Strange kite question

[Pudgesmom]

Would a passenger be allowed to fly a kite off the back of a ship?

Beth

[Ziggy7]

hahaha it sounds fun, worth a try anyway hehehe let us know how it turns out. Personaly I think the wind will be too strong, so use fishing line :)

[debblue]

i thought of letting ballons fly off the ship but its a big no no so i would think kite flying is in the same category. you might check but i have my doubts, About 10-15 years ago leaving from ny on the old home lines on the cruises i was on, our group would bring ballons aboard and the day of leaving ny we would let the ballons go but that was before all the changes and 9-11. happy sailing to you :)

[Esme]

If the kite gets away from you and lands in the water then you are polluting the ocean. I don't think it has anything to do with 9/11. It's an environmental thing. Balloons and paper streams are no longer thrown overboard when ships are leaving embarkation ports and also leis are no longer thrown overboard in Hawaii - they are now thrown into the pool.

Would be fun to fly a kite, but I think it's a no-no.

Oh, also no more trapshooting like we did in the old days - again because of polluting the ocean.

[xpcdoojk]

We actually tried this as a group in our 2003 New Zealand to Tahiti to Hawaii cruise on the RCI Legend of the Seas. Our meet and mingle group had a couple of members that had flown kites before off of ships. I was skeptical, but in the spirit of adventure and risk taking I went online and bought two kites from a toy store in Auckland. Had them shipped to the concierge at the Hotel we were staying at for a couple of days precruise. They were there waiting for me at the reception desk. Joy! A few days later we had our meet and mingle gathering with about 40 cruise critic members, and we set the time for our kite flying adventure for the afternoon when we were one day out from Tarangua New Zealand in the far south pacific. I was quite concerned that the ships personnel would shut us down, but the few we saw watched us with a bemused smile on their faces. Generally, my impression was that while moving at 21 knots the ship is punching such a large hole in the air that the air moving over the ship and then down towards the water in the aft is so powerful that you can not get your kite up above this pressure. In fact we tried repeatedly and generally before we could get 50 foot of line out the kite was hitting the back of the ship a couple of decks below us. When we were successful getting more line out the kite would circle about 1 to 2 decks below us and spin in a big circle. I called this kite dragging, and it was very successful, and easy to accomplish, and very very unsatisfying.:D The actual danger of your kite ending up in the ocean is easily negated by a couple of facts. Use of a heavy duty kite line for use in high wind conditions means that the line will not easily break. The distance from the top deck to the waterline is over 100 feet on most ships, and with the inevitable kite dragging winds that trail a ship, you would need thousands of feet of line in order for your dragging kite to even reach the water. I would say that even with 500 feet of line out the kite dragging circles never got the kite to within even 60 feet of the water. The conspirator who suggested kite flying to our group swears that it will work, but even though several of us tried on 2 or 3 occassions we could never find conditions that would allow us success.

jc

[Pudgesmom]

Thank you, all, for your helpful hints.

xpcdoojk, I will pass your information on to my pilot DH. Unfortunately, it made about as much sense to me as his explanation of camber, and how an airplane is actually sucked in the sky.:rolleyes: I conclude I will leave the kite flying for the beach.
Beth

[xpcdoojk]

An excellent decision, Beth!:D

Air is strange stuff isn't it. I think your DH will agree with my non technical treatise. :D ;)

jc

[Mary Ellen]

A friend of mine tried flying a kite off the stern a few years ago on a HAL ship. Very quickly a ships officer appeared to let them know (politely - but in NO uncertain terms) that this was not allowed.

[woodofpine]

Helium balloons released anywhere generally end up in the sea. They rise into the jet stream and take off.

As a grade schooler, in science class, we set off balloons with return address cards requested they be post returned. A couple of those returned were posted from Europe. The balloons were released in Ohio.