Hal's Blue Moon "Mamba Standard"

Hal's
Blue Moon "Mamba Standard"
Spine Issue
Last Updated January 15, 2007.
Click on the photos for enlargement.
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Mambas have a single spine, comprised of two pieces. There is a shorter tail piece, that slides up into the longer upper piece. When assembled, the tail piece increases the overall length of the spine by three inches. I don't know why the spine is designed in two pieces, or why the two pieces aren't cemented together. When the kite is crashed nose first into the ground, occasionally it causes the Velcro at the base of the sail (that holds the spine secure in the sail), to come undone. If this goes unnoticed, and the kite is launched again, the shorter tail piece will fall off the kite and become lost on the ground, making for a lot of wasted time searching.

I fly my Mamba mercilessly, as I attempt to learn new tricks. In the last two years, it has taken a great deal of abuse, slamming it nose first into the ground repeatedly. I have lost the short piece a half dozen times. Since I would rather fly than pace back and forth across my favorite flying area, I had to come up with a solution. One afternoon, while Patrick was helping me look for the lost tail piece, it occurred to me that I could attach the tail piece to the sail with a tether, so that it would not get lost again. The only thing available at the time was a piece of yellow ribbon (shown in the upper right photo). I made the ribbon my tether and it has been on the kite ever since.

The upper right photo is linked to a larger photo of the tail area with the tail piece removed from the spine. The two photos to the left link to larger photos of the tail piece re-inserted in the spine, and of the Velcro closed, ready once again for flight.

Despite my issue with the spine, I believe that this is a fabulous kite, well worth every penny!