Kiting is not just for kids

If you will take a look at some of the links listed here for kiting, you will see 1) how expensive some of them are, and 2) that small children would have great difficulty flying many of them!

Of course the Japanese and some other cultures have always flown extraordinary kites, most with just one line. Then someone got the idea of flying kites with two lines and found you could actually guide the kite where you wanted it to go in the sky and do tricks with it. So now we have two, or dual, line kites, three line and even up to four line kites.

My husband's brother and his wife were both in Newport, R.I., in the mid-1990s when we were also there visiting family. Brother suggested that the two men go fly a kite. Chris thought he was kidding, and told Brother they weren't kids anymore. Brother explained that these were not kites for kids, but for adults. And they went off to Brenton Point Park, a lovely area right on the ocean, and flew Brother's two-line kite. Chris took to it immediately. They went downtown to the kite store, and Chris plopped down over $100 for a kite, handles and string (no ordinary string, this is 200 pound test line which means it would take 200 pounds of pressure to break it) for flying in Texas where we lived at the time).

Chris wanted me to fly as well. I'm not particularly quick at learning such things, so it took me longer, but I did eventually learn to make that kite fly through the air in the direction I wanted, to do loops and figure eights and all sorts of fun gyrations.

Soon Chris decided he needed to learn to fly a four-line kite. So he purchased one, called a Revolution. It takes a different technique to fly one of those. I am still learning after Chris bought me one with a funny-looking dragon on it, called "Beautiful Evil," in honor of my winning a special Fire to Fly award from FUTURES MYSTERIOUS ANTHOLOGY MAGAZINE for my story, "Rainbow's End." It's about a dragon P.I. named Spike Mallet. I received the award for having the most positive responses to any story in the magazine up to that point (seven years of the mag being published).

See what you can do when you let your imagination soar! <huge grin>

Of course, bigger kids can also handle some of these kites. What lots of them like to do is buggy. They take a special buggy which has three wheels and is built very low to the ground, get into it holding on to an enormous two or four-line kite and get pulled down usually a beach or a sandy desert. (Some do it on asphalt or cement roads or parking lots, but it's not recommended). These people have a blast. Some also stand on a board, much like a skateboard, and go down the beach.

Still others get an even bigger kite and a kiteboard that looks like a surfboard and fly down the beach in the water.

And the most daring of all go paragliding, many times off of cliffs or mountains, or over the water. There are also powered contraptions which use huge kites to fly a person through the air.

Now, of course anyone can still fly a single-line kite. Some out there for sale today are simply incredible. They can be enormous inflatables, costing up to $800.00. They might be any object you can imagine. Frogs and bears are popular. Cats, people, octopuses, and even just people's legs. Non-inflatable popular kites include box kites, delta shaped ones, birds, and recently, intricate sailing ships. Patriotic themes are also very popular. Some of these kites can take many sticks to put them together and a lot of time to do that and get them flying.

Green Frog Kite

Most areas of the country have kite clubs where people gather every so often and just fly kites. Beaches (lake or ocean) and parks are a popular place to do this. It's a lot of fun to see all the different kites flying at once, and kite flyers in general are good people, not into a lot of drinking and carousing, at least not when flying kites. You can bring your children to these clubs without concern, and everyone has a good time. There is a list of these clubs here in the States at http://www.mackite.com/clubs.htm

The American Kiteflyers Association is the national organization for kite flying, and if you get the bug, it's best to join. They put out a gorgeous magazine, have competitions across the country, and even insurance for anyone who might hit someone with a kite and cause injury. (Some of the huge kites can be dangerous if not properly controlled.) Look for the link for the AKA on this site: http://www.aka.kite.org/

And speaking of competition, there is that. Many people love to compete flying their dual and quad line kites. They fly to music (called ballet), or fly doing required stunts and get judged. The single line kites are not left out--they have "static" displays and are also judged. Some competitions include the biggest kite, the smallest kite (flyable), the kite that flies the highest, and other categories for kites people make themselves. If you enjoy sewing, making kites can be very exciting because you get to show off up in the sky for the world to see what you've made.

Kiting is one of those wonderful hobbies, which anyone can enjoy, from the smallest child to the oldest, frailest adult (we've seen several elderly men flying two-line kites sitting in chairs). It takes place outdoors, and can be somewhat exercising, especially if the winds are strong. Other kiters tend to be fun to be around.

What more could anyone ask?

"Strong people are made by opposition like kites that go up against the wind." - Frank Harris