Build: Tissue and dowels make a stable diamond

It took me about 20 minutes to make this kite: tissue paper, two hobby dowels, packing tape and dental floss for the bridle. Strips of plastic produce bags made for a light-weight trio of tails.

Winds blew at about 10-15 mph with the occasional strong gust.

I fixed the bridle at the wrong angle, which made the kite wobble uncontrollably. The face of the kite hit the wind head on at maybe a 80 degree angle. That tore the tissue along the spar. Easy fix with packing tape.

After I pulled the kite down and adjusted the bridle to give the face a shallower angle, the kite flew well. It was very stable and shot into the sky faster than I could believe.

It unwound my entire spool. Maximum height: 60 meters or 198 feet!

First kites, disaster and triumph

I don't have photos of the first two kites I built sometime in June. I built them at the same time using wooden dowels from the hobby shop and plastic bags.

The first kite was a type of eddy kite, measuring about 24-by-36 inches. The puny dowels snapped the instant wind inflated the sails. The black garbage bag sail crumpled and twisted in the wind.

Fortunately, I had made a back-up kite, a diamond kite measuring about 18-by-24 inches. It few erratically until I doubled the length of the tails. It flew well the rest of the day.