You think your kite is big

The latest creation from the Peter Lynn team, created by Peter Lynn, World's largest kite: aliens would be scared!

Peter Lynn has just unveiled the world's largest lite, at Berck-sur-Mer, in France. Built for the Al Farsi Kite Team, the "M Ray" measures 1250 square metres.

"This new kite is so finely balanced on the edge of luffing (nosing over and coming down) that even when it's generating a tonne or more tension on the main line, just one person pulling on a nose line can cause it to descend", says Peter Lynn, the kite designer.

"Large kites need to be docile fliers and have as little pull as possible. Zooming all over the sky like a high performance traction kite at four times wind speed developing 16 times static pull is not desirable. Not least because no available mega-kite mobile anchor could conceivably hold", he continues.

The Al Farsi Kite Team already hold the former largest kite in the world, a Kuwait-shaped flying flag, but the newest addition is really huge.

The construction of the new kite was not easy. The original prototype was lost by the airline companies but with the help of the chinese company Kaixuan Kites, Peter Lynn was able to prepare a new piece of art.

"Ms. Wu, lead kite maker at Kaixuan, is the best sewing machine driver I have worked with in a lifetime of kite making", says Lynn. "And it flew perfectly at it's Berck public debut. It's stability and flying angle are like nothing I've ever flown before. It needs almost no wind, probably because a useful component of lift comes from heating of the entrapped air".

I was at a festival in Adelaide in 1995 when Peter flew what was then a world record for the largest kite I think it was around 850 sqM, it was so huge the a whole primary school of kids could fit inside it!! Peter would semi inflate it in the mornings and conduct tours through the body of the kite for the local schools. True!

I remember seeing it lift off for the first time, I was on one side of the Semaphore pier and it was on the other and it looked totally surreal and a bit like a scene from the sci fi movie Independence Day!!

A storm came through that weekend while this thing was flying, the tether was an 8 ton ton 4wd flat top truck with 8 tons of concrete blocks on the back. The main line was flat braided Spectra approx 40mm x 4mm, with some ridiculous braking strain. The storm literally destroyed the event in moments, it approached so fast we could not get the kites down in time. The tail of the MegaRay tore off,
(retrieved from the water 500M offshore by Peter on a big foot buggy flying a land kite of some sort). Phils big and super stable 120sqM parafoil tethered to the back of a holden rodeo 4wd was lifting the back end of the rodeo off the ground and dragging it down the beach. I saw a large sumo wrestler kite split its guts, and the current world record attempt for the most box kite flown (144 kites) in a single line train was also destroyed and was showering box kites all around us as we stood gaping at the mayhem.
I know it was 1995 because an extremely valuable Peter Lloyd Rokaku kite was lost in the storm and blew downwind and inland a few klms, and returned to the Festival Site with a very small hole in it. Peter kindly donated the kite to be auctioned off as a fund raiser for the festival and I purchased the kite for a small fortune after being stung at the auction by my kiting buddies who all bailed on the bidding after they had reached the street number of my first shop!!


Later on myself and a dozen others were helping Peter pack up the massive body of the kite, to take back to Phil McConachie's kite loft for repairs, as it was booked to be flown in France (at the same location as in the video I believe) the following weekend. It was at this time that we discovered the extent of the massive forces that were created in the storm, the tether line was fused solid where it was tied to the truck!! Upper wind range would be approx 20 knots and I would estimate that we had about double that when the squall hit and then winds stayed around 25 knots for the rest of the day, it was hectic to say the least. I flew some of the very first PL arc proto kites at this festival too, we flew them on massive handles, not a bar!!

Peter also managed to get that parafoil down that was tied to the back of the rodeo, he reversed the truck and drove it full speed down the beach and just managed to get the kite to luff and invert before driving under the next low pier in front of the Semaphore Pub about 2klms down the beach.

Those were the days!!

Hi Winke,

Great video. Thanks for sharing it with us by posting it to youtube so we could all enjoy it.

I'm confused though. Was that huge kite not made by Peter Lynn?

Galah

No, I'm not. Although I'm also not making a big deal out of it. Just pointing out that using someone else's material in any publication without their knoledge (actually; permission!) is theft.
Had he been wise enough to place one simple line of text above the video, saying he found it on the net, made by me, and that at the end of the video it shows the kite as seen from the air, it would have been slightly different. (but not much)

And to those who wonder if its ok to film other people's property? Yes, I did ask permission to film the objects and was actually asked to film/ photograph the Manta by the Kuwait Kite Team. And they got the material I shot of their kite during a pleasant and much enjoyed dinner we all had together.

So no hart-feelings, just pointing out its not a decent thing to just use other peoples video and photo without contacting them first.

hey wikne, next time you're at home alone wondering why you have no friends...


read your post back to yourself and you might get an answer

Hi Wikne

Perhaps you are confused about the way the internet works? You posted this up on Youtube, its free for anyone to view from then on.
I was sent a newsletter or RSS feed with the video link, and all I did was post it here as a general interest thing for other kiters to share, I don't see any problem with that?
Surely you got permission from Peter Lynn to make a video of his kite and post it on Youtube?
Peter Lynn is an old friend and business associate. I like to read about and share his pioneering works.
I'm sorry if you have found offence in what I have done, it was certainly not my intention.
You should feel honoured that your video is being seen and appreciated by a wider audience thanks to me!

Regards

Mr Kitepower

If someone thought one of my You Tube posts where worth sharing i would be stoked.

Don't worry Sebol, it was just a large kite flying very sedately. You didn't miss anything amazing. That sooky bubba wilkene must have taken it down cause he didn't want to share. Good on PL for making the big kite, but unless you are there in person to say "wow that's a big kite" all you are doing is watching a little version of a big kite on your screen