KAP extra bits

These are the peripherals I regularly use to make serious kite flying safer, easier and more enjoyable.

1. Leather gloves for the dominant hand with pointer finger and thumb tips cut off.
The kites we use produce strong pull on the line. With that comes the very real risk of cuts and burns from fast moving line. Gloves are essential, no question.

2. Lanyards for the camera and mounting bolt.
I connect the camera tether to the picavet lines, that way if any part of the rig fails the camera won't plummet to earth but dangle from the lines. A forgotten mounting bolt would be the most common reason for an unsuccessful KAP outing.

3. Carabiner to store the picavet lines.
These line hooks are like grappling anchors and with the picavet lines will very easily twist and tangle. The picavet lines are wrapped in a figure of eight around the picavet cross after connecting the line hooks as shown.

4. Luggage scale with gamma hook to measure line pull.
This gives me an idea of which camera rig is suitable for the kite and wind strength.

5. Big carabiner to walk the kite down.
Sometimes when there is enough space you can walk the kite down by clipping this big carabiner to the kite line and walking towards the kite.

6. Kite cleat for securing the kite line when using the skate wheel reel.
Also called a Henry's handle I think. A few figure of eight wraps of line around the cleat will hold the kite. I can either clip the kite cleat to my backpack, which I always wear, or to a tree or post using the longer loop.

7. Longer loop of rope with carabiner to tie off the kite cleat or strato spools.
This is long enough to wrap round something solid like a tree, rock or car tow ball.

8. Website card.
Because people will be drawn to you while flying big kites with "what is that" dangling from the line, and it's good to be able to direct them to your website to share the results.

Hang the camera - Picavet

Usually the camera doesn't attach directly to the kite but hangs 20m or more lower down the line on a picavet self levelling system, named after french inventor Pierre Picavet. This keeps the camera steadier while the kite moves around. The picavet is a cross with 4 pulleys or holes through which 4 lines pass. The 4 lines are gathered at each end and attached to 2 line hooks which hang from the kite line. This allows the line angle to change while the camera stays level.
Here's an animated demo of how it all works from the Kaper website.

This picture shows my line hook bent up from thin coat hanger wire.

Ready made line hooks and picavet kits are available from The KAP Shop

The top 2 picavets are made from UPVC plastic, cut and heat moulded to shape. The bottom one is from the KAP shop. The picavet can be used with or without pulleys but they make the action smoother and quicker to level. I used Ronstan Kite Blocks costing about A$8 for a pack of 2.
More expensive and lighter Pekabe model boat blocks are another option.


Weight is always a consideration when building KAP rigs. A lighter rig can be used in a wider wind range and with less pull on the line.

My 4 picavet lines are each about 1.8m long, which allows the camera to hang about 90cm below the kite line with the 2 line hooks about 1.2m apart. The suspended ring prevents rotation.

Some KAPers use one length of continuous line to thread the picavet. Either way works well.

This photo shows one of my rigs hanging from the line of a PL 2m2 Pilot