Sport & Stunt Kites

Photos of a Christian Derefat designed Vortex UL that I finished building on the weekend.

The sail is 1/2 ounce Icarex with mylar reinforcement at the standoffs only (no Mylar at the spine).

The frame is Skyshark P90 Leading edges and spine, Skyshark 3Pt lower spreaders and 5mm carbon tube upper spreader.

All up with a 10 gram tail weight the kite comes in at 230 grams.

Kite dimensions: 2400mm x 1000mm

I was fortunate enough early in the week to have a few days of about 3 knot winds for a test flight and as you can see by the photo the Vortex fly s quite nicely.

Vortex 02.jpg (113.48 KiB) Viewed 2036 times

Thanks to Kevin and Michael for supplying the raw materials.

Cheers
Mat
Port Augusta

Hi Matt,

That kite looks absolutely stunning! Out of complete curiosity, and I realise it's a labour of love, how long did it take you to build?

Regards,

.Joel

Nice work Matt

Cool a kite design you got from the internet (I assume) that looks nice and flies well.

Thanks for your positives comments.

The kite took about 25 hours to build but I am a measure three times cut once type of person.

Plans for the Vortex and other Christian Derefat kites are free from http://users.skynet.be/cerfvolanttrick/prototypes.htm.

The wind here is going to be +20 km/h all weekend so I'll have plenty of opportunity to make a kite bag for the Vortex or maybe plan the next kite build.


Cheers
Mat

Hi
I built both the Vortex and the Organic and like them both. The Organic is great fun, but the Vortex is a very nice kite. I have just completed a B'zar and have flown it a couple of times but so far prefer the Derafat designs. I want to build a UL Organic as it is very pitchy in STD so I think a UL may be just the ticket. Your Vortex looks great and weight is right down there, nice! What did you use on the LE pockets, my mate Will uses 1.5 oz ripstop and it has a significant weight saving. Anyway have fun flying the beast.
Mike
PS Will post a pic of the B'zar when I figure out how

B'zar 2011

Hi

Nice B'zar.
Can you post some photos of your Vortex and Organic?

Your comment on the B'zar is interesting as it was on the short list as my next build so maybe I need to continue looking.

The leading edge pockets on the Vortex are standard 50mm Dacron because the beach I fly at is a mixture of shell grit and sand so I need some good abrasion resistance, to save weight I didn't Mylar the whole panel as the plan suggest just a small 50mm stripe at the bottom for the standoffs.

Can you help me out with the correct placement of the APA connectors on the leading edge?
The plans have a cross at the point the connection is made but I am not sure what it's with reference to, I've taken some photos to illustrate using the top spreader but it also applies to the bottom spreader..

The first photo is how I have the kite now and that is the centre line of the spreader lf extended would intersect the cross.
The second is aligning the centre of the APA with the cross, if I use this placement the centre spreader appears to be to short.

APA question.jpg (36.84 KiB) Viewed 1979 times

Cheers
Mat.

Hi Mat
I put the APA on the mark, with the bottom of the fitting on the line. I cut my top spreader to fit and am not to particular about what it is supposed to be, I try to get the LE firm at the top spreader. Not pushing the LE spar out or pulling it in. I am a bit organic about the process. This may not be the way it should be done but is how I do it. There has been another plan just released called the Invictus by Davide Equizze. Look on the stunt kite forum Fractured axel and you will find it there, it looks interesting.
I will have a go at posting a few more pics of the Vortex and the Organic.
all the best Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks for the heads up on the Invictus if the videos are anything to go by its quite a capable kite.

Davide Equizzi web page http://stuntkitepalermo.blogspot.com/se ... ocostruiti has plenty of details and photos for construction and his plans look great so I am going to build a standard version.

If you haven't already seen it the video of the Invictus being flown at the cliffs of Cala Rossa in Terrasini is one of the best I've seen on the web not just for the flying but the scenery also I think it's called "Invictus By Kite D.E.sign#1" if you click on the link above it will take you there.

Cheers
Mat.

Hi Mat
I have seen the vid and thought it was great. I think I will have a go at a Std Invictus, when I get the time. I would like to do a UL Organic as well.
all the best Mike

Heads up on the Invictus plans.

The InvictusPDF_A4.pdf file is corrupted so it cant be opened.

To get around this I've created a new set of A4 pdf's from the A0 pdf using the tiling option which is new to the Adobe 10 reader.
see http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/897/cpsid_89728.html

Instead of printing to paper I used a free pdf writer call "Dopdf" to create the new pdf file.

Here's the new set of A4 pdf which is 50 pages as it's the plan and the templates.

InvictusA4MP.pdf

(229.12 KiB) Downloaded 85 times

You will notice that each page has a title, this document explains how to read the title and reconstruct the A4 pages into the 2 A0 pages.

A0 to A4 layout.pdf

(3.95 KiB) Downloaded 257 times

cheers
Mat
Port Augusta