May 10th, 2021 Kite Newsletter

Last week was a mini vacation here at Fortuna Found Headquarters. Enjoying the beautiful spring weather and celebrating a birthday. How do we celebrate here at FF HQ??? By flying kites of course! The beach was beautiful, the winds were perfect, and we were able to meet up with some old kite flying buddies. On the last day of vacation, I had a chance to be a speaker at a virtual kite gathering in India. With everything going on with the pandemic it was awesome to see people still trying to connect with one another, still wanting to share their love of kites.

I leave all of you with a bit of advice I gave to one of the kite teams that was on that call. Be visible, because what we do may not affect our peers, but it inspires those that come after us. Not only does this apply to what we do in life, but also our kite flying. Every time we fly, we might be putting a smile on another persons face, we might be the highlight of their day.

As always, if you have any questions, or comments, shoot me an email at: info@fortunafound.com

~Nic

With spring comes rains, blooms, and an enjoyable moment walking through a Secret Garden. A nearby duck was my only companion as I found a small peaceful moment on the edge of a pond. For this video I chose to not put any music so you could hear the beauty of the garden and share in this peaceful moment as well.

HAYDEN — When Claire Arpke’s name called as the winner of Best in Show at Saturday's Hayden Kite Festival, she was asked what kind of kite she had.

The 10-year-old looked a little puzzled.

“I don’t really know what it’s called,” she said, then adding, “a big purple stunt kite.”

“You did it very well, so thank you. Great job,” said Susanna Spencer, emcee and branch manager of STCU’s Rathdrum branch.

Later, Claire said she was surprised to take home what is considered the top honor.

“Kind of unreal,” she said. “I literally picked this thing up a month ago, about, and I’ve only flown it twice,” the 10-year-old said. “It’s just like the third time flying it, well, best in show, so …”

“It was like gusty sort of, on and off, and I crashed a few times,” Claire added.

How many?

She thought for a few seconds and then said, “three.” Read more: https://cdapress.com/news/2021/may/09/flying-high/

The video shows how I make a full sized template for a North American fighter kite. It includes how I determine the width of the kite and its length and why I make a full sized template instead of a half template. kitefighter@yahoo.com

Could kite-flying robots power life on Mars?

While this sounds like the plot of a sci-fi film, it's an idea scientists came up with in response to a competition run by the European Space Agency (ESA).

For astronauts to live at a long-term base camp on Mars, they will need to find energy to survive.

Scientists at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands think using a massive kite flown by robots, to harness high Martian wind speeds, could provide enough energy to sustain several astronauts in their everyday work. Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/57019917