Well, it took more than the four kites in the blue series to reach the end result. With just a minor measuring error in the first kite of the orange series it required a second orange version. But there it is. Date stamp 2 February 2020.

The plan is available here

Experiments with Niëlje

Many experiments were made to get rid of the wobbling in zenith and also to make the balance tuning more easy:

  • Longer primary bridles
  • Increased kick-up angle
  • Larger Wipe angle
  • Adding one more keel (to two)
  • Changing length and width of keels

Hopefully #4 in the blue series will be the one that works!

Here is #1 in the blue series, with the second keel added.

For next version I had made three simplifications from the previous version: one that would not have any impact on the flying ability, one that might have an impact and one that probably would have an impact. It didn’t fly.

So I reverted the third simplification and in a perfectly smooth breeze of 3 m/s I got the kite flying quite nicely. But it had a problem: When it reaches zenith it started to wobble and fell to one side.

Still, it was promising so it was time to give it a proper name instead of the generic SHARK IV. I gave it the name Niëlje, which is South Sami for “Four”.

 

 

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

For next version I had made three simplifications from the previous version: one that would not have any impact on the flying ability, one that might have an impact and one that probably would have an impact. It didn’t fly.

So I reverted the third simplification and in a perfectly smooth breeze of 3 m/s I got the kite flying quite nicely. But it had a problem: When it reaches zenith it started to wobble and fell to one side.

Still, it was promising so it was time to give it a proper name instead of the generic SHARK IV. I gave it the name Niëlje, which is South Sami for “Four”.

 

 

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

For next version I had made three simplifications from the previous version: one that would not have any impact on the flying ability, one that might have an impact and one that probably would have an impact. It didn’t fly.

So I reverted the third simplification and in a perfectly smooth breeze of 3 m/s I got the kite flying quite nicely. But it had a problem: When it reaches zenith it started to wobble and fell to one side.

Still, it was promising so it was time to give it a proper name instead of the generic SHARK IV. I gave it the name Niëlje, which is South Sami for “Four”.

 

 

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Many experiments were made to get rid of the wobbling in zenith and also to make the balance tuning more easy:

  • Longer primary bridles
  • Increased kick-up angle
  • Larger Wipe angle
  • Adding one more keel (to two)
  • Changing length and width of keels

Hopefully #4 in the blue series will be the one that works!

Here is #1 in the blue series, with the second keel added.

For next version I had made three simplifications from the previous version: one that would not have any impact on the flying ability, one that might have an impact and one that probably would have an impact. It didn’t fly.

So I reverted the third simplification and in a perfectly smooth breeze of 3 m/s I got the kite flying quite nicely. But it had a problem: When it reaches zenith it started to wobble and fell to one side.

Still, it was promising so it was time to give it a proper name instead of the generic SHARK IV. I gave it the name Niëlje, which is South Sami for “Four”.

 

 

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Experiments with Niëlje

Many experiments were made to get rid of the wobbling in zenith and also to make the balance tuning more easy:

  • Longer primary bridles
  • Increased kick-up angle
  • Larger Wipe angle
  • Adding one more keel (to two)
  • Changing length and width of keels

Hopefully #4 in the blue series will be the one that works!

Here is #1 in the blue series, with the second keel added.

For next version I had made three simplifications from the previous version: one that would not have any impact on the flying ability, one that might have an impact and one that probably would have an impact. It didn’t fly.

So I reverted the third simplification and in a perfectly smooth breeze of 3 m/s I got the kite flying quite nicely. But it had a problem: When it reaches zenith it started to wobble and fell to one side.

Still, it was promising so it was time to give it a proper name instead of the generic SHARK IV. I gave it the name Niëlje, which is South Sami for “Four”.

 

 

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler

Well, it took more than the four kites in the blue series to reach the end result. With just a minor measuring error in the first kite of the orange series it required a second orange version. But there it is. Date stamp 2 February 2020.

The plan is available here

Experiments with Niëlje

Many experiments were made to get rid of the wobbling in zenith and also to make the balance tuning more easy:

  • Longer primary bridles
  • Increased kick-up angle
  • Larger Wipe angle
  • Adding one more keel (to two)
  • Changing length and width of keels

Hopefully #4 in the blue series will be the one that works!

Here is #1 in the blue series, with the second keel added.

For next version I had made three simplifications from the previous version: one that would not have any impact on the flying ability, one that might have an impact and one that probably would have an impact. It didn’t fly.

So I reverted the third simplification and in a perfectly smooth breeze of 3 m/s I got the kite flying quite nicely. But it had a problem: When it reaches zenith it started to wobble and fell to one side.

Still, it was promising so it was time to give it a proper name instead of the generic SHARK IV. I gave it the name Niëlje, which is South Sami for “Four”.

 

 

SHARK IV, see no. 8 in this table, was a kite I built in the late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s) but never managed to get properly airborne until 2017. It was based on the special wing shape which I call Wipe and which gives an in-sail dihedral, but I had not made any drawing for that so I feared I could not re-create it.

By luck, as I was re-arranging the storage and opened an old suitcase I found a lot of board templates there, among them the two most important templates for the SHARK IV. (This proves that one should never throw anything away!)

I had made the SHARK IV in a quite complicated and overworked way so I wanted to make a new version with some simplifications (e.g. I reduced the number of keels from 3 to 1), and I also wanted it to be a light wind kite so I used some Icarex I had in stock and decided the width to be exactly four Skyshark tubes.

This version fly quite well, also in un-even winds. But it was not a light wind kite: It needed minimum 2 – 3 m/s.

akka (e) – will get 3D printed connectors very soon

The flight of akka (c) was quite good, but still needed tuning. For the next edition I had the workshop drilling again, but the accuracy was less this time so I needed an alternative.

Fortunately, good friend offered to make the necessary connectors in 3D print, and that is the current status.

Flight of akka (d)

 

Prototype 3 flew so well so I decided it was time to give a name. I gave the kite the name akka (with a lower case initial a not to disturb the balance) like the wild leader goose in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.

What I had feared proved to be true: drilling straight through the carbon tube weakened the tube and made it inclined to break. By chance I had an aluminum tube that fitted exactly on Skyshark P300, so I cut that alu-tube in short pieces to use as reinforcement around the drilled holes.

After a full day’s search in Denpasar, Bali, I managed to find a workshop where they said they could drill those holes with the required accuracy.

Well, the accuracy turned out to not be 100%, but a considerable improvement compared to my drilling.

I made prototype 2 which was not too bad, but seemed to need changes to the body shape.

 

 

I had finished the first prototype late one evening: it was already dark, but there was a light breeze on my beach and I was anxious to see if this kite really could fly.

And it did! Not perfectly but well enough for me to tell me my thinking had not been all that bad.

Already in my second year of kite making I started to experiment with a single point wing. (I had this crush on single point and high aspect ratio quite early in my kite life). I had made one wing of IKEA bamboo and some porous material for garden use that did fly, but dived once in a while.

I had this idea of a self stabilizing wing, so I thought I knew how the wings should be made but I realized that I had not the skill to do that.

The sail ‘battens’ must be in fixed angles, both horizontally and sideways, and I thought that the only way to achieve this would be to drill through the spreader tube with a high precision. Which I knew I couldn’t do.

Furthermore I could not figure out how to make the centre section. Not until Henrik Fristrup Jensen showed me his wing kite in a hotel room in Beichuan, China, in March 2017.

Somehow I managed to find a drawing (on paper) of the wing shape I had in mind in 1993, worked with it a bit and started making the kite. I did the drilling that I thought I couldn’t do, and sure enough: the precision was not high!

Working ad hoc I made many mistakes and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted so I was doubtful that it would fly, but nevertheless I tested it and it actually flew! Not perfectly, but on a good angle and certainly well enough to prove that my original idea was correct. A good start for prototype 2.

 

The fourth SHARK I built (with a few changes from the Blue Wing) I had big problems getting airborne. I built it already in late 90’s (or possibly early 00’s), and over the years I made small changes, tested, failed and then let it rest. After moving into my house in Bali I made again changes on the bridle but didn’t have the wind to try it: it was hanging on my wall ready to go. One evening, just at sunset, I felt the urge to test it and though there only was a small breeze it flew!

The next day was wind better and I could finally see the kite steady high up in the sky.

As quite a long time had passed since I first built it I actually had learned a lot about making kites, and now I wanted to make it again but more simple. But that was not so simple: The crucial part of the kite is the sail that forms the in-sail dihedral; what I call Wipe (it has a wiping shape) and I did not have the drawing for this. However, by chance when I was rearranging the storage I found the template for the Wipe in a suitcase and could get going. Still, that simplification process went on for 2 years…

The result would be Niëlje, see further down.

Having made Ruler of the Sky I wanted to go extreme and see what aspect ratio I could manage. I wanted to try over 10.

This Blue Wing has a width of 4.5m meters and length off 35 cm, making the AR 12.6.

It is very difficult to fly and requires absolutely laminar wind.

The question is wether this kite actually is a hyphen or a dash. To be able to play with the spelling of the name I declare it’s a hyphen that flies high.

It is just another exercise of making a SHARK.

Highphen – Width: 415 cm Height: 41.5 cm AR: 10

On a philosophical note the kite can also represent an entire life as the character between birth date and death date.

In my first years of kite making I read that kites with a high aspect ratio usually fly at a higher angle. This intrigued me and I wanted to make a kite with a super high aspect ratio. In Sala Drak & Tangosällskap there was a ‘habit’ of making kites of daily life objects with a twist, and the first high aspect ratio object that came to my mind was a ruler so I borrowed from another member a ruler of that kind that I myself used in primary school: a 30 centimeter wooden ruler.

The design includes in-sail dihedrals by using a sail shape that I call Wipe.

It took some experiments to get it steadily airborne.

The SHARK was born: Super High Aspect Ratio Kite, a kite with an aspect ratio larger than 8.

Ruler of the Sky – Width: 415 cm Height: 42 cm AR: 9.9

Primary school wooden ruler