I am very proud of this kite.
This is all about controlling the speed of the ripple down the length of the kite. Slow to fast. It may look relatively simple at first glance, but first looks are often deceiving. To keep shape in flight the cross spars are all bowed, even the tail spars!
They have been given other names ranging from Angel, Ghost, Mermaids and Jellyfish to Aircraft Contrails. It's a kite that looks best sitting up at 300 + feet on top of the festival and it can be seen for miles.
No matter what is being flown around this kite your eye is drawn to it. A show maker. Fly either on it's own or in groups of three.
This design won first in Figure Kite at the AKA 2005 and also a collection of six of these kites won Sky Display. I also took the Craftsmen ship award for this kite.
For me it is a culmination of many of my kites. The wind range is huge. From 6mph to a gusting 30mph. It sounds bull**** but just ask those at the 2005 AKA !
It is my Henry Ford Kite, he once said about the Model T, "You can have any color you like .... As long as it's black" Well my statement is "You can have a Comet in any color that you like,... Just as long as it's WHITE"
Why?
When building the first prototype I had in mind a design for the surface. I then flew the white prototype. It looked huge. OK so it is 100 feet long, but it definitely had a presence in the sky.
The kite is four feet wide but it looks eight-ten. If I had put a design on this kite I would never have seen this weird effect of color against size. The second test flight was at the ocean. At about 11 o'clock in the morning the kites turned a lilac color. People were coming up and asking where I had got the lavender ripstop from? A local photographer told me what was happening. The kite was reflecting the ultra violet bounce off the sand. Again a fortunate happening which would never have been discovered if I had patterned the surface with my usual black background. Later on in the day the sun got behind the kite and they just glowed white hot. Then came sunset......That was it! My mind was made up.
The Comet will always be made in white.
I called the competition collection "On the way to Heaven we pass Ghosts, Angels and Comets"
Flown for my Dad who had passed only a few days beforehand and it was his last wish for me to do this........ I know that day he was helping me as he has done all my life.
I Love you Dad and miss you everyday.
Thank you everybody around that evening in giving me quiet time and space to say goodbye in my way, while taking the kites out of the sky. A tough time made tolerable by friends.
Once again,
Thank You all.
