Flare 1988

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Flare
1988
222 x 300 cm (222cm not 230cm 27/03/2025)
Windspeed c15mph 30th March 2025 Blackheath
Photo Cervia 2025

Contributed to the collection by Scott Skinner in 2025 'with memories of good times with Jørgen'
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We did a test flight on Sunday 30th March and the prusik knots did not shift even though the wind speed was as high as the spars expected maximum.
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Exciting to get hands on with this kite, Wednesday 19th February 2025.
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back view

Portsmouth Kite Festival, Saturday 26th July 2025

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(16:31)
The 1988 Flare had no fixing points for tails so two loops were sewn in place on the field by Jacob.
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(17:06)
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(17:07)
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(17:08)
There was some discussion about the merits of having two tails on the 1988 Flare and it may be that the Nine Squares 1993 provides a good example!
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Berrington Hall 2025

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The 1988 Flare was flown and also had a tendency to overfly in the extremely variable conditions. This made it quite challenging when flying directly into the sun in the middle of the afternoon.
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Cervia 2025, Decorators 1.5s 1997 design with Jørgen Møller Hansen 1988 Flare 3rd May

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Cervia 2025, Scott Skinner with Jørgen Møller Hansen 1988 Flare 1st May

Scott Skinner had kindly donated three kites to the collection, two of which he had owned for many years, the Flare 1988 and the 3m Rokkaku from 1991. He had sent them to London ahead of Cervia for re-framing with the intent to fly them with the team at Cervia.

The third kite was the 1992 Parafoil which Scott had purchased after it was 'found' via the internet.
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Cervia 2025, Jørgen Møller Hansen kites 25th April

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The 1988 Flare was flown later in the afternoon and also on 1st May.

The kite pulls up very quickly and can sometimes veer off to either side but responds to the flier following the kite to reduce the line pressure.
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30th March 2025, Blackheath

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The forecasts had settled at a windspeed of 13mph which was about the maximum possible expected with the lightwind spar set.
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The kite felt 'solid' on a short line, about 70ft/21m but did occasionally veer off to either side. A longer line would have probably been more stable.
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The sail tension seemed good with the combination of SLE Rev spars in the horizontals and 8mm Exel in the verticals. The curvature of the main cross spar is quite significant but does not look over stressed.
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Thanks to Ashley Mottram for helping with the test flight today.

29th March 2025

The lower pocket repair has been done on the JMH Flare 1988.

A new piece of dacron has been sewn inside the original material which was also consolidated using heavy duty tape.

The new dacron was sewn across to the centre fin internally so the the spar could not be inserted past the pocket.
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The spar was re-inserted to check that there was no change in the required length. At some point the top pockets will need to be re-worked.
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Without spar.
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With spar, tensioned.
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27th March 2025

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The Flare 1988 spines have been re-measured and two rods prepared to tension the sail to check measurements for the horizontal spreaders.
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The lower spreader has been measured, cut, plugged and fitted. The kite may get a trial flight on Sunday 30th March.
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Spar end details.
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10th March 2025

10th March 2025, spar end solution... the caps came from Jørgen's workshop ready drilled. The top spar is 300cm and the lower horizontal is 182cm to the original 'knot'!

The vertical spars are 222cm and may be fitted and left installed.
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The 300cm spreader was inserted and the end caps tested. The part vertical spar was inserted for measuring and then the lower spreader end caps set in place.
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20th February 2025

20th February 2025, the frame will have to be fabricated and the anchor points for the spars will need attention.
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Page Updated June 2025 Felix Mottram