 | ||
The Kite is an 11' 7" cat-rigged sailing dinghy (class inactive) designed circa 1962 by Carter Pyle as an Olympic Finn class trainer. Like that era's Finns, the Kite's mast is flexible, unstayed Sitka spruce and spruce boom.
Contents
Built from 1963 to 1973 original builder, Newport Boats in Newport Beach, California and Mobjack Manufacturing in Gloucester, VA, and East Coast Boats on Long Island, and Lancraft, Santa Ana, CA, the latter two after Brunswick acquired the company, to 1973 or so. Some 1200–1300 plus (I own hull 1306) were built. Build-rights were acquired by the Browning Arms Corp in 1965 and later sold to Brunswick.
The Kite is a one-design planing dingy, self-bailing, easy righting for 2 people or as a single-handler. Planes easily. Well made, sturdy, with boom vang, out- and downhauls for sail control, not a board boat like a Laser or Sunfish.
Specs: LOA 11" 7" Beam 5' Draft 3.5" - 3.5' SA 78 square feet (7.2 m2) hull 160 - 215 pounds all up.
Hull
The picture to right seems to have Kite hull but spars not typical. No logo, class number. May be Newport prototype.
Second picture is outline of one-design class Kite.
Fiberglass deck and hull, hollow between, with foam flotation. Deck molded-in nonskid, wide gunwales (rails). Most had teak rub rails but later models had stainless rail.
The boat is open, no decked-over areas. The rails (deck topsides or gunwales) are 10 inches wide at the beam. A mast step is molded into the deck and the mast supported by cast aluminum bracket attached to the bow section. A flared spray molding extends along the forward deck section aft.
Mid-boom traveler, Nicro-Fico blocks and hiking straps standard.
The transom has two drains and a single exterior interior air pressure release/drain plug. Early boats had a stainless steel ID plate with Newport Boats and hull number stamped onto it inside center of the transom; later the hull number was molded into the transom: "Kite XXX." Later boats have no plate or molded hull number. Some masts had the number also.
Optional: oarlocks, outboard motor bracket, and kick-up rudder.
Controls
The dagger board is molded glass 44" x 15" wide, handle cutout and integral trunk-stop. The dagger board trunk is molded to the hull/deck.
The barn door style rudder is like Finn. Early rudders had a tang mounted to the forward edge that prevented the rudder from detaching should the boat capsize. Wood tiller mounted into a stainless rudder head bolted to the rudder. Kick-up versions are rare and made with a cast aluminum upper trunk and the rudder is shorter than the standard, with a spring mounted pin which, when pulled, allows the rudder to tilt up 90 degrees, generally white fiberglass construction.
Rigging
The mast is rotating, un-stayed, like the Finn, approximately 19' long, Sitka spruce. Grooved, for bolt-rope sail. A stainless flexible keeper plate slides through the mast yoke to hold mast in place if knocked down. Original masts were supplied by the Royce Company of Costa Mesa, CA.
The flexible mast allowed for flattening of sail in winds, with controls adjusted properly, like the Finn. The spruce boom is 10' in length, grooved for the bolt rope foot. Some early out haul designs had a metal bail attached aft end through which a wire outhaul ran, swagged to a wire and run to a cleat on the bottom of the boom near the main sheet block through a groove in the boom's and the tag runs to a cleat.
The goose neck is pin-style with a 90-degree tang that has a hole in it and sits over a screw below the stainless pin receiver on the mast, preventing the boom from swinging independent of the mast. Original halyard is wire/rope, with a ball stop on the wire but now vary.
Downhauls also vary. Original upper vang block is mounted halfway between the goose neck and the main sheet block. There is a stainless bail with a mounting hole bolted to the mast - vang block with built-in cleat can be mounted to it. Downhaul setup offers 3:1 purchase.
The main sheet traveler is stainless, typically a slide-car riding a 5/8 track mounted amidships, with small fair leads and cleats mounted inside the gunwales near the deck. The original fair leads and cleats were cast aluminum. The main sheet block is a fiddle attached to the slide, and a dual sheave block on the boom with the upper. The sheet comes off the upper large sheave to a block/camcleat mounted to the deck swivel for 6:1 purchase. Most original hardware was Nicro/Fico, Australia.
Variations are common, with some very late boats reputed to have been made with tube travelers and different drain.
Sail
The original Kite's sail is a bolt-rope style (luff and foot), having a 6-inch headboard, three battens, the top and bottom ones being 24", 30", 24" to fit mast flex, so the sail can be flattened in a breeze and, with down/out hauls/vang, absorb puffs.
Class logo was typically a stylized "Swhoosh" shape, with a stylized "K."
Newport Boats included McKibben Sail. Irvine, CA. McKibben closed, and since the Kite class is inactive, sails are custom. Only one company, Super Sailmakers, of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Sailrite are currently making them, and the cost is approximately $500 plus shipping and handling as of 2009.
Note: Replacement masts run $1,000.
Original traveler parts and blocks are difficult, if not impossible to acquire.
A current suitable spar set can be assembled using Force 5 class mast base, with carbon extensions and the Force 5 boom. This arrangement allows use of all sleeved sails currently used by the Force 5 and Laser one design classes. Custom fitting of base to fit the mast iron is required and not difficult.
Other
The Kite has a Portsmouth Yardstick of 100.9. Corrected using Beaufort numbers, at BN=4 (11-16 knots), the rating is adjusted to 101. The formula: Corrected Time (CT)=Elapsed Time (ET)/rating X 100. Close that is to 0 rating, the Kite could conceivably be a benchmark boat for Portsmouth ratings.
Inactive class. Builders varied and were shunted off by parent corporations, in the late 60s early 70s. The boat was one of the most popular classes. The "Flight of Kites" regatta had as many as 200 competitors.
Options
See above also.
The boot stripe was the most commonly checked option.
Observations
The Kite is designed to float if knocked down and is generally unsinkable and generally will not "turn turtle," and the self-bailing, high deck floor can quickly drain a water-full boat underway. It is comfortable and fairly dry.
Boat planes easily in 12-15 knots of pressure, depending on crew weight.
Kite dinghies can be found for as little as $100, but the mast, rudder and dagger board can raise that figure if repairs/replacements are required. A Kite dinghy in good condition with all the equipment could easily run to $6000.