Chewing Fingernails and Shifting Gears

Ok, so when I posted last I'd picked out the kites of choice, but hadn't been able to order. Now I've ordered, but won't have the kites for several days. Gnargh! Gotta stop chewing my fingernails and relax, I suppose. If it was only that easy...

After measuring the two kites I do have (both parafoils, both unstable in the air) I have a 2.0 and a 14.5 sq ft kite. The line I thought was #200 wasn't, so I picked up a thousand feet of #250 black dacron line and a new hoop winder. (I repaired my old hoop for the third time, and plan to put my old line back on it. It's good line! And now I've learned if I fall, not to land on the winder.)

The check for the article really was $240, so that left me with a little extra. Almost $40, to be exact. Which is just the price for four PeKaBe blocks. Yahoo!! I've been eyeballing PeKaBe blocks for my RC sailboat for years, and have been eyeballing them for KAP since I first started trying to design a real KAP rig. Every comment I've seen people write about the PeKaBe blocks has been positive. And since it's something that tends to be a buy once, I'm hoping it's $40 well-spent. The only real concern is something from http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/kaptoc.html regarding balance. The PeKaBe blocks are so friction-free, any imbalance in the rig really really shows up. So I'll probably be due for a re-balance, and it'll be time to finally strap on the permanent battery and retire the AA battery pack.

Taking some more advice from the KAP forum, I'm going to spend at least a couple of outings just learning to fly the Flowforms. The next step will be to hook up a 713g dummy weight 100' down-line from the kite, and fly it as if I have my KAP rig on there. Once I'm comfortable with the kites, and know their limits in the winds we get around here, then I'll hook up the KAP rig and get airborne again.

So I'm still chewing my fingernails, but at least I've changed gears. I started off chewing my fingernails because I couldn't get my kites to reliably lift my rig. Then I was chewing my fingernails because I knew what the fix was, but couldn't afford the new kites. Now I'm chewing my fingernails because I know the fix is sooooooo close, but not here yet. But at least now I know it's in sight. It'll happen. And I will eventually get airborne and be able to keep it that way.

Aaaaahhh...

Ok, time to write the next set of articles. This last one saved my butt!

Tom