Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 21:36:57 -1000 From: malle0.000000uzi.uucp@germany.eu.net (Mitarbeiter von F3P) Message-Id: <9311220736.AA15704@fuzi.daimler> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Some info on the octopus-plan Hi octopus-friends, >From a couple of emails, I have got to know, that were are some problems with printing the octopus plan. With the help of Kevin (Thanks!) I have now put a new version of the plan on ftp.Hawaii.Edu. With this version, all pages should now rpint properly and I have also corrected the wrong 2m-ripstop. A general remark to the plan: It is not a 1:1 copy of an existing production Peter-Lynn-Octopus. I have not taken any measures from the original octopus and I hope that no one has got the impression, that this plan is in any way authorized by Peter Lynn. If you wonder, why I think that this is so important, please wait for my next mail. >From another email: > I do have a couple of questions though. I've never even seen one of these > myself, though I have a picture of one that a friend took at the Long Beach, > Washington Kite Festival this last summer. You mention that the octopus is > not a parafoil or flowform, but I wonder if it would fly better if it was. > I believe that Martin Lester's Legs are actually a modified flowform. What do > you think? As I have a plan of the Martin Lester Legs, I can definetely say, that his legs are a modified flowform. I think I can also say, that the original octopus from Peter Lynn does not work as a parafoil or flowform. He has made another softkite, the manta-ray which does work not like this either. Fullstop. First part of the answer. Next question: Why shouldn't we change something, if we think it is better? I am not sure, whether the octopus would perfom better, if we used a flowform as the body. The flowform-octopus would perhaps have a stronger lift and perform better in low wind conditions. The octopus I have built, flies in a windrange of low 3 bft to 5 bft (sorry, I do not know the equivalent in wind speed in knots; my experiences with wind speed come from sailing and there we count everything in beaufort). If the octopus flies in low wind, the drogue does not produce enough pull, to prevent the octopus from bouncing around and therefore rather often crashes down. The next argument is more from a cosmetic point of view: If I used a flowform or parafoil, the whole kite would fly nearly horizontal above me --- now, (without a specific profile) the octopus flies nearly vertical and you can see it much better >From different locations :-) I have also send a jpeg-picture of the octopus to ftp.Hawaii.Edu. It should soon be stored there. If someone has problems in getting the plan or the picture, please send me a note. Happy octopussying Bernhard = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 23:26:07 -1000 From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Subject: Re: Some info on the octopus-plan >> I believe that Martin Lester's Legs are actually a modified flowform. >As I have a plan of the Martin Lester Legs, I can definetely say, that his >legs are a modified flowform. The man himself denies that the the legs are a modified flow-form (ie: that he took the flow-form design and added legs. I understand that the history of the kite is that the Kite Store in London had the idea and ran an advert for "Martin Lester's Flying Legs" in the Kiteflyer as a windup (there is a close working relationship between ML and the Kite Store). There was an immediate response, so Martin had no choice but to design and build them. He used the legs of his "Icarus" kite (Whole man with wings, some spars), as a sterting point and developed the legs from there. It was the design and development was finished that he stood beck and realised that he had re-invented the flow-form. [That history has been pieced together from various sources, so I'm ready to be corrected if anyone knows better] Andrew -- Work: gaffer@rec.com Phone: +44 793 614 110 Fax: +44 793 614 297 Play: andrew@tug.com Phone: +44 256 464 912 Interested in kite traction? mail kites@tug.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =