How to Build a Surf Kite

Lay your kite template on your sail fabric and pin it in place. Fold your fabric in half to cut both pieces of your sail once. Cut the fabric with a hot cutter so its edges melt slightly, preventing it from fraying. Separate both pieces of the kite gently to allow the hot cutter to melt the two fabric pieces together.

Attach the sail pieces together with 6-mm double-sided tape. Sew your tape using a zigzag stitch with your sewing machine. Finish the kite's trailing edge with your double-sided tape and fold the edge twice.

Tuck a length of your spectra line inside the fold as you finish its trailing edge. This line will help your surf kite fly. Create a loop of about 8 inches long and let it protrude from the sport kite's end.

Cut a length of mylar with a width of 10 inches, and sew the strip to the trailing edge with your machine's straight stitch. See to it that the mylar goes over the seam on the kite's spine at the back. Cut your Dacron at about 6 inches longer than your kite's leading edge and fold it in half.

Press the fold with your fingers and open it to put the double-sided tape on each of its outer edges. Pull off the paper covering your tape slowly, and fold the excess Dacron that goes beyond the kite's leading edge. This should create a double layer of Dacron that will reinforce the tips.

Place your kite's leading edge so that its edge lines up with your Dacron's fold. Press your Dacron closed over your leading edge and tape it to secure it in place. Sew your Dacron in place using a straight stitch from its tip, leaving a tiny gap for its leech line. Zigzag stitch this to the other side where the straight stitch leaves a tiny gap at the other end.

Glue the Dacron to the tough fabric to create a nose piece, similar to those used for seat belts. Fit your nose piece over the kite's nose and sew it in place, leaving a tiny gap for the line. Hot-cut the excess away.

Sew your 3-inch Velcro with the hooks to the spine side of the tail. See to it that the Velcro is straight. Sew your 4-inch soft Velcro to the opposite end of your 10-inch Dacron using a straight stitch.

Create a hole with your hot cutter at the end of the Dacron sewn to your surf kite. Cut 3 ½-inch Dacron pieces to make standoffs for your kite and fold these in half, cutting the ends to make them diagonal. Insert your sail edges in the folded Dacron, and sew these in place.

Burn three holes in your Dacron with your hot cutter an inch apart. Burn another hole at the end of the Dacron, about 3 inches from the kite's tip. Create some tension in the leading edge by inserting a cable tie beneath your Dacron so the line does not get tangled on it.

Cut 2-inch holes in your leading edge for your spreader connectors, both in the lower and upper regions. Create a T connector for the kite center from one of your leading edge connectors. Create a hole for the spine to insert your 2 ½-inch of carbon tube ferrule right in the middle. Insert the rods of kite and the remaining fittings.