Cheap Delta Kite, Expensive String

by Davo
(Europe)

Had lots of fun with this Delta kite design. Lost several but no great $. Lost one kite over the sea due to bad knot tying - and I am a sailor. I had so much line out that as the line dragged on the water the kite climbed again and maintained 300m till lost sight. I wonder where it went. Lost a few due to eagles strikes.

Anyway the basics are as follow... (forget the expensive premade stuff as they are heavy and do not fly that well).

1 meter dowel is cheap at hardware stores pre-cut to exact lengths. So is drop sheet plastic (used for protecting furniture when you paint) and plastic packing tape. A simple Delta kite relatively small held together with soft wire though holes in the dowel (burnt though with a hot nail over the BBQ) flys great. Wire straightens when it hits the ground saving the dowel and sail.

Add 1000m of Spectra line at 25dan and thermal up to great heights. Personal record 525m. Yep the line is the expensive stuff but you can always retrieve most of it.

Would love to hear from anyone doing similar stuff. Would like to develop a height record which has a limitation to 1 meter spars or sail area. Need a challenge. Any ideas?