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By Dan Beard
Kites for Sails for Small Boats.
Probably ever since kites were invented boys have attempted to use them for motive power, to make their boats go with no other sail than the one soaring in the sky, and no mast but the slender line leading from the boat to the kite.
In almost every attempt the boys have been partially successful, but as the boats could only go before the wind and follow the kites, the direction of their course had to depend entirely upon the whims of the weather clerk, and kite-sailing never became a sport. But the late experiments with towing-floats and the invention of the double bellyband has opened new possibilities for the future of kite fliers.
The advantage of the star kite for sailing purposes is first in its strength which the three sticks give it. Since all these sticks cross in the center it makes a kite of practically six sticks, and the sticks on each side supply a good strong support for the two belly-bands.
For sailing purposes build your kite about three and one-half feet in diameter, cover it with good Manilla paper, and treat your paper with a coating of hot paraffin to make it waterproof. Use a paint brush and put the paraffin on as if you were painting the paper. Mr. Woglom's storm kites are of paper covered with paraffin, and he has flown them when it rained so hard that he was wet to the skin, but the kites did not suffer. When kite-sailing there is always the chance of your sail-kite falling into the water, and if your sail is not waterproof your fun is over for at least that day.
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