Anyone else like to put up a "place marker"?

What's your favorite single line kite to chill out with when not power kiting??

Ok... single line kites are not sky trash. Most of the time when out buggy'n, we're the only ones out there. I like to put up a single line kite or two as a marker to where I am parked, and as a wind indicator for direction and strength.

My favorite is a Red Flowform with a big red tail. I can almost tell what size power kite to put up just by how the tail/kite is reacting with the wind. That and they pack down into a fairly small bag since there is no framework.

But most any kite that likes to fly high in the wind works well. Flowforms and Delta Conynes are my personal favorites... and if there is enough room as to not get into the way, then sometimes I add some line junk (spinning wheels, tubes, flags, etc)

Lol.... just goes to show... one mans trash is anothers treasure.

Let's have SteveP post a picture of his 20' Delta with american and Armed service flags on the line line below (in the right order). It's spectacular.

He is prohibited from flying it over 400" 'cause it shows up on radar and pisses off Homeland Security

Oh yeah.... that's a big kite!

Ask the men and women serving our country if the picture on the left is sky trash. Everytime I display this kite vets from all military branches come up to us and say thank you.

Here's a shot from the St. Augustine Fest earlier this year.

Yes, that is a a very patriotic kite and the flags really help to make it stand out. I used to fly an American flag all the time off of one of mine, but the flag finally became so thread bare in the wind that I retired it.

I jokingly titled the original topic "Sky Trash". I've got an assortment of single line kites, and am still expanding my collection of them. There's a lot of creativity and effort that goes into them, which makes them an art form in itself. Buggy'n past a Gomberg or Peter Lynn show kite is a fantastic experience... then again, just seeing kites like that is impressive no matter what your doing.

Single line kites are not power kites, but it seems that many of us have a favorite one we like to fly now and then. On a windy day where I'm taking a break from the sporting side of kiting, I've been known to see how many delta conynes I can put together in a train. Always fun for me, even though it seems to end with a giant spiral of death once I get more than four kites on it.

Not all power kiters fly single line kites, and not all single liners get why we do what we do... but it's all fun when powered by the wind. (and I really do buggy with the kite shown on the left now and then)

Does anyone have a closeup of this kite (SteveP's) in a high resolution? I would love to have it as one of the pictures on my screensaver slideshow. Also, what is used to anchor this kite? I would hate to be holding it and then the wind speed double! You can't just fly it over to the side and land it if things get hairy. They sell kites that are similar I think at into the wind, but their biggest one is 11 feet. I'd really be interested in the story behind this kite if it is on a webpage somewhere.

No that kite is definately not sky trash. Up till now, we've been throwing up a sled with a SYF/Dancing Bears flag. We'll still fly that. But both wife and I agree we'll fly another marker - US Navy for nephew and wife currently in the Green Zone, USMC for our daughter, and POW-MIA so we never forget.

Thanks SteveP...

Bobby
I may have a high res of that at home and will check later. Steve uses a mobile-home tie-down anchor. long steel bar with an auger-like disk about 5" accross that screws down into the sand about 2 feet. Bring the camper and the family down to the Treasure Island Kite Festival in Clearwater on the weekend of Jan 19 and see for yourself. It will be a gas.

I could pull that off if it wasn't 9 hours away and only a 3 day weekend. That would really be a blast to be around so many kites for sure.

I will be at T.I. again! Hopefully the wind will blow this yr. Angus i might need to barrow a buggy for a little bit during the weekend. I will have revs and a few big and small arcs with me............aj

Quote:

Originally posted by action jackson I will be at T.I. again! Hopefully the wind will blow this yr. Angus i might need to barrow a buggy for a little bit during the weekend. I will have revs and a few big and small arcs with me............aj

You are making my 9 hour drive look piddly with your 16 hour drive. How many days are you making of it?

aj, no problem, you bring the wind and I'll bring the bugs.

I have a couple of Wind socks ( that a rarely use ) .

Sometimes I tie one on my arial if I'm riding by my car. Other times I'll tie it to my bag / peg / ice screw. They serve 2 purposes. Marking my base + indicating wind direction.

Canadian Flag design 'cause I'm patriotic too :D

I’ll buggy at a reservoir that during the summer gets low from farmers using the water for irrigating farmland. So when it’s dry, there is a wonderful area with all kinds of terrain and rolling slopes and flats.
We’ll put up homemade sleds, sometimes flat kites, always larger enough to see out of the corner of your eye.

Usually we do that for wind direction, it will indicate if the wind starts clocking from a different direction, giving you an idea of where you can go in the varied lake bottom landscape.

If the wind dies too much to buggy, we’ll break out the fighter kites.

Always good to have a flag flying that your proud of!

This is definitely NOT a Sky trash. This is a shot I took during the Berkeley Kite Fest '07. I just found it while post-processing some old shots I took last summer.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/elkiter/_MG_8300.jpg

e

I was looking for the name of a decent single line for the same reason as taper123, as a flag to where I am. Crosshatch knows that would have helped a ton!

Might want to think about a small sled with a flag off its line, or maybe a delta with a long tail. We like the Premier 24 sled and flag- nothing to put together, and can handle anything up to about 20 or 25 mph. Others use parafoils, large and small. Just about anything will work - it's all a matter of personal preference.