Authors: Scott Skinner, Peter Lynn Jr.
Date Submitted: May 31, 2001
Article Type: Journal

Scott Skinner:

What were some of your early adventures as chief test pilot for water-borne craft? What were breakthrough developments? The Wright brothers were convinced flying an airplane would be mainly a muscle and memory exercise and that time in the air would solve a lot of theoretical problems other inventors were wasting time on, that flying would become “like riding a bike.” Is that your view? Is kite sailing mainly a muscle and memory exercise? By extension, could you use yesterday’s kites with today’s acquired skills? I’d love to hear your opinions on any of the above and anything else you think would be of interest to readers who are not kite-savvy.

Peter Lynn Jr.:

Let’s see. This will be a little bit of a trip back down memory lane. The first kite sailing we did involved an old sky diving parachute called Adam and water skis. I was very fortunate at this stage to still be too young to be volunteered as test pilot; this was around l987 when I was only 13 years old.

By the late ’80s, we were using stunt kite stacks and large two-line deltas which were a vast improvement, having performance not too far short of current traction kites. However, their ease of handlng still left a lot to be desired.

PDF Link: Journal Issue