| Cool Kite Pulldown Gadget |
| At WSIKF 2005, I flew my brand new, bigass HQ 7.0 Flowform kite for the first time. This kite nicely pulls a lot of 1500 pound braided dacron line into the air, even with a pair of 100 foot tube tails attached. (I bought the kite, line, and tails from Ken and Becky Cage, at Colors on the Wind.) I've since, bought a second one from Steve and Chris, at Gone With the Wind Kites. I came to Long Beach loaded with a sand shovel and sand bag to anchor the kite, but hadn't spent much time thinking about how I was going to get the sucker down, once it was nailed in the sky. Because I'm constantly surrounded by good winds and better friends, T-Barry was right there with one of his own sand anchors and lots of really cool help. T-Barry and Susan have been flying the big stuff for years, now. He sold me on his sand anchors, and gave me an extremely visible (ten-mile-orange), one-square-yard sheet of ripstop, with nylon webbing sewn from corner to corner, that he made. I'd seen these sand anchors in stores, but didn't really trust them. Believe me, though. They work! Anyhow. We got the kite up, and were patting each other on the back, when doubt reared it's ugly head. "How's skinny me gonna get this thing down, if the wind picks up, Barry?" He laughs. I'm serious. The girls are playing horseshoes. I mentioned to T-Barry that I should make a pull-down with a pulley. WSIKF is the third week in August. By the time we met again at the Up Your Wind Festival, in Pacific Beach, the weekend after Labor Day, T-Barry had made this thing. This beautiful, stainless steel swivel and nylon webbing strap, with a ball bearing pulley that opens up to put it on the kite line, or clean the sand out of it. And gave it to skinny me. The weakest link in this thing is rated for 750 pounds, so I can pull my big kites down, or go for a ride. Thanks, T-Barry. You ROCK! If you want to talk to T-Barry about this very cool thing, you can email me, and maybe I can talk him into making one or more to sell to you. Hey, it's worth a try. He wants to retire to Tahiti, too. |
| This page created and maintained by Tom Tinney 2006 |