Ikaros 10.5 AR4.5

by Stelios Alex.

Page update: Monday, 27 April 2005

Hi guys! I had decided to stop this page when I signed for an agreement with a kite company which would produce an updated revision of Ikaros. But this agreement was not met with success so here it is again! And you can find a lot more at the new Ikaros Rev2 page (like more instructions on how to make the kite).

Ikaros is an inflatable sled kite so bare in mind that this kite's structure is patented like all inflatable sleds,
with whatever consequences this might have on anyone who tries to use it commercialy without a license from the Legaignoux brothers.
Still, Ikaros was NOT designed according to the Wipika patent. Its structure is patented but that is as far 
as it goes.
The kite was designed using Sledmaker, a program I have written for calculating shaped skins used in single skin sled kites, 
whether they might be inflatable or sparred. I have kept the version I used secret because it has a couple of features I found useful. Call me sneaky, I am just too lazy to put the code online and write documentation for what it does.

Contents:

  1. News
  2. Photos
  3. Test flight video
  4. Why Ikaros?
  5. Download plans (in CAD format)
  6. Download plans (for Surfplan)
  7. Making the kite
  8. Materials
  9. Other pictures

News

  • 1 December 2002: Murphy's law again... I am still trying to get a video kitesurfing with Ikaros but had no luck whatsoever. 

    • It is kind of hard to stop complaining now because all we've got is stormy weather (all week long).
     
  • October 2002: I have designed a new inflatable kite, inspired by a well known commercial one. It shares the same profile with Ikaros, but is a 15 sqm flat area. Its name is Daedalos (who was Ikaros' father according to the legend) and I hope it will fly as well as its son :-). You can find the plans (for Surfplan) in the files section of Inflatodesign.

    •  
  • 3 October 2002: Ikaros has plans for a lower skin (aka Jojo) ! The skin extends from the bottom part of the LE tube until 30% of the top skin. This is still untested but should help with less turbulance behind the LE tube. Get the updated plans!

    • However, after reading advice from inflatodesign (thanks DM) and because my prototype would need to be taken to pieces to get a lower skin, I decided not to add it. Be careful if you are going to use it...
     
  • 22 September 2002: Check out the photos from the second test flight. Flying at 2 Bft, the wind was no good for kitesurfing, even with my 12 sqm Nasawing. One day after that there was 4 to 5 Bft, when I couldn't go to the beach. Murphy's law in kitesurfing I guess...

    •  
  • 1 September 2002: I took it out for a test flight in some real wind conditions! Video available online here (6MBs)! (divx codec required). In the video I fly Ikaros on 8m lines, just to see how it behaves. It's the first inflatable I have ever flown!


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    Results: This kite is awesome (not that I have flown any other inflatable, but compared to the rest of my kite quiver)! It goes upwind really well and parks itself on the top of the wind window. I also tried the depower system and it works fine! If you pull the main lines it loses power but stays in neutral (in the top of the window). I have to get a better inflatable LE bladder because whenever it lost its pressure the kite would loose its shape and luff badly. 
    I kitesurfed (underpowered) a little with Ikaros once I had my 25m line set ready but the wind died and that was it for the day :(.

Thanks a lot guys for the great work!

Why Ikaros?

Daedalos and Ikaros, father and son, were according to ancient Greek mythology the first people to fly. Trapped in Minoan Crete by its king, Minos, Daedalos from Athens, who was one of the brightest ancient mythical engineers, built two pairs of wings for him and his son. The wings were made of wax and feathers so that he could use them to fly. Together with Ikaros they used the wings to escape flying from Crete, which was the greatest naval power of its time and controlled the Mediterranean Sea. But while on their journey back to Athens, Ikaros kept flying too close to the sun and too close to the waves, although Daedalos had warned him not to do so or his wings would melt. Somewhere in the middle of the Aegean Sea his wings melt and he fell from the sky into the sea. According to mythology, Daedalos returned safely to Athens, to mourn for his son. The island near the place where Ikaros fell is called Ikaria, you can find it on the map easily!
I thought that the kite should be named Ikaros since kitesurfing has a lot to do with flying and going over waves ;-). 
 

Download

You can get the latest plan here (233kb).
Don't worry, there are instructions in the package explaining how to build the kite.
There have been several modifications so that these plans give a good result, this version of Ikaros was actually prototype number 3, after an old series of crappy-flying protos...
My Ikaros flies really well, I hope yours will, too!

Making the kite

  1. Go to a printing shop and print out the plans in A0. The plans cost me 9 Euros (ouch) to print in an inkjet and 6 Euros to print on a laser. 
  2. Once you have the plans ready, trace the panels on the kite material. You need two pieces of each panel, one part for the left side and another one for the right side.
  3. Cut the panels adding a seam allowance around 10mm (this means that you have to cut the panels at least 10mm outside the traced plans).
  4. In the plans there is an arrow pointing to the middle of the kite. Trace that too and then align the cut pieces so that you can form the kite canopy.
  5. Do steps 2 to 4 for the LE tube plans, too.
  6. Sew the canopy panels together. Do the same for the LE tube but do not sew it closed! Leave the main seam, which goes from tip to tip, open.
  7. Add zippers or velcro in the tips and in the middle of the kite's canopy. Through these you will be able to insert the inflatable LE bladder.
  8. Reinforce the tips with Dacron around the line connection points.
  9. Sew the LE tube on to the canopy. 
  10. Sew the batten pockets, their reinforcements and the straps in place.
  11. Buy batten material available in sailing equipment shops and cut battens in the right dimension (which can be measured only after you have inserted the batten in its pocket and not before).
The only problem is you will have to figure out how to make the kite's inflatable LE bladder out of some sort of plastic. There are a lot of materials to use, PolyUrethane is the supposed to be the best (and most expensive of all). 
 

Materials used for the prototype

The front part of the kite, shown in pink, was made using the lightest grade of Dacron. The wing panels were made using ripstop (actually Stabilkote by Bainbridge). There are dacron reinforcements which make the batten pockets and several polyamide line reinforcements around the panels. 
I have built my Ikaros prototype using sail battens to avoid having to make more inflatable bladders. Using the Surfplan version of Ikaros you can print out the inflatable bladder pocket plans, too. This should result into a stiffer kite with better jumping abilities. 

Have fun!
Stelios
 
 

Pictures

Go to the photos section ;-)... Check the video to see how it really looks and flies!
 
 

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Page originally published: May 2002
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