World Record  by Gord Moogk VE3DBP

reprint from the Bruce Amateur Radio Club September 2000 Newsletter

Congratulations to Richard Synergy on successfully breaking a World record by getting his kite up to 14,580 feet above sea level on Saturday, August 12th. Only a broken pulley and the requirement to have the kite down by sunset kept him from going much higher

The activities actually began on Thursday evening with a pot luck supper and social hour at the Little residence. It gave us all a chance to get to know Richard a little better.

On Friday Richard was out and about locating a suitable site for the exercise.

On Saturday we arrived at the site after breakfast the Knotty Pine and helped Richard assemble the Kite and prepare for a launch. At approximately 1:00 P.M. after one unsuccessful attempt the kite was airborne. Several hours later after a series of ups and downs in the lower atmosphere the kite finally broke through what Richard called a glass ceiling and started what was to be a continuous climb to the new record. There were no serious problems until about 5:00 P.M. when one of the pulleys guiding the line seized from the strain. After about almost an hour of frantic and worrisome activity the pulley was successfully replaced and the kite was allowed to climb a little higher. While the kite could have easily continued, its climb time was running out as we had to get the kite down by sunset. Another limiting factor was that almost all the 25,000 feet of line had been let out. Richard reluctantly decided to start bringing the kite down. This turned out to be almost 4 hours of continuous reeling in. The pull on the line was held to 100 Lbs and even at this level there were minor problems with some of the rewind mechanisms. During this whole exercise Carol as Airport Manager manned the radio to ensure that aircraft in the area were aware of the kite which at one time was high over the end of the runway. Carol arrived at the site at about 9:00 P.M. with food and drink for the participants who had not eaten since breakfast.

At approximately 9:30 P.M. the kite was finally wrestled to the ground. For a kite that was initially reluctant to rise it was equally reluctant to come down even at low levels where the wind had completely died down. Richard was especially pleased that he was able to land the kite in the same field that it had been launched from which he said was a very unusual occurrence.

At this point all that remained was to disassemble the kite and pack up all of Richards equipment. When this was completed, we retired to the Little residence (Dave and Carols kitchen) where the recording altimeters were unpacked and we waited anxiously to see how high the kite had actually gone. Dave's guess of 14,000 ft was the best of the bunch. Richard was overjoyed when he finally read the data on the altimeter. The altimeters were left on the kitchen table and we headed out to get a good nights sleep.

The next day Richard and Dave spent hours recording all the pertinent information so that it could be submitted as accurately as possible. The final reading had to be adjusted for atmospheric pressure and the calibration curve on the altimeter.

The 2 meter beacons on the kite preformed throughout the flight but thanks to a successful flight were not required.

Once again congratulations to Richard and all who participated.

Gord VE3DBP