Another of my favorite activities is designing, making and flying power lifting
kites as launching platforms for The Rainbear Skydive Corps, a disorganized
and not always cooperative group of parachuting teddy bears, who along with
related soft animal friends of theirs, are known as "parafauna". As the nominal
"Commanding Officer" of the group (I say nominal because the bears really aren't
much for taking orders), I spend a great deal of time in this activity. I'm
fortunate enough to be asked to travel about in the summer, performing with
the Corps at kite festivals. In the winter, I travel to kite clubs and conferences
to teach classes on some of the kites I have been most successful with, such
as fluted sleds (a design on which I have done quite a bit of developmental
work and which I believe is probably the best power-lifting kite yet), as well
as classes on the design of parachutes and rigging.
I wrote "The Rainbear Skydive Corps Training Manual", a 90 page compilation
of information on parabear skydiving and the fluted sled kite. It has been out
of print for awhile, but I recently had a number of photocopies made up. They
came out with a couple of minor problems, a page out of order and a missing
photo of a bear, but are otherwise fine in terms of content. Photocopying is
an expensive way to reproduce a book, but I do have them. They are $15 plus
$3 postage and handling (US - allow a bit more for foreign). The Manual includes
chute and pack patterns, fluted sled patterns and instructions, and much more.
I am also available to teach classes on parachute design and rigging (for bears…
not people) and on the fluted sled.
| 
Fluted Sled Kite
The Fluted sled is one of the most powerful
and stable kite designs available. It is used for lifting scientific instrument
packages and for low angle, slow exposure aerial photography favored by
archeologists. I was one of three people who worked on the design and
spent several years teaching it at international kite conferences.
Here I am seen with a 60 sq. ft. model...
the largest that has been successfully built and flown to this time. I
considered a 120 footer but was discouraged by the other design team members,
who were seriously concerned for my safety in flying it. |
One of my favorite bears, Amelia Bearheart,
about to make a perfect landing on a camper at the city park. |
| 
Mockery
A friend, and internationally known kite
maker, named Don Mock gave me a sack of nylon scraps "too small to
be used". I built "Mockery" from them. It is 12 1/2' highe
and 7 1/2' wide, with tails 135' long. It has been featured in kite magazines. |
Pentecost
This kite was made for the Methodist Church.
It was featured on their calendar in 1995 as both cover and one of the
months. It is 6 1/2' by 8 1/2'. It has been featured in both the church
press and kite magazines. |
| 
Another nice bear jump! |
|
I plead innocent… Ann insisted I post this just to show you how crazy I really
am. This is the well dressed bear dropper ready to hit the beach. The back pack
holds various reels of kite line and additional bears. Careful study will reveal
the big iron stake tied to the sideof the pack frame. There is another stake
on the other side, and a short handled sledge hammer in the pack. The two largest
bears, Amelia Bearheart and Baron von Oops, hang outsidethe pack, one on either
side. The long black case holds about six kites, ranging from a 30 sq. ft. to
smaller stuff. Note the crash helmets on the bears for safety… and on bear dropper
in case the bears have bad aim… This set up is called for because the parking
is often pretty far from the actual flying area. The pack weighs about 40 pounds.
