Adelaide Kiting Events Posts

Our local kite club is AKFA—the Adelaide Kite Flyers Association. Occasionally, local businesses or organizations invite AKFA to attend. The appearance of large kites adds to the appeal of the event!

These short flight reports once appeared in the site blog page, although that blog is no longer being published.

Just scroll down and stop at any kiting detail that appeals :-)  There's a photo with most of the reports, taken on the day.

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Kite Club Tested

Once again, local club flyers were invited to a large public event which coincided with our regular monthly fly.

The large Myponga Reservoir south of Adelaide was being opened up to public access. It was a significant event complete with news crews, politicians, stalls, and live music. But this report will stick to the kites of course :-)

To begin with there was a lot of standing around while other happenings took precedence over the launching of large kites. Mind you, the kids got going early with a stall offering cheap mass-produced deltas. Many of the pure-white kites were being towed around near the stall that sold them. A few got dragged roughly over the ground, making a few of us more experienced flyers wince. Why all the towing? There was practically no wind!

Gradually, thermal activity started to kick in. The warmed air at least provided a bit of a soft puff now and again, from different directions.

A few of us took out our best light-wind kites and did a whole lot of line working to try and get some air time.

As thermals got stronger, I managed to loft my 2 m (7 ft.) span Carbon Diamond right under a developing cloud. Unusually, the lift region stayed put since there was so little breeze to drift it off downwind. Hence the big diamond cruised around right overhead on the full 250-foot length from the reel. This went on for minutes on end! It was fascinating to watch, with great ripples and bows forming in the 200-pound Dacron line as the kite moved around.

A couple of large soaring birds joined the kite, but soon the creatures were 1,000 feet or more above it. The birds circled, climbing steadily in the invisible bubble of warm air. Not a flap occurred the whole time.

Finally, some more consistent breeze came through and other club members started to join in with large header kites and inflatables. However, the very active conditions meant there was often turbulence and very pronounced lulls in the breeze. During each one of those, everything came down! At least the crowd got to see a decent glimpse of a number of large show kites in action—from time to time :-|

The event was a bit disappointing from a kite-flyers perspective,  but the crowd definitely got to see some spectacle!

Club Demo At Yorketown

The local club had been invited to demonstrate kiting at Yorketown, a town on the peninsula across the gulf from the city of Adelaide.

On arrival we found the large oval was strewn with large kites either struggling to stay up or lying on the ground. A light breeze was flowing through, but this was an inland location. You have to be prepared for a little chaos! Buildings and grandstands were also casting a long wind shadow over the middle of the field.

Mark had a couple of deltas up that were doing OK. Plus he had his double delta conyne.

Ian and Elly had given up on the big dragon inflatable for a while, and their Panda flowform was struggling. Great swirls from those obstacles upwind would occasionally upset the soft lifting kites. They would list to one side, collapse, flop to the ground then minutes later reinflate and float up again!

Andy had his pilot kite up but was having no luck getting the big octopus off the deck. Talking about swirls, Andy's huge caterpillar inflatable did a quick barrel-roll around the main flying line!

Henry and Fiona were flying the large white parafoil as usual. This light-wind kite also succumbed to the erratic conditions at times.

A couple of new members, Dean and Justine, had another big four-cell parafoil up. They had plenty of line laundry waiting to fly.

Shah had found a good spot to demonstrate his flair for flying four-line stunt kites. He also pulled out a light-wind two-liner.

Then the breeze died completely, and all kites sank to the grass and stayed there for an hour or two.

Quite suddenly, over just two or three minutes it seemed, the breeze was back. And it was somewhat smoother now. It wasn't long before just about every big show kite was up, with a full complement of non-flying or semi-flying inflatables suspended from each line. Dragons, dogs, fish, tigers, you name it, it was up! Besides the octopus there was a large ray and cuttlefish floating well clear of the grass.

I had the 2.4 m (8 ft.) span Multi-Dowel Barndoor ready, so it was soon in the air. My bamboo-skewer KAP rig dangled from the line as I took a couple of series of aerial photos.

That was Saturday. Sunday turned out much windier, but it was still pretty tricky for the kites due to the roughness of the air. And still no sun appeared! With limited space to fly it was not possible to place all the kites above 200 feet where they would find much less turbulence.

All the same, Sunday's weather did enable a nearly complete showing of all the kites and line laundry the club members had brought along. Aren and I pulled out the Peter Powell MkIII for some stunt flying. May (my wife) had a go as well.

Regarding the whole event, the organizers had no complaints :-) The highest kites were visible from all over town.

Kites in the Playground

It wasn't what you're thinking ;-)

Each year, the huge St. Kilda Playground at the northern fringe of Adelaide is the venue for Salisbury Plays. This is a large event that draws the public in for a variety of leisure activities. That includes ... kite flying, of course.

The local club was there to demo large show kites, plus some others like my 2.4 m (8 ft.) Multi-Dowel Barn Door. This kite is often used for KAP on sunnier days :-|

From mid-morning onward, the light breeze was on and off, but the large inflatable kites got just enough air time to impress the crowd. These conditions can be a bit frustrating for the "serious" kite flyers since it involves a lot of walking back and forth relaunching the lifters. And when those big parafoil lifters go up, you can't miss 'em—even from kilometers away, if you're driving toward or past the field.

A local kite business was selling small kites to kids and adults. These were good, sound designs that could be seen flying here and there in the large grassed area adjacent to the play equipment and slides.

Some people came up to us with an eagle kite that apparently had no assembly instructions included. It took a few minutes of head-scratching, but soon we had all the right bits threaded through all the right loops and poked into all the right pockets. There was a bit more to it than just inserting a simple delta spreader! I got the kite to about 50 feet before handing the winder back to its satisfied owner.

Finally, the breeze dropped out almost completely, and rain drops started to fall. The big show kites and other inflatables were packed away.

And then, while optimistically rigging the barn door, the weather turned. First, the spitting rain became a constant light drizzle. But then the breeze came up from the west and strengthened somewhat. And the rain went away. So, despite a complete lack of direct sunlight, the big blue barn door ended up having a great flight. First I had it up on about 45 meters (150 feet) of line but later on more than 60 meters (200 feet) of the 200-pound braided Dacron. Aren had a hold for a few minutes.

It was a so-so fly for the club, but at least the organizers were happy!

Fickle Winds at Community Event

The local kite club was invited to demonstrate and help out with the kite-flying component of a community event.

On turning up, it was evident that conditions would be challenging. Tall trees with massive amounts of foliage surrounded the clearing in the southern Adelaide parklands. A fitful breeze tumbled through, that was sufficient to launch a kite one moment and not the next. Some time was spent, rather optimistically, trying to loft my Tyvek diamond on a 50-pound line.

Kids were doing the short-line tow-it-around thing with some success. Us "experts" weren't having much luck getting anything at all to stay above treetop height!

Mike demonstrated a long-line launch with his large Phoenix delta. The kite swooped up high then glided back down, which was much appreciated by the small crowd!

Mark flew one of his large deltas from an adjacent clearing to get aerial photos of the whole event.

Mike also pulled out a colorful club parafoil for a brief tow-up or two.

Jason, after much persistence, had his big custom Cody kite soaring above the trees for a while.

I made a switch from the diamond to a more capable light-wind kite—the 2-Skewer Rokkaku. The little rok happily did its thing on about 150 feet of line for an extended period of time.

All the while, small groups of adults and kids were having a go with a small white delta design that the organizers had made available. During breezier periods, some of these little deltas did quite well, soaring high above treetop height for a while.

Despite the kite-flying difficulties, it ended up being a fair result for the organizers, helped along by the kite club.

Kites and Kids on School Premises

The venue turned out to be a relatively small fenced off area surrounded by houses and trees. With the early afternoon thermals lifting off with a vengeance, it was going to be interesting.

A local charitable organization had arranged this kite-flying event for kids at a school. As a member of the Adelaide Kite Flyers Association, I was invited to help out. Anglicare had provided a number of identical delta kites for the kids, while I brought along a few small-to-medium-sized kites to demo.

With moderate-strength gusts coming through, launching the kites was not difficult. Being a very well-proven design, the supplied deltas were soon floating about on fairly short lines. Soon the available airspace was somewhat crowded, but everyone involved did a good job of being aware of other kites. Crossed lines and the odd rooftop landing did happen, but the amount of trouble was minor compared to the potential!

Before we all moved to the main oval, I joined the action with the bright-orange 2-Skewer Rokkaku. In the testing gusts and warm air I had to bring my kite down eventually to re-tape some slipping sail corners.

Out on the main oval everyone was able to find a good spot and fly in a more relaxed manner. All the strings were out to their fullest extent! Thermal lift would pass through occasionally and lift most of the kites almost vertical.

By this stage I had pulled out a couple of Multi-Fly Diamonds that are designed to share a flying line. Although gusty, the wind strengths were quite ideal, and the two kites flew high and steady once out of low-level rough air.

Much fun was had by all!

Kites on Show

The local kite club was again invited to help draw a crowd at a council-run event.

"Salisbury Plays" was put on to highlight various activities and facilities at or near the St. Kilda Adventure Playground in Adelaide's north.

To cover all eventualities, we had piled a variety of kites into the car. A large carbon-framed diamond was for light-to-gentle breezes. A colorful train of soft-Tyvek diamonds would cope with gentle-to-moderate winds, and a dirty great box kite was for moderate-to-fresh wind!

As it turned out, the wind was not lacking, you could say. In the car park, half a minute of holding up the wind meter showed gusts to 30 kph. Who knows what it was doing at 100 feet off the grass. I really, really should get around to making a decent big tetrahedral kite from dowel and plastic. It's the kind of kite that just sits up there nice and steady in a gale!

As we approached the area reserved for flying, Henry was dealing with his big white delta that was showing the strain at the top end of its wind range. Cristina had already given up on her smaller deltas.

Mike and others had large inflatables in the air that were doing OK. Sort of—a big trilobyte decided to wander off to the right several times, causing some concern! The pilot kite and cuttlefish beneath it were coping a little better. These kites were tied off to large vehicles.

A couple of small circular parafoils (ladybugs??) were staying in place, although blown down to modest line angles. It was a great test for the stakes which been driven into the grassy ground. You could see them bend with every gust or swirl of turbulence!

Shortly after arriving, I put up the Multi-Dowel Box on a fairly short line. Usually, the big box flies steady and steep in fresh wind on a long line. But today the line length had to be kept shorter due to lack of space and also a fairly crowded sky.

More than once, the box kite scooted far off to the left or right. With kite lines to the left and a road with cars to the right, I could not leave the kite to its own devices. Hence the flight was cut short, and I landed the kite in wind shadow behind some bushes for an easier de-rig.

While spending some time with May and Aren around the playground later, I had a person come up and express how impressed they were with the kites. So, it was mission accomplished by all the kite flyers!

Open Day Enlivened With Kites

It was October 2017. The local kite club was invited to put on a display at an Open Day for a new playground complex.

Arriving fairly close to the official starting time, we soon caught sight of Mike's big red parafoil and some associated line laundry. This included a very eye-catching cuttlefish inflatable. Also aloft was a small kids' delta flown by Cristina.

The breeze at this time was fickle, being gentle in strength but not too smooth. A couple of tall blocks of buildings directly upwind had much to do with it, we suspected!

I wasted no time getting the MBK Octopus up. To settle it down a bit, I added a small drogue to the tips of the two middle tails. Very steady flying ensued, albeit with flailing octo-tentacles on the sides.

The MBK Parafoil followed, perhaps 30 minutes later.

The organizers had done their promotions well it appeared. People everywhere were taking in the great weather and supervising their kids on the multitude of swings, trampolines, and climbing bars. There was also the obligatory flying fox, which any decent Aussie playground needs to have these days. The occasional car would enter the car park, which was soon near capacity.

Other kites were put up including a colorful MnM with legs! Speaking of legs, a set of classic Lester's Legs took to the air as well, flown by Mark. Initially, they struggled a bit in the lulls, but it seemed the breeze was gradually freshening.

Cristina also had her great-looking purple rokkaku, which was duly launched. The rok coped well with the occasionally rough air below 100 feet.

A light aircraft or two flew past while all this was going on—plus a helicopter, which sensibly didn't get too close. Those things really make a mess of the air around them!

By the time I got around to doing some KAP the breeze had started to shift a little to the west. This was a welcome change with more wind speed but also smoother air.

My Fresh Wind Sled strained away at high line angles, hardly feeling the weight of the camera and rig on the line. Two sequences were shot. One looked across at the kites, and the other looked south over the entire event from a higher altitude of between 150 and 200 feet.

Making the most of the freshening wind, a couple of two-line foils took to the air, carving shapes through the largely blue sky. I noticed a little single-line foil as well, having no trouble at all on quite a long line.

Great flying!

Kites and Golf at Warooka

More officially, this was the Sandbar Golf Classic and Family Fun Day at Flaherty's Beach, on York Peninsula.

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