One new, one old

Been really quiet on the Peter Powell blog front, simply because there hasn't been any addition to the collection since March this year. But that has now changed, as I've been able to add not one, but two Peter Powell Stunters to it!

For health reasons, a dear friend of mine had to give up his kite collection, with many of his kites ending up with me. And among those were two Peter Powell Stunters, a Mk III and a Mk I. We went out to fly them yesterday, in a blustery 6-16mph wind. 

First the Mk III. Standard colour pattern in black with flo yellow stripes and a black tail.

It flew really well in the prevailing wind.

The Mk I is an unusual one: it has a green polythene sail. Have seen plenty with black, yellow, blue or red sails, and I have all those in my collection, but I have never come across a Mk I with a green sail.

 It struggled a bit to climb when the wind dropped, but once flying, it performed well.

Of course, we had to fly the two together; would be rude not to!

What become clear when flying the Mk I and Mk III side-by-side is that the Mk III steered much better. But it was nice to see a new and old Peter Powell Stunter in the air together!

And then there were two ...

Couple of years ago, I managed to get my hands on a Junior Stunter, a rather unusual Peter Powell kite. Never saw one before, and never seen one since, so it appears to be a pretty rare kite, quite possibly because it was never produced in large numbers. 

Having this blog public does have its advantages, because I got an email last month, asking me if I knew someone who was interested in a PP Junior Stunter .... Uhm, yes, me please!

Given the current lockdown, we are limited to the outdoor sports field down the road, but fortunately they're large enough to fly our second Junior on 30m lines.

Like the first one we got, this PP Junior clearly feels nimbler on the lines.

And as we have two now, we wouldn't be Flying Fish if we didn't fly them together, would we?

Because they're a bit more twitchy than a full-size PP, they weren't as easy to fly together, but flying them together we did!

PPKOG 2020 kite

It's been really quiet on the Peter Powell front this year, for several reasons, and it's been quite a while since I've been able to add to the collection. One of the reasons for that is of course that, as the collection grows, there are fewer and fewer 'new' kites to add.

But there is one now! Following the PPKOG kite introduced last year, Paul was persuaded to create a '2020' version, in a different colour scheme. So here it is!

Of course, the weekend after I received my PPKOG 2020 kite (#1, as before), the wind had died completely, but I'm pleased to say we have now given it a proper inaugural flight.

Maybe the start of an annual tradition?

By the way, I just realised this is the 100th post in this blog!

Skyraker 'Illusion'

The Skyraker was the first dual-line delta produced by the US arm of Peter Powell Kites. It came in several verisons: 1-panel, 3-panel, 11-panel and with 'Illusion' graphics (plus, it appears, a Jolly Roger version). Although I did get manage to get my hands on a  3-panel, and 11-panel Skyraker, clearly my Peter Powell collection would never be complete without a Skyraker 'Illusion' ...

Took me quite a while, but I did manage to find one!

Like the other Skyrakers, this 'Illusion' version needs a decent breeze to fly well; 12mph at least. When the wind drops away, and at the edge of the wind window, it struggles, especially in turning.

The 'Illusion' Skyraker came in three colours: yellow, green and pink ... the search continues!

Yet another bag for the PP collection

As I predicted some time ago, the gradually growing collection of PP kites requires a further bag expansion. The American-produced kites already had their own bag, separate from the UK-produced ones, but with the recent addition of the Cayman 6-stack to the collection, it just doesn't fit anymore ... Solution? Yet another HQ Proline bag, again from Kiteworld, and this time in red.

All the Caribbean Kite Company kites now live in this new red bag.

Caicos

When the US arm of Peter Powell Kites became independent under the name Caribbean Kite Company, it kept a small number of PP kite designs and simply renamed them: the basic PP Stunter became the Cayman, the Skychaser became the Tobago, the Skylite became the Mustique, and the Omni quad-kite became the Caicos. Even though the Omni sail pattern was changed, it basically remained the same kite under a different name.

Of course, I'd been looking for a Caicos to add to the collection ... did you expect anything else?

My experience with the Omni wasn't that positive, so how does the Caicos fly? Did CKC make any subtle changes to the bridle to make it a bit less twitchy?

Errrm, no .... it flies exactly the same as the Omni: quite twitchy and difficult to keep it stable. Of course, that may say something about my ability to fly a quad, but I have far less problems with other quad kites, such as the PP Double D, and I flew Omni and Double D side by side under the same conditions .... 

No matter how twitchy it is, I'm happy to have added a Caicos to the still-growing collection of Peter Powell kites (#63, if anyone is interested).

Hamleys PP

I've been able to add a small handful of vintage branded Peter Powells to the collection: Round Table, BP and Poppins. There definitely were more, the most famous of them being a Queen-branded PP, which does occasionally pop up on eBay with ridiculous asking prices.

All these branded PP are Mk I kites, and I didn't know vintage branded Mk II PPs existed until I saw one listed on eBay, promoting the Hamleys toy store. Do I need to say specifically I got it for not very much at all?

The kite came in its original sleeve, judging by the sticker, and it even had the Hamleys price tag still on it. Kite cost £9.50 back then; pity it's not clear exactly when that was ...

Price increases aside, here's my Hamleys PP in the field, ready to fly.

Wind was a bit flaky and variable, but it did manage to take off.

It struggled a bit in the variable wind, but flew as you would expect from a vintage PP, watched by some of Stoney Cross Plain's resident horses.