I am, among other things, a designer of power (traction) kites - that is, kites which are primarily used for pulling things along. These are not kid's toys. In fact, you most definitely wouldn't want your children to play with them. Not unless you wanted them to go on a free trip to Belgium, anyway.
There are disclaimers and notices at the bottom of this page. Read them.
Whatever. On with the information.
First off, we have the 'Phaze' - A single skin hybrid kite originally inspired by the NPW5. I wanted to make a kite that pulled as hard as the NPW, but had better edge performance. I think I succeeded. Of course, Peter Lynn beat me to it, but there you go.
Next up, the 'Blue Spot'. A family of ram-air inflated, valved, foils. Plans available for the initial 5m prototype (AR 3.6 or so), which is an eminently usable buggy engine. You could use it on water if you made it with decent cloth (I didn't, the prototype gets soggy and horrible when wet, I'll be making another one and giving the original away). In fact, make it with decent cloth anyway, whether you'll be going near any water or not. Just go buy some chikara, already. Or, even better, icarex.
An article I wrote and posted to rec.kites regarding shaped skin. Other information about shaped skin can be found at Gene Matocha's site, and by searching on rec.kites.
Another article, this time on bridling.
Software to generate kite skins. This is provided as C++ source code, and requires the STL. Only "tested" on Linux. Absolutely free. Little or no support. No user interface. Probably buggy, likely to leak memory like a sieve, definitely unpleasant code. This program almost guaranteed to crash randomly, wipe all information from your hard disk and cause world war 3. You have been warned. Only use this if (a) you really know what you're doing and/or (b) Peter Thomas' excellent Foilmaker won't do it for you/run on your machine. Now hacked to output xml formats raather than postscript, meaning you need the perl stuff from openkite too.
Where Next? - A bunch of random thoughts, some generated by discussion on the foildesign list, some not. Read at your peril - this is late night, brain melt stuff.
OpenKite - Proposal of an open format for kite design interchange, and an open software kite design toolkit. NOW WITH SOFTWARE, but not much...
Building 101 - A sort of maybe tutorial on building kites. Complete with opinionated views. Read, laugh, don't sew your finger to your new kite.
My redundant links section. You could probably get a better set of links from Google, which is the best search engine out there, but I felt I had to do it.
Foilmaker. Windows 9x/NT only, sadly, but pretty good design software for powerkites.
The Foildesign list, where the nethead foil designers hang out and argue about aspect ratios, bridling and hairydinamiks.
More Hybrids. The Trident, which is more developed than the Phaze. Recommended. Also, plans.
The Chevron may be a little 'old hat' these days, but the quality of the design information here is superb. And readable. And thoroughly recommended. Thank you Andrew.
Words from Peter Lynn. Including 'Buggies, boats and peels'. This man is a god.
The 'Traction' section of The Kite Flier's Site is well worth a look for other links. Also, check out Henry Kulk's Dominator kites.
And finally, if you only buy one book in your lifetime, make it Stuntkites II.
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NOTICE : The kite plans provided on this site may only be used for personal, non-commercial use. If you wish to produce these kites for profit, contact me for licensing details. I know it's unlikely, but if I see my kites being sold without my knowledge I will sue.
DISCLAIMER 1 : The information provided here may help you design your own powerkites. It may also help you break your neck, or someone else's. Please carry insurance when you're flying, both for yourself and other people. This is even more important when you're making and testing new designs, as their behaviour can be - erm - unpredictable.
DISCLAIMER 2 : Some of the information on this site will help you make a single-skin, or 'hybrid' powerkite. Many of the features of hybrid powerkites are (or will soon be) patented by Peter Lynn Kites who make the awesome and innovative C-Quad. Under no circumstances will I condone copying of commercial kites, and the information I provide is for personal, experimental use only. I will not supply plans for the single-skin kites described. If you just want a hybrid kite for playing/buggying with, buy a C-Quad, and support one of the great innovators. Plus, you get a warranty for when you break your neck^H^H^H^Hspars.
DISCLAIMER 3 : As far as I know, none of the information contained in my kite plans is currently patented. If they are patented by you, let me know. If you make one and get sued, let me know (but you're on your own).