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Dual-Line Kites

After I rediscovered my love for flying kites with the delta-wing in St. Augustine, I saw people flying dual-line kites. My fascination with kites only grew from that day. The first person I saw with these kites in the air was one of the people who worked at the kite shop. He saw me watching and he asked if I'd like to try it. I couldn't resist and soon I had his pair of Trilby diamond kites doing simple turns and, oops, a dive or too. First dive was the kites fell over on to their backsides. He told me to stand there with tension on the lines and he went out to the kites and relaunched them again. The next dive, he showed me how to keep the wind on the kite or bring toward me so it landed on its face. A gust of wind was all it needed to relaunch the kites.

Now that I was totally hooked on the experience with the dual-line kites, I had to get me a pair. I thanked him for teaching me to fly his kites and returned to the shop and bought my first dual-line kites. In no time I had one up in the air and flying, then two. I returned to the store and eventually had a Trilby in each rainbow color and was flying as many as I could at a time when the wind allowed. I have since made cloth sails for a Trilby pair, and it is surprising how quiet they are in comparison to the material of the original sails.

Dual-line kites are now available in many different styles, mostly based on diamond and delta-wing configurations. All need to be delicately balanced for optimum flying capabilities. Some dual-line kites require more wind for launch and good flying experiences than others. Many of the complexe delta-wing patterns require minimal wind speeds to perform well.

Other stunt kites include a quad-line Revolution that was developed for an ultimate kite flying experience. Multi-line kites have been used for many different activities and have become popular in extreme sports.


Sources for my pages include:
  • Baker, Rhoda and Miles Denyer. Flying Kites: Simple Step-by-Step Kite making projects. Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books/Quintet Publishing Limited. 1995.