Sleepless nights and power sled kites

I promised some Christmas seafaring stories but so far I have failed; too tired to write my own and despite some searching on internet – nothing thus far. But! I haven’t given up yet!
In the meantime, I have had a few sleepless but enjoyable nights trying to work out the intricacies of flying a kite cam off the back of Arwen.  Can it be done? What will it involve?

I blame Joel!

He said ‘you will need to design a picavet Steve’! That did it. Sleepless nights spent surfing the net – what was a picavet; how did it work; how could you make one….questions, questions, questions………..!!

The man just constantly makes me think! It’s unnerving. First there was his simple roller furler – ingenious. Then the collapsible fold away sleeping platform – pure genius. Got to make one of those in the New Year for Arwen.  The tent! Stretched and tensioned by water bottles – simple elegance! Got to alter my tent now!!  Admittedly, introducing me to those odd guys smeared in blue latex splashing paint about on drums…..whilst on ocean cruise liners…….wierd? Scary? Not exactly Bryn Terfel now are they?

Anyway, latest project? Design a picavet, make it, test it!

Now mistakes here could be costly – GoPros are expensive and the floaty backdoor won’t save one that falls off a kite 40m out from Arwen! I have been researching kite type and size; length of line and line storage; line diameter and strength – soooooo much information on the net – now paralysed with info overload.

Of course, many will ask the obvious fundamental question…..why do you want to do it?

To which I reply – why not? I rarely go sailing in company and so I have no shots of Arwen at sea. I have designed a float rack for my GoPro as mentioned in a previous post and that can be set adrift to get waterline shots of Arwen sailing past….but aerial shots….from afar……..now that is different and it would be quite nice to see a perspective on her which I have yet to see!

So over the next few days I will post a brief summary of what I have discovered and in the new year I will try and build a prototype; along with putting in a new front deck bulkhead hatch, a new front seat hatch, a new clip on side deck for a mooring pole, painting over the dings, getting the trailer to the mechanic.......and so the list goes on......and on..............