Kites need wind!!! (a little bit at least)
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- My 2,111th kite video. At this season, as we come into winter, we have a lot of frosty mornings, followed by clear skies and no (or very little) wind. Flying in such conditions is not easy!
Anyone wanting to check out all my "How to..." videos on various aspects of kite-flying can now find them all easily on my Playlist at / jimskitesnz .
I don’t see your NZ beach so breezeless often! Frustrating when we show up, the kites show up… but the wind forgets to come!
This is one of the most unpredictable times of the year for wind (or lack thereof) here. We can go a week or more with no chance to fly, and then maybe get three good days in succession. I'd love to live on a tropical island with constant sea breezes every day!
A Fighter kite, and a spool of light line can be just the thing for those light & puffy days.
Not my style, but even a fighter kite needs a light breeze. My friend Brendan seems to get a lot of fun with his Kirk fighter.
Nice video Jim. You put in extra effort for us. Thanks for trying. Thanks Jim!
Glad you enjoyed it, Dewey. I don't always have enough patience to persevere in those conditions, but with so few good days recently I wanted to give it a go.
Good video for the small wind. In Germany we have much of them. We need very light kites😊
It's always good to have kites for different conditions. It would be great if we could turn on the wind whenever we want it!
Great to see some of your earlier kites. Not often the Manta struggles to find wind. We had gale force over the past weekend.
Lucky you didn't have kites in the air, Carl!
The reason why I learned panying kites.
I wish I had your hard-earned skill, Glenn, but I'm not going to start at my age. I'm content to just watch your videos.
Very cool Jim. Had days like that. LOL, Ron
I think we all have, Ron, but they seem to be coming more often these days. Have fun!
And how many passers by say "not enough wind eh?" but once its.aloft they say "great day for kites eh?"
You're right, Amy, most people have no idea of what kites need - often if it's blowing a gale they say "Great day for kites!" These days there are very few people around usually, as it's getting a bit too cold for most beach-users.
Hi Jim ! I like to fight to make flight my kites, I think it' s my reward when my kite can fly ! I remember one of my last flight in China, every body couldn't fly, because almost no wind. But a man arrive, after a big fight against the poor wind, centimetre after centimetre, he finished to reach a better wind.
Yes, it can be fun to have to work hard when there is almost no wind. But if it happens too often then it becomes frustrating, I think. I like to fly several kites each time, and that's not possible when you are fighting to keep just one kite in the air.
Nice attempts 😄
Thanks, Evan!
Last few times I've been out, no wind until I get to the top of the hill then its 15 mph and bending the kite and hurting my hands!😂
It can certainly be very frustrating trying to get the right conditions. I hope you have better luck next time.
No Strong wind. But still can enjoy the beach and sunshine
Yes, but it was hard work!
Thank you Jim for your hard efforts...
It's all part of kite-flying, Craig, and we always like to try whenever there's a slight chance of getting something into the air.. Thanks for watching!
Good attempts Jim. Can't beat nature in the end. I like your duo-tasking skill. Flying and filming. You are great 😀
Some of my shots are a little unsteady when I'm doing both tasks, but luckily my camera has quite good stabilisation, so that helps a lot. I think the equipment deserves more credit than the cameraman in this instance.
@@JimNichollsthe kite was in frame throughout the attempt. The cameraman was good.
Interesting to see how you try to fly kites with no wind. Here; there might be no wind to fly kites in the morning. Then around noon to1pm; the tides change and the wind comes up. Then up go the kites.
It would be nice to have more regular winds. Our conditions have changed, and on-shore winds are less common than before, and often either too strong or non-existent. It's great when we can actually get some kites into the air.
With respect to the Manta, is there a trick to easily placing the ends of assembled edge spars into the wing tip pockets? It’s something I’m convinced I’m going to wreck the pocket, spar, icarex or all three.
It's a weak spot om the kite for sure, and I'm always careful about how I insert the spars. There is no trick to it that I know of that would help, except perhaps moving the middle spar section off centre to reduce the tension as you insert the ends, then straightening it up afterwards. I've had several of the short spars break, too, so the construction could certainly be better, especially for what it cost. So far, after more than 10 years of use, mine is still flying, but the pockets definitely look worse for wear and may need replacement soon. It's a kite I wouldn't want to be without on those almost windless days, but I certainly couldn't afford to replace it (and anyway it's out of production and unlikely to return).
Congratulations Jim on 2000 great videos question are large Delta kites best for very weak when conditions
Thanks, David. Generally speaking, the larger the delta the better it will be in very light winds, but a lot depends on the way an individual kite is built. The ITW Manta, for instance, is built of very light-weight materials and designed to catch all the wind it can. As a result, it's a great light-wind flier, but too fragile to fly in winds much above 6 mph (10 km/h). And some small deltas actually fly very well in very light wind - this can include very cheap and flimsy kites from China, and it's sometimes embarrassing to have children flying such kites on the beach when we can't get our much more expensive ones into the air. The answer to your question is really that it depends on the kite - like us they are all individuals, but in general deltas are a good choice for light winds.
Hi Jim, thank you for your very detailed and insightful reply. Have a great time flying.
G'day Jim. How often do you get that scenario of little to no wind? I don't think I've seen it ever before in one of your videos. Of course there's always the old run along the beach with kite in tow, he says with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.
It happens quite often at this time of year, with a frosty morning followed by sun and a virtually windless day. Most times we don't bother trying, but I needed to get out on this occasion. I don't run with kites very often these days, not since I reached my 83rd birthday anyway!
Hi Jim, What was the pound rating of your lines? Thanks for your persistence and posting .
They were on very light 50lb lines, Sheryl. Anything heavier would have kept them grounded completely.