Mystery CKC delta ...

Seems like I'm starting to get better known as a collector of Peter Powell and associated kites: I was offered an unknown Caribbean Kites Company kite. Was I interested?

Now the kite in question had several issues. First of all, the sail was badly faded; and I mean really badly faded. Secondly, the sail had a large tear near one of the two stand-off connection points. And finally, the kite was lacking an upper spreader. Well, that was not quite true: the kite did have an upper spreader: a length of wooden plant stake.

And on top of all that, its identity was unknown! But as I didn't have that particular Caribbean Kite Company kite in my collection (no matter its actual identity) and the owner of the kite didn't want much for it, I took the gamble.

Obviously, I couldn't do anything about the fading, but the tear in the sail was fixable with some tape, and a fibreglass upper spreader was very quickly cut. But which model was I actually adding to my collection?

Fortunately, I got my hands on a Caribbean Kite Company catalogue some time ago, and that proved to be very helpful. Despite the heavily-faded sail, there was just enough colour left to pin it down as a Tobago, the continuation of the Peter Powell Kites Skychaser. Look at the fourth kite from the left in the bottom left picture: sail colours are the mirror image of my badly-faded kite, and the wing span also matched.

So here's my 'ghostly' Tobago on the ground, following the necessary TLC.

Ghost or not, how does it fly?

Well, not exactly brilliantly, and not nearly as well as its predecessor. It's a rather twitchy kite, which becomes rather difficult to control when it doesn't have constant wind pressure in the sail. But despite it not being the best-flying kite in my PP collection, it's the only Tobago!

Picture credit: Stephen Palmer (detail photos)