• SEPTEMBER

SPRING ISSUE 1999

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF KITE FLYERS OF TASMANIA

WtNTf~nM.E INr~ - Wllat do Kite tllfers do. ,to Keep warl11?Tlf/s is wllat tile C$P 17t!S/N;.tJOt;'$/ll1Jt.RLAtVD did• Rushed around planning and building new kites• Retreated to warmer climates• Looked for warmer air conditioned premises£JtWJf'/7/t!S:ul believe (a little bird told me) that the planning and making stage is very underway in the Willowsworkshops. Rodger has invented a ventilated face for his new creation.

• David Chandler was seen heading west to do some flying with Michael Alvares and Shakib, .Gunn, in the Perth (W.A.) region

• The Sutherlands had a special kite suitcase on their trip to the Greek Islands, southernEngland, Scotland and Singapore.

• Locally, Alan Parish had managed to book into an air conditioned hospital premises to beat the cold, andhas managed to organise a turbo charged modification to his ticker hardware.

Each to his own devices to beat the coldlWhilst in Singapore we were entertained for three days by Shakib Gunn who has now retired from business and'kite festivals but was eager to find out what was happening to the Tasmanian Kite Fraternity.Shakib has very vivid and friendly memories of his two visits to Launceston and wishes to be remembered toall his contacts in the state, particularly Genevieve, Alan, Flocky, Jeremy and our then Premier - what was hisname?We were lucky to be shown a source of Chinese birds and butterfly kites in our travels - they make great wallhangings!I was lucky to find an antique 30 cell miniature dragon kite for a reasonable (?) Price. Never to be flown, butlooked at in awe II have arranged reciprocal rights for newsletters to be exchanged between the Singapore Kite Association and ,Kite Flyers of Tasmania. You might find your kite and face soon well known throughout Asia IA recent committee meeting h5ls set dates for the major flys for this andnext year. Please note the need for assistance in Heritage Forest Festivalof Kites (Launceston) and Kites ow t/fe BM'f. tlfe2CXXJ DevolfjXJrt COIffIffJl­

IlitJj Kite festivell next March."

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• Presl(ip¢

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• &creFdJ7f• ComIflI#t8

• Mitor

Don SutherlandMalcolm DickGenevieve DuhigCilia ParishRob BrassingtonRodger WillowsDot PriestlyFlockyBockDavid GeerJulia SutherlandBrian Duhig

We need wurideasand thoughts on any

SUbject suitable for thenewsletter.

Irsj"Vurdubnewsletter and your

input and suggestionsare welcomed.

Phone. email. or write tothe Editor

CLUB FLY DAYSHOBART 1st Sunday of themonth Rodger Willows62278640DEVONPORT 2nd Saturday ofthe month. Dot Priestley64244803ST.HELENS 3rd Sunday of themonth. GeoffIlliff 6376 8303LAUNCESTON Last Sunday ofthe month. Cilia Parish0419535761

Last seen -t\ir€S out of Cupboard5 '19 needed for Derwent Draft practiceOctober 24th at Heritage Forest.

~

0417308464

Peter-Ly,l n'­Competition Buggy

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CONTACT THE SECRETARY OFTHE KITE FLYERS OF TASMANIAPHONE: 62442903MOBILE: 0417 308 464FAX: 62442903E-MAIL: parish@southcom.com.au

SECRETARY'S REPORT

A meeting of the KITE FLYERS of TASMANIA Committee was held at CampbellTown on Sunday 8th May 1999. Eight members were able to attend with the main topic ofdiscussion being the upcoming Heritage Forest Festival of Kites, Churchill Park, Inver­may, Launceston.It has been decided to make this into a weekend event for you the Kite Flyer.

On Saturday 23 rd October there will be a Kite Workshop at the Northern Playgroup Assocheadquarters at 35 Holbrook St Invermay from 2pm. Suggested project is a kite train - allmaterials supplied - able to be flown on the follovring day at the festival. Saturday eveninga get together for a bistro meal - venue to be advised.

Sunday 24th October l1am Mass ascension - General free flyingTeddy Bear Drops 12noon & 2pm2m Rokkaku ChallengeLolly Drop 1pm & 3pmTeam FlyBuggy Demo

To make this work we need you there.

Prior to this Kite Festival there will be a pre-event promotion in Launceston on Saturday 2nd

October 99. TV and print media will be looking for good footage and Flocky v/ill test fly theMark 6 Wizbang Teddy Drop apparatus. If you can be there please give Cilla Parish a ringon 0419535761 for venue and time.

Malcolm Dick advised us that he had received "Application for Grant" papers from the De­vonport City Council and asked for Club support if he went ahead and organised a Kite

· .

TASKITE . Sp..ing Editi~n.June '99 . Page 4.• . .!J , :

SECRETARY'S REPORT continued

Festival at Devonport. It was unanimously agreed that he go ahead and apply for financial assistanceand the 12th March 2000 was chosen as a suitable date. Malcolm will keep us informed of his pro­gress.

Hobart 1st Sunday of the month Fly Days seems- to come round very regularly and just as regu­larly Kent and Helma, David C, David G, Rodger, Allan and Genevieve turn up to fly. Where arethe rest of you. Having said that Allan & I will be not be able to get to the next fly but Don and Juliawill be back from their adventures in the Greek Isles and UK so roll up and hear all about the trip.

ATTENTION: HOBART MEMBERS

The Tasmanian Government Office of Sport and Recreation are holding anActive Seniors Day on Sunday 17th October 1999 at

Princes Wharf Shed from lOam - 3pm.KITE FLYERS of TASMANIA have advised of there willingness to support this day and will havea static display as well as a Kite Making Workshop. We would welcome your help, in promotingour favourite activity, if you can spare an hour that day. Please give me a call on 6244 2903 or 0417308464.

Genevieve DuhigSecretary 0417 308 464

Event GuestAdvice has been received from the Hobart Summer Festival and Ansett Australia of two compli­mentary airfares being allocated to this event. One of these has been given to that great lady whohas the ability to keep both kite flyers and the general public fully informed of the days proceedings.Diane delli Paoli has accepted our invitation to be with us on the 15 and 16th January 2000 - those ofyou have attended Adelaide Kite Fest and Festival of the Winds in Sydney will know of her abilitywith the microphone.Di has also indicated her willingness to hold a Workshop. We look forward to having her here inHobart. :;!?ea~Ue~

For KFT members only, this competition will again be held next year with the winner of the Y2Kevent receiving the prize of an airfare - sponsored by KITE FLYERS of TASMANIA - to attendthe Adelaide International Kite Fest in 2000. Adelaide Kite Flyers Assoc have again agreed to spon­sor a flyer to attend our festival the following year.The kite receiving the most members votes will be the winner. There will also be further prizesawarded in both a sewn and non-sevm category.Not too many rules apply however the kite entered must "f1y" and have been made by you since thelast years event. That years winner is not eligible to enter.

Allan Parish

&~~ite<t

.:.: ..::t~.,)· '. '. .... , . .:,TASKITE Spl'ing Edition - Septeltlbel' '99 . Page 5 .'.. " .~ ~. .i" ' .. t " . ,

In each country or culture where kites have been used, the people there developed special names forthem. These names reflected the ideas that people had about their kites, they way they looked, or thereasons they flew themIn English, the word "kite" is also the name of a graceful bird. The Kite Society of great Britain hasadopted a "kite" bird that resides in the London Zoo.In Japan, kites are flown with long bridle lines and tails. it is not surprising that the Japanese word"tako" also means octopus.In France, kites are made with many spars and sticks. The word "cerf volant" is also the name used forantlers on their deer.In Mexico, the word for kite is "papalote". That's also the Mexican word for butterfly.In the South African language of Afrikaner, kites care called "vlieers". This is very similar to the Dutchword" vlieger". But remember that the first European settlers in South Africa were from Holland.In Germany, the first windsocks were in the shape on animals and often had small fires lit inside thehead to frighten enemies. Kites - which grew from windsocks - are now called "drachen" which meansdragon.Here are some common names for kites from around the world. Maybe you can discover the meaningor the ideas behind some more of these words that people have used to describe our flying machines.

o Afrikaans (South Africa) - Vlieerso Belgian - Plakwaaier• Chinese - Fungjungo Indonesia - Layang-layang• Italian - Aquilone• Japanese - Takoo Korean - Youn• Mexican - Papalote• Norwegian & Danish - Drage• Portuguese - Pipas• Philippines - Saranggola

(

• Russian - Letuchij zn:eij• Serbo-Croat - Zmaj• Spanish - Cometas• Swedish - Drake• Thai - Wau• Dutch - Vlieger• English - Kiteo Estonian - Lohe• Finnish - Leijani• French - Cerf volant• German - Drachen

Material courtesy ofKites, Kids and Education. © David Ellis

TASKITE ,', " '- "', " . - Spl'ing edition '99 ....Page 6 ' ' , .1 • • ~ ,~ • . ' .. , '. ('1

&/?!.tLaltd Tracer Bra8siI'/jtPJLltave beelt travelliltg dJlnitg Wlitter. Here is TraceJf8 accolIl'It of tlte Kite festivals titer attendedWEYMOUTH, England - May Bank Holiday WeekendA big sandy beach with roped off areas for kite fliers, luckily, as the rest of thebeach was jam-packed with sunbathers enjoying the warm weather. Light windsall Sunday so not much flying at all. Fantastic fireworks that night brought

_ "" '.~ thousands to watch. More wind Monday afternoon and a near miss as a large<":.c:;_:; flare kite almost came down on the buildings across the road. All the kite trad­

- _ers complained that they did no business - must have been the sunshine. I'll bet'': the ice-cream sellers didn't complain!

.~~ Swindon Festival was the following weekend. It is held at Wroughton Airbase~.;l

;.;:'f. with lots of room for everyone and runways everywhere for the heaps of buggy'S people. Fliers can also camp on site with the beer tent a recent but very popu­

''rb:'~:': lar addition. Known for rain and strong wind, Saturday proved to be just that,-:-:;;;:.:":·t so we raced over to Wales to visit relatives for the night. Sunday was still very.~:£~ gusty and lots of kites were damaged not to mention bodies over the runways.,...-__ .. . A group from Germany had brought all light wind kites and had no luck

. all weekend. The White Horse Kite Group who organise Swindon areknown for their hospitality and presented long distance guests with aglass paperweight with a Whitehorse etching as a memento.

On to America to catch up with Greta and Ken Lee and other friends inthe Washington/Oregon areas. Relaxed flying at Cannon Beach, newphotos for the website (www.webcom.com/mrkites/groundzero.html) ifyou want to check it out. Visits to Bill's Tavern and a staff outing to seeStar Wars.Back to Work and on to WiLdwood. One of the biggest festivals on theEast Coast being both dual line competition, world indoor championshipsplus single line displays. The Robertshaw brothers cleaned up the dualline competition much to the disgust of the locals. Invited guests in­cluded Ron and Sandy Gibian, Scott Skinner, Ramlel Tien (France)Roberto Guidori (Italy) and Lee and Sue Sedgwick. The beach is gigantic

and even with large areas roped off for the kitefliers, the public could stillswim and bathe in total privacy.

.The boardwalk was jam-packed all Memorial Day Weekend with crowds~ going to the funfair and the hundreds of shops. Temperatures were in the

high 90's all weekend and light winds mostly. The best winds were on theSunday afternoon when the sky filled up with beautiful kites and ValerieGovig was there taking heaps of photos for Kitelines magazine.Lots of organised entertainment for the kitefliers with an all you can eat$5 BBQ, catered dinner plus kite auction, buggy workshops, miniaturekitemaking and the indoor championships compared by Corey Jensen werefascinating.We were glad to get home to rest Robert has since been invited to do akite workshop in America next March, Greame PooLe has also been invitedto teach so what a coup for Australia!The latest issue of American Kite includes a 2 page article on Robert andQueenslands Tony Rice showing their kites at last years Longbeach Festi­

val. Also Roberts kite made the front cover and the calendar inside so keep an eye out for that issue -

you should recognise it with no trouble at all. The headline reads f Wizards of Oztralia'

T~SKITE . ...' " ... . . Sp..ing Edition - Septembe.. '99 " Page 7 .

FLOCKY'S PAGESplicint} Brai~e~ LineSo some friendly competitor has cut your linein the last Rokkaku fight and you don't wantto be even more vulnerable the next timesporting a dirty big knot three-quarters ofthe way up the line!

Braided lines are hollow inside and those without a core can be splicedby inserting one end inside the other. As Polyfibres have low frictionthe overlap should be as long as practical.Normal white line is fairly loosely woven and it is quite easy to sleeve it onto along latchhook or umbrella spoke and pull the other end through, even doubled over.The good stuff, like Rok line, unfortunately is so tightly braided that this is im­possible, a single thickness is all it can take inside and even that requires somepatience.Proceed as follows:• Melt the end and roll into a long skinny spike with a wet finger.• Cut off the very point and poke a hole through sideways in the middle of the black

bit with a big needle.• Find about 10cm. Of very fine strong wire ( like a strand of bike handbrake bowden

cable, fuse wire is too weak), stick it through the hole, double up, squeeze withpliers and twist a few turns thus forming a sort of needle.

• Now melt and roll again to get a smooth transition from wire to line without anylumps. Keep it slim. You now have made what the old saddlers called a "pigsbrist7e".

3

2

1

For this splice I use a 18cm. Long dollmaking needle with the point superglued into abit of doweling.• About 60cm. From the end ,inset the needle backwards into the line. Work your way

through and crunching the sleeve come out after 30cm. Enlarge the entry and exithol es wi th a suitabl e poker. Wi th the needl e, pi ck up the pi gs bri stl e of theother line, bending over the wi res, and patiently work the lot back through thesleeve. Fig.l

• Pullout 10cm. and disconnect theneedle. Stretch the sleeve overthe core. Fig.2

o 30cm. away from the entry, in­sert the needle into the linejust pulled, and exit near thejunction. Pick up the pigs bris­tle of the long tail and pullth rough unti 1 the loop di sap­pears.Fig.3

• Ti ghten up from both tail s untilthe cross-over is closed and se­cure it with a drop of superglue. Fig.4

o Stretch out the whole splice,then cut off the tai 15 so theyjust slip back inside. The fin­ished splice is 40 cm. long andhas been tested to a greaterbreaking strain than the originalline. Fig.S

"

1 • • •

TaSKITE . Spring Edition - Septeanber '99 Page 8f' V ~

If you have an Email address, email it to Malcolm

"Most of my money J spent on kites. the rest

J wasted!"

... ME??·t\~I1'<C.,

-----

dickma!colm@hotmail.com

chevie@microtech.com.au

kiter-dave@yahoo.com

parish@southcom.com.au

SHAKIB GUNN and our Club President. DONSUTHeRLAND at Mt. Faber Park. Singapore

July '99 ¢

Malcolm Dick

David Geer

Alan Parish

Cilia Parish

"Thou shalt always wear a helmet whilst riding thy buggy, lest the godsbecome angered by the sight of thy uncovered head and spill thee to theground .causing great injury" the Kite Oracle

Thanks to 'Rodger Willows I\.for this clipping U

••. . .TAS~ITE . Sp..ing Edition - Septelm~e.. '99 Page' 9 ~:

. " ,'" ....

Club Members offer their condolences

to David Chandler and his family

for the recent sudden loss of his sister.

Sunday 24th October 1999

HERITAGE FOREST FESTIVAL OF KITESChurchill Park, Invermay 11 am - 5pm

Workshop and evening get together Saturday 23 rd

Contact CilIa Parish Ph 0419 535 761chevie@microtech.com.au

Saturday 15th/Sunday 16th January 2000

i\lft:.> out of CU?80ft~D.$Queen's Domain, Hobart l1am - 4pm dailyWorkshop, Night Fly, Barbecue & Auction

Contact Genevieve Duhig Ph 0417 308 464parish@southcom.com.au

Saturday 22ndSunday/23 rd January 2000

BINALONG BAY KITE RETREATBinalong Bay, St Helens

Contact Robert & Tracey Brasington Ph 0363 761 667

Sunday 12th March 2000

Kites over tlte 81ufftlte 2000 Devol1/ort COl1fl1fJll1itJj Kite festival

Meercroft Park, The Bluff, DevonportContact Malcolm Dick Ph 64278590

dickmalcolm@hotmaiLcom

:TASKITE .' Spl'ing Edition.S~pte...bel' '99 Page 10 . J'~,;{":,, ". '.' . . , ' ~"

!!lu''-\i

~'"

Welcome to Taskites newKidz Page just for the undertwelves. OK you older kidz inyour 30-90's can join in too

but don't do the puzzlebefore handing the page onto

the kidz.

5 E L B A T A L F N I Z M Q I

F· D M 0 F P L D R 0 K K A K U

U X Y X I L I 0 F I X E L F K

:r D R A N A 0 P F T W G A U y

X Y E R M Y F W H U L F Y G W

M B T 0 B D A I F L C V Q B F

C :r N L E 0 R 0 C 0 Y N E L P

Q D U L M L A :I D V R R F C D

0 P T E F B P Y H E A M V C M

E A 5 R F T H Q L R L 0 :r :r R

H V 0 0 S K S Q u w w s E H 0

D BoxD ButterflyDCodyD CoyneD DeltaD Diamondo Edoo Flexifoilo Flowform

D Inflatableso Malayo Parafoilo Pipao Revolutiono RokkakuDRollero SledDStunter

Search the sky above and find as many kites fromthe list as you can. As you can see some of the

kites are flying backwards and on angles!Which one is missing?

See you next time!

K/DZ PA::;f. was prejJared t?lf DAVID flf.f.R.

TASKITE needs your articles and photos! Please send your contributions to the Editor: Malcolm Dick

Post Office Box 615 DEVONPORT 7310 Phone: 6lf 278590 dickmalcolm@hotmail.com