Early tail attachment

It's always good fun to stumble across another piece of the Peter Powell puzzle. This particular piece came from Martin Fisher (thanks!) who posted a scan of the original instruction sheet of aluminium-framed PP Stunters on the Peter Powell Kites Owners Group on Facebook:

What was interesting to me about these instructions was how the tail was to be attached on these early Peter Powells: not at the bottom end of the sail, as I was used to, but on the cross struts!

When I got my alu-framed PP, it did not come with the original instructions, so I had added a tail in the usual way, on the spine at the bottom end of the sail.

Obviously, I had to try this out! I did not have a PP tail with two holes, so added two holes to an existing later tail. And this is what it looks like once fitted:

I have to admit that my first impression wasn't very positive. It looked and felt rather clunky. And it looked odd, but that's of course simply because I'm not used seeing a tail on a PP attached that high up ...

Clunky or not, odd or not, the proof is in the pudding. Or rather, in the air, so up went the kite!

I have to admit, seen from the other side of 40m lines, it didn't look bad at all! And certainly different from having the tail come off the spine. I was a bit worried that the tail would become entangled in the bridle, but that didn't happen at all. The tail nicely hung between the two sides of the bridle, and never seemed at risk of tangling.

Now that I know that this was the official way to attach the tail to an alu-framed Peter Powell Stunter, I will of course fly alu-framed PPs with the tail attached to the cross struts from now on. Gotta maintain historical accuracy for as much as possible!