August 5, 2009 A Devilish Repair Job The winds were gusting toward the end of the afternoon in Jamestown. My Pilot had been cut and the big Devil started drifting back and forth in a series of powerful figure eights. Suddenly there was a noise. It wasn�t a rip. It wasn�t a pop. It was more of a distinctive tat-tat-tat like a machine gun burst. Everyone on the field heard it. I stared at the kite confused. I thought that my bridle had torn loose but everything appeared intact. Then I realized the typically flat kite was much more round. The �through cord� support lines had torn loose.

The first step in a repair is to survey the damage. I did that before we put the kite away in Jamestown. Looking inside the kite, I could see that virtually all of the lines were disconnected. But fortunately, most had pulled the tabs loose rather than tearing the fabric. I packed him up, stuffed him in a bag, and "life-flighted" him home to Oregon. For the next week, I spread the Devil out in my driveway each afternoon and used a leaf blower to inflate him. Then I crawled inside with a sewing machine and methodically re-attached each support line. Neighbors would slow as they passed wondering what on earth was going on. The hard part was lining up the cords so I stitched each tab in the right place. But when I did make mistakes, it was easy to untie the lines and move them to a different tab. Half the damage was on the top and half on the bottom. So to complete repairs in a section, I�d have to flip the kite over. Eventually I figured out that I didn�t need to plug in the sewing machine. It was easier to rotate the wheel by hand then press on the petal. But I never did manage to slide all that extra fabric under the sewing arm easily.

Fixing large kites is simply a matter of breaking the job down into small tasks and approaching them in a systematic fashion. The Devil is back in shape now and stronger than ever. From the outside, you can�t tell that anything was ever wrong. Now I�m hoping that the Google satellites were overhead during the repair and that you can find a huge smile looking up from my driveway if you zero in�

Susie is in Quebec as I write this. She�s slowly working her way toward the festival in Cap Chat but having some problems with connections. With luck, she�ll be home the 10th. I fly out Thursday night for Columbia. So for several days, we�ll be in different hemispheres but roughly the same time zones. Check back for news!

Devil of a Sale!: As long as we�re on the subject of Devils, let�s mark them down this week. In fact, let�s mark down anything designed by the Gonzalez Brothers. That includes the Devil, Opera Masks, and the huge flying Elephant. Order between now and August 17 when I return from Columbia, and take 20% off the cost of any of these cool (and easily repaired) inflatables. Click here for information on how to place an order.

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