplane kites and my favorite, a 3 mast 9 sail clipper ship (needs a pretty steady wind). We have lots of harness kites at the beach, crazy guys!
 
My mom is a big fan of launch the kite from her chair, let it out, tie it off and enjoy the show.

I have seen the clipper ship kite, its cool. I also have a love for boats....

I more enjoy the multi line stunt kites as it just amazes me what a kite can do. I always thought of kites as the single line ones we had as kids. The modern day stunt kite can do amazing things.
 
There was a vacant lot less than a block away when we were kids. Used to go up there a lot and fly kites. Then, a couple of young boys were electrocuted to death when their kite got wrapped up in power lines and the then mayor, Ronnie Thompson, (my 2nd cousin) made it illegal to fly kites in the city limits.

It didn't matter. The vacant lot was sold off and dentist offices and a bank were built there. Lots of good memories on that dirt lot, though.
 
So? Dont fly kites near high tension lines?

Noted.

Glad you had fun tho!

Hell,.maybe give it another go? Away from the power lines this time?

You can buy a folding chair and a high quality kite for 20 bucks each.

Add in a six pack or a glass of what ever and let her rip!
 
We made a kite out of newspaper and dowels, it was about 5X4 feet diamond with a long tail. We used some sort of fishing line one of the dads had and let her go. We got it so far out there that we couldn't even see it anymore. cut it loose...

1988 I made one on San Clemente Island during a 10 day Marine ammo guard duty assignment. Nothing to do on a deserted end of the island so I made a kite out of an illumination flare parachute I found (on a bombing range) and comm wire. Ran it up and it flew! Not the smartest to fly it with wire but that's all we had there, miles of it! Turned out pretty good.
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Cope said:
So? Dont fly kites near high tension lines?

Noted.

Glad you had fun tho!

Hell,.maybe give it another go? Away from the power lines this time?

You can buy a folding chair and a high quality kite for 20 bucks each.

Add in a six pack or a glass of what ever and let her rip!
Click to expand...

We have a nice RC airplane field up the road. I don't know if they'd let us in with kites when they're not using it or not. I guess I could find out.
 
Boy, did this thread bring back an almost-forgotten memory of watching my dad make a homemade kite out of sticks, string, newspaper and glue. He made a tail out of rags and we flew it in the field across the street from where I grew up.
Thanks for bringing this memory back! I lost my dad when I was only 7 years old. Amazing what's still stored in the memory bank after all these years.
 
I would LOVE to have a nice modle aircraft park near me!

Sadly, its against the law to fly (model aircraft) in parks here (CA) and our AMA fields are few and far between. So i just fly where i can and dam the man!
 
Heres a modern quad line kite video.
The kite can do way more, this is just a good flyer messing with a kid.


 
Cope said:
I would LOVE to have a nice modle aircraft park near me!

Sadly, its against the law to fly (model aircraft) in parks here (CA) and our AMA fields are few and far between. So i just fly where i can and dam the man!
Click to expand...

Next time we go to town, I'll get a picture or two and post them. It's pretty nice. Haven't seen anyone out there in a while, but it's been kept up so maybe we've just been missing them.
 
I doubt any members would an issue with you flying a kite there. A lot of flying model guys dont want to fly in the wind and the guys who do "enjoy playing in the wind" so those folks wouls enjoy playing with your kite.

They wont be first time flyers.
 
ocdart said:
Boy, did this thread bring back an almost-forgotten memory of watching my dad make a homemade kite out of sticks, string, newspaper and glue. He made a tail out of rags and we flew it in the field across the street from where I grew up.
Thanks for bringing this memory back! I lost my dad when I was only 7 years old. Amazing what's still stored in the memory bank after all these years.
Click to expand...

Glad i could bring that back for your.

All the plain white kites in my pics are made by parents and kids. There must be a few hundred of them. Today one got its line cut and was flying out to the bay. I caught the end of the line and held it for a long while. After about 30 min of no one coming for it i gave it to a small boy and him and his dad were still flying it hours later when i packed up and left.

That was a good feeling. Most of my time at the festival i spend helping people "tune" their kites or just launching kites that have hit the ground.

Sometimes when i crash my trick kites ill find a kid near by and let them "launch" the kite. They love it when they "launch the kite, even tho im flying it the entire time) it rockets up into a spin or starts doing spins and tricks. They just clap and laugh.....
 
Cope said:
Heres a modern quad line kite video.
The kite can do way more, this is just a good flyer messing with a kid.


Click to expand...

I grew up in HB. Spent more than one day on that pier...

be this guy....
image.jpg
 
I have a "modified" box kite, that some bich will pull your arms off. I have no doubts that you hook a few in line and it will lift a grown man.
 
Cope said:
So kite flying has become one of my strange addictions. Im big into model aircraft flight, fixed wing and rotor wing.

A few years ago i randomly bought a kite for my sister's little girls. They were a little bit to young to fly it but they really enjoyed seeing it up in the air. Turns out i also realy enjoyed seeing it up in the air.

While they may not offer the satisfaction of of a high dollar flying model they do give me a strange amout enjoyment.

No lie, i have way more money into kites now than i will admit. Like a stupid amout.. but I enjoy it as dose my lady and my mom.
Its something we can all do together, is low stress and just downright entertaining and enjoyable.

Our new thing (the last few years) is we take my mom, my ladys mom and we attend the Berkeley kite festival. We all fly kites and its a GREAT time.

Heres some pics from today. If anyone lives near Berkeley Ca. Its well worth the trip.

The big kites are tied to one ton pickup trucks, 100' long and take half a dozen guys to get in the air.

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Go fly a kite!

Its fun, low impact and burns calories!

Enjoy!
Click to expand...
That is pretty cool when I was a kid we had this huge kite we use to take to the beach and fly every year it was challenging to hang on too it would create alot of resistance,not like the little dollar tree kites that lasted a day like most kids have. Idk what ever happened to it.
That is alot of people flying kites it seems like that would become a big tangled mess very quickly!
 
Here in Chino, all of our power lines are underground.
I sometimes fly a kite - attached to my fishing pole!
The neighbors think I'm odd.....lol

Jeff
 
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Yes, I picked up the hobby a few years ago from my brother in law, down at the beach. I have about a dozen and a half and I fly up to 4 at a time. I use screw in ground anchors and hook the reels on them so I can lounge in a beach chair and enjoy them. I like the spinning ones and the inflatables. I found a place to get some pretty neat squid kites for $4 and I bought a dozen to give away to anyone who approaches me on the beach to tell me that their kids love my kites. Some people give me a look like “what’s the catch”! (There is no catch- I’m just paying it forward to remember the fun times I had flying kites with my dad.)
 
Nice!
Yeah i use the screw in dog anchors from pet stores and usually have at least 3 or 4 up at once.

How do you like the box kite in that last pic?
Im on the fence about getting one like it.
The one i pictured was doing fairly well.
 
Cope said:
Nice!
Yeah i use the screw in dog anchors from pet stores and usually have at least 3 or 4 up at once.

How do you like the box kite in that last pic?
Im on the fence about getting one like it.
The one i pictured was doing fairly well.
Click to expand...
It’s a little hard to fly it. It needs a lot of wind, but it looks cool.
 
The new 11 foot delta, heavy lifting kite showed up today!

I also got twin 46 foot tails, a six foot spinning wind sock, a four foot spinning wind sock, a 20 inch spinning F stop star and an 18 inch spinning star.

This baby is gonna be lifting some weight!
My lady was good enough to show it while not wearing any clothes...:rofl:

Just kidding, shes just to small to be seen while holding it.
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After opening the 18 inch spinning star i have doubts about this stuff ever going back in its bags. Thank goodness i wrestled a lot of tents back into bags they didn't want to fit into!
:lol:
 
Where online do you like to shop? Like to get something to fly with grandkids. Recommendations for beginner?
 
I haven't flown a kite in a long time, but people keep telling me I should...
 
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