Kite Buggies! Evolution & Alure

Although the kite buggy is probably been around about 1000 years, it didn't get any real popularity until the 1800's. Today you can instantly Google a quarter mil hits for 'kite buggy'.

Since I had an un-official land speed record for skateboards back in '77 ( 68mph ), I guess it's only natural that I be eventually drawn to something else that's fast and dangerous. ( Big grin ) Although at my age suspension is a huge consideration. I also have built quite a few recumbent bicycle frames so a buggy should be fairly easy.
Hands down the best site I've found yet for pics and info is Popeye's site! I had no idea there was such variety. Another idea that makes buggying attractive is that we live within walking distance of a beach that's approximately a mile and a half...

I've recently taken much more of an interest in the aesthetics of kites. I used to view kites as tools - What does it do and how much can it haul into the sky? A quick study on the web has many, many kites that do nothing but hang beautifully in the air for all to view. But trying to find sites that fully and graphically illustrated exactly how-to took hours, as did finding useful info about buggys.

If you have a particular kiting interest, drop me a comment or email, I'll try and find GOOD sites concerning that topic. A future post of mine will show how to build a six foot Eddy. I have seen pics but no-one shows how to properly make the spar/spine connection and I'm betting I'm not the only one that had to figure it out.

Sharing the Adventure

The constant onslaught of technology and the current condition of the World today has given people a great need to relax when they can.
For those who don't want to depend entirely on artificial tranquillizers, I want to share the simplest of pleasures - Flying a kite.
I'm going to try and show how to build and fly kites as basic as a leaf on the breeze and kites as complicated as a NASA launch sequence. Where you find the most pleasure within these is entirely up to you.
I want to share my mental health resource using links, pictures and videos to show you how to create and fly whatever your imagination can conceive. Making something that was once only a daydream spring into the air, tethered only by a kite line will relax and please you more than you thought possible - I promise.

Although kites in various forms have been around for perhaps 1000 years, how to actually make them wasn't readily available until perhaps the last 100 years. Searching through old library books for any hint of a plan was the only option until the internet was conceived. Today the resources are endless. Traditional kites such as Eddy or Conyne to the most complicated Traction kites and buggys are described in great detail in literally millions of sites.
I'm hoping to help answer all the questions I had when starting out, and quite a few I still have today.
How do you?...

Essex Kite Flyers Locally, this should whet your appetite and be updated shortly.

Kite Plan Base This is a great place to start. Don't stay up all night! Remember to bookmark the site.

In the near future, I'm going to post how-to videos from simple to complex and interviews of other kiters from part-time to hardcore.

Below is an aerial photo taken using a simple camera triggered using a radio control unit and mounted on a homemade Hargrave kite.
Taken over Essex, Ontario.