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 green 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!

Another PP Stunter restored

A couple of years ago, following a few people giving me damaged Peter Powell Stunters, I established the Peter Powell Kite Adoption Agency. Following #3 almost exactly two years ago, the Agency took charge of a black Mk I Stunter last week. The kite needed some TLC (the nose had come apart, for instance), a bridle, and a tail. None of that was difficult to implement, so here is #4!

In this case, the kite had someone pretty much new to kite-flying waiting for it. Of course, before I could hand the kite over to its new owner, it needed some testing, just to make sure all was as it should be.

It flew absolutely fine!

As we had a black Mk I out, it was a perfect opportunity to give our own pair of black Mk I Stunters some air time.

While flying these, I could almost hear the restored kite whisper "Can I fly as well together with another kite?" Of course you can!

#4 definitely passed all flight tests!

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!