Custom kite stakes

Following our acquisition of a full set of T5 kites, which got their own dedicated team bag, we wanted to add a set of kite stakes especially for this set of kites. Do we need those? No, of course not, as the old screw drivers we've been using do absolutely fine. But it's just nice to have something special for our full set, isn't it?

Looking around the internet showed that a few kite companies sell kite stakes, but none of these looked especially nice. Until I stumbled across LS Kite Accessories. They make really nice-looking kite stakes, and the price, including shipping from the US, was very reasonable.

And here they are!

They look even better than on the pictures, and come complete with holsters and carabiners.

Blue ones for me, red ones for Irma; and dark ones for on a beach, lights ones for on grass. Really nice set of sturdy and well-made stakes. And the cherry on the cake was that the parcel escaped the attention of HM Revenue & Customs!

Air-o-bian fighter kite

In a previous blog post, I talked about the Air-o-bian fighter kite, which was on the market in the 1920s and 1930s, and my plan to try and turn a modern box kite into a dual-line-controlled Air-o-bian. But of course, in order for that to happen, I first needed to find out how this Air-o-bian actually worked. Enter this wonderful web-site, Kite patents! It indeed had the original patent for the Air-o-bian, and here is the crucial page showing the construction of the rudder:

So, once I had this patent, I ordered two box kites from Spirit of Air, and the aim now is to add a rudder to these box kites, making them steerable in the same way as the Air-o-bian was.

Watch this space!