Flare Kitestack 1987

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Blackheath 24th October 2021

Flare Kitestack 1987
10 kites each kite measures 100 x 140 cm
tails: wind drogues
Total size: 1 x 1.4 x 27 metres (14 square metres)
Weight: 6 kg


Windspeed c12mph+ Blackheath 24/10/2021
Notes...

First flown on Blackheath 1st September 2019.

Flew it on two lines rather than trying to set the single line bridle. Wind was initially just too light but when the stack was fully flying it was too heavy for comfortable hand holding!

One drogue missing so replacement made. Four drogues lines re-fixed...
Drogues 23 x 245 x 4.5 cm.

An image from Cervia 1987 appears on the Cervia Volante Web site:- "For the first time the Cervia festival 1986 and 87 expanded to include kite flyers beyond Europe, in fact artists from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and America participated and the Cervia Volante festival began to take shape as a WORLD event". https://www.cerviavolante.it Further details requested 28th August 2023.
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Kite Lines Volume 10 Spring 1993
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Recovery and repairs after Blackheath

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The bundle of kite sails after recovery from the trees of Greenwich Park.

There were two tears in the fabric and one torn seam, a few broken bridle legs and one pulled out eyelet. There was only one sail with both upright spars missing and one sail with one broken upright. There were two missing lower spreaders.

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Portsmouth Kite Festival, Saturday 26th July 2025

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(13:22)
The Flare Stack from 1987 needed a small temporary repair before it could be flown. One of the bridle fins had not been re-sewn after the Blackheath accident.
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There was just enough wind to keep the stack airborne and we were eventually able to use an extended flying line.
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(14:00)
Special thanks to Marian Linford for these images against a moody sky!

Blackheath 24th October 2021

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The stack was flown from an anchor point today after waiting quite a few weeks for a suitable breeze. After the stack had been flying for a while, time to take a few photos as illustrated here, the ground anchor failed and left the stack trailing one of the two barge pins across the A2 with the kites ending up in the trees of Greenwich Park.
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Video from Blackheath today, 24th October 2021.
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Some spars were broken in extracting the stack from the Greenwich Park trees but I do not think that any of the fabric was damaged. It will be quite a slow operation unravelling the bundle of kites and tails!
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Blackheath 1st September 2019

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Page Updated July 2025 Felix Mottram