7ft Levitation delta and 11ft Mesh delta Two beautiful and reliable fliers.
My kites
Because I have so many kites, I can’t talk about all of them, so I’ll choose a few in different categories to give an idea of what I have.
I started by buying a few small kites, but quickly found that big ones are better. Often they are easier to fly, and they are certainly more spectacular. Some of them pull quite hard and can be a challenge to handle – certainly not suitable for small children!
Most people associate kites with the traditional diamond-shaped one that is still sold by the thousand for children, but there are far more interesting designs these days.
You can see more of my photos on Flickr, and my videos on http://www.youtube.com/JimsKitesNZ
Lots more kites are on my Kite Reviews pages.
19ft Mesh delta
Deltas, like the two at top right, are one of the most simple kites, and fly really well. This is my biggest delta, so far!
Mayan Double Delta Conyne
Delta conynes are a cross between a delta and a box kite. This one is 12.5ft across and looks magnificent.
Rokkaku Flames
Rokkaku means six-sided in Japanese. This 78” Flames design is my favourite rokkaku and flies well in light winds.
Elevation Box
I don’t have many box kites, but this one is beautiful and especially good on very windy days. It has a lot of lifting power.
Rainbow Burst
Flowtails are modified deltas with 2 or 3 long, flowing tails. This one is a giant, with a 13ft wingspan.
Red Oval Roller
The roller, like the rokkaku, is a bowed kite, in this case about 8ft (2.4m) high. The amount of bowing can be varied to suit the different wind conditions.
Sky Bird
Bird designs often make good kites, particularly this truly magnificent specimen with a wingspan of almost 16ft. I usually fly it with 55ft tails and it seems to fill the sky.
Clover & Guitar
Soft kites come these days in many imaginative and eye-catching designs, of which these are two of my favourites. The biggest kites made are all soft kites.
Sky Hook
Parafoils, like this one, and the related sled kites are available in many shapes and sizes these days. Larger ones pull very hard and should be handled with care.
Butterfly Genki
The genki is a light-wind kite, not as steady or easy to fly as a delta. The tails help stabilise it, however, especially when the wind is stronger.
Pointer
This is a very unusual design from a clever designer, Ceewan. It is a large kite, but has very little pull and flies well in a “train,” as here.
Sun, Sea, Sky
From designer Jon Burkhardt, this is a big kite, 80 feet from top to bottom. The sail itself is almost 5ft square and is flat, not bowed.
Beast
This is a typical “dragon” kite, with a simple design needing no set-up before flying – perhaps the easiest kite you can buy. Thirty feet long and 22” across, it’s a lot of kite for the money and flies well.
Skyform 60
A variant on the parafoil, this is a big (60 sq ft) kite designed to act as a lifter for other kites or line art/laundry. The matching streamer is 50ft long.
Megasled
This is a very large (81 sq ft) sled kite designed by Barbara Meyer. Sleds are simple kites, but at this size they pull very hard and need care.