Kite Flying Log

May 2007

Date: Wed May 25, 2007
Location: Old Reynella (reserve)
Weather: Moderate breeze, gusty, cloudless
Kite(s): Modified Baby Sled

Comments: It looked like a decent breeze outside, but turned out to be pretty variable down at the reserve. All the line went out a couple of times, but there was not much chance of keeping the kite in the air for long. I soon came home, with a cranky toddler in the pram. Is anyone out there getting sick of this Baby Sled kite? Patience, patience.

Date: Wed May 23, 2007
Location: Old Reynella (reserve)
Weather: Moderate breeze, gusty, sunny patches
Kite(s): Modified Baby Sled

Comments: The windy weather was due to a cold front on its way through. Windy periods cycled every few minutes, but on average there was enough breeze to keep the kite in the air for many minutes at a time. The current duration record was set, in fact. I started to pack up when Aren's squeals signaled his tiredness with the whole affair.

Date: Sat May  19, 2007
Location: Holden Hill (reserve off NE Road)
Weather: Strong breeze, gusty
Kite(s): Modified Baby Sled

Comments: It was a wintry day—cool wet weather. There was a strong breeze up higher but lots of turbulence down low due to large trees. The little sled had a wild ride. I saw the effect of large-scale wind swirls from the trees and also a little thermal activity due to sunny patches opening up once in a while. The limits of this kite were reached on its standard cotton line!

Date: Mon May 16, 2007
Location: Old Reynella (vacant lot, then reserve)
Weather: Moderate breeze, gusty
Kite(s): Modified Baby Sled

Comments: It was another thermic day with big gusts and wind shifts. I noticed how the kite would sometimes go up a few meters with only a light pull on the line. That has to be rising air! It would be very small-scale, only a few meters off the ground. There was hardly enough wind to get all the line out though, so off we went down to the reserve. This is a slightly hilly area, and sure enough, there was significantly more wind strength at the reserve. It's only 300 meters or so away from the vacant lot. I briefly got all the line out, but no height record was achieved this time :-( Aren had fun holding the handle, with the line fed through a loop in his pram harness.

Date: Mon May 14, 2007
Location: Old Reynella (reserve)
Weather: Moderate breeze, gusty
Kite(s): Modified Baby Sled

Comments: It was time to test out the additional tail stapled to the middle of the trailing edge. The tail was cut from a lightweight plastic shopping bag. I managed to get 3 meters (10 feet) or so. It was very thin plastic, ideal for a small kite tail. It's winter here, but it was a thermic day. Big gusts and shifting wind direction were the signs as thermals passed through. All 18 meters (60 feet) of cotton line was let out, a few times. Aren enjoyed holding the line while seated in his pram! The Baby Sled never looped once, so the tail was working well. A 45-degree dive was about the worst it did and it probably won't even do that in smooth air.

As mentioned earlier, there's more kite-making info here than you can poke a stick at :-)

Want to know the most convenient way of using it all?

The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads—printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small.

That's every kite in every MBK series.