Both recent and not so recent discussion on rec.kites has revealed a surprising lack of consistency in the results obtained with Jim Rowlands Flowform. The reasons for this are unclear. In order to attempt to find a rational explanation, both for the Furtherance of Science and for the Common Good, I have prepared a questionaire, which I would be grateful if you would complete to the best of your ability, if you have built one of these kites. I am sending this questionaire direct to all those people I am aware of who have built one, and I am also posting to rec.kites to try to catch anyone else. Please reply be EMAIL, not by followup posting. Also, if you are reading this from rec.kites, please also take care to reply to me as "pleriche at uk03 dot bull dot co dot uk" otherwise you will simply get my anti-spam autoresponder. If you can reply on behalf of any other builders, please complete an additional copy to the best of your ability. I undertake to publish the conclusions (if any) of this survey in rec.kites. Please replace (_) by (*) where appropriate, or insert a number thus (6) to indicate your answers, or answer briefly in spaces marked "____________". Don't worry if you can't answer all the questions. This is intended as a serious study, but let's not take ourselves too seriously. Not every last question is dead-pan serious! - Philip =================Rowlands Flowform Questionaire===================== Q1. When you built the flowform, how would you rate your experience level? With machine sewing (_)Beginner (_)Some experience (_)Experienced With kitemaking in general (_)Beginner (_)Some experience (_)Experienced With making soft kites (_)Beginner (_)Some experience (_)Experienced Q2. How would you rate your accuracy and neatness at the time? (_)Poor (_)Fair (_)Good Q3. How hard to build did you find it? (_)Straightforward (_)Average (_)Hard Q4. If you had built another straight afterwards, how much neater or more accurately do you think you could have made it? (_)Hardly at all (_)Somewhat (_)Much. Q5. How do you rate the performace of your flowform? (_)Would trust my camera to it (_)Fair (_)Poor (_)Doesn't fly at all Q6. Does it need a drogue to fly satisfactorily? (_)No, not at all (_)Yes, in some winds (_)Won't fly without one (_)Won't fly at all Q7. How would you rate the smootheness of the wind in which your experience of the Flowform is based? (_) Good (straight off the sea, or miles of flat largely treeless countryside, clear or evenly overcast sky) (_) Fair (inland, noticeable variability of wind, amounting to less than 50% variation in wind speed over a few minutes) (_) Poor (urban: trees, buildings or hills to windward, or changeable weather. 3:1 or more variation in wind speed over a few minutes) Q8. What is the minimum wind speed in which you would consider getting out your flowform? (_)mph or (_)bft Q9. Have you built any other soft kites before or since? (_)Yes (_)No. Q10. If Yes, how would you rate the performance of the Rowlands against others you have built? (_)Better than most, (_)Average, (_)Worse than most. Q11. What material did you use? (_)Balloon fabric (_)Regular ripstop (_)Icarex (_)Other ____________ Weight (approx) (_) 3/4 oz / 40gsm; (_)Other ____________ Q12. What was the quality of the material you used? (_)Near perfect (warp and weft perfectly straight and perpendicular) (_)2nd quality (weft a few degrees out from perpendicular, but straight) (_)Poor (weft significantly off 90 degrees or not straight) Q13. How many different colours or batches of fabric did you use: (_)for the canopy (i.e. excluding the flares) (_)altogether Q14. Were there any perceptible differences in quality, feel or weight between different batches or colours? (_)Yes; (_)No If Yes, which parts used different material? ____________ Q15. Did you (_)edge bind, or (_)hem? Q16. In the edge bound or hemmed edges, how many layers of fabric did you end up with? (_) (e.g 3 for double hem, 3 - 6 for edge bound) Q17. If you edge-bound, did you use: (_)strips of the same material, (_)edge-binding tape If you used different hemming/edge-binding techniques for different parts, explain briefly what you did: ____________ Q18. What orientation of the fabric did you use on the flares? (_)Aligned with leading edge (_)Aligned with the underside of the canopy (_)Other ____________ Q19. Did you use essentially the seam pattern and order of construction as per the book? (_)Yes (_)No Explain briefly ____________ Q20. What rib profile did you use? (_)Rowlands', from Table 1 (_)Dan Weinreb's, deduced from Fig 6.11 (_)Other: ____________ Q21. What line did you use for the bridle? (_)Cheap-ish polyester or dacron etc (_)Spectra/Dyneema Strength? (_) < 100lb; (_) >= 100lb Q22. Did you make any other significant modifications? (_)No (_)Yes ____________ Q23. What colours did you use? (_)Black; (_)Brown; (_)Red; (_)Pink; (_)Orange; (_)Yellow; (_)Green; (_)Turquiose; (_)Blue; (_)Violet; (_)Purple; (_)Grey; (_)White; Q24. You are half way through a substantial kite building project when you make an unrecoverable mistake which trashes all your work so far. When you eventually cool down, would you be more likely to: (_)Start all over again, or (_)turn to some completely different project? =================End of Rowlands Flowform Questionaire=============== Now please mail your completed questionaire to: pleriche at uk03 dot bull dot co dot uk Recipients: rec.kites (Bernhard Malle) (Alan Mackie) (Dan Weinreb) (Richard Bettis) (Thomas Dorf Nielsen) (Thomas-Michael Rudolph) (BfliKite) (David Larson) (bruno diviacco) (Andrew Beattie) (Philip J. Le Riche) (Jeffrey C. Burka) (Jan-Willem Dob) (Steve Lane) (Peter Ulfeden) (Simo Salanne) (Esben Colstrup) (Pat Prosser) (Nathan Sendan)