Playing Catch-Up III

The last two kite club meetings have been a little bit lonely.  The first began with a message on Facebook that it was raining at Fort Macon State Park and there would not be a fly.  Being ever hopeful, we got our breakfast and drove out to the park anyway.  At the very worse, we would eat there and visit the gift shop before returning home.

Rain?  What rain??  It was cloudy and the wind was light but there was no rain.  So we headed down to the beach.  We put up out light wind kites and enjoyed the fresh air, wishing there was some sunshine.  The newest light wind kite in our bag is the Laima by Flying Wings.  It looks like a bird soaring in the sky and flies in even less wind than the Skate.

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Laima by Flying Wings
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Skate by Into The Wind and Dunton-Taylor Box Delta

The following week was a complete wash-out.  There was rain, cold and almost too much wind.  We sat in the truck for an hour waiting to see if there were going to be some other “fools” with kites coming to the beach.  You never know.  Alas, we were the only ones.  We adjourned to the kite shop to see what was new and what our other kite flying friends were up to.

The days in between were beautiful.  The temperatures were warm, the sun shone and the winds varied from light to mid-range and perfect for flying.  We added two more kites to our vintage bag.  Both of them are Skywaves made by David Prentice.  The Skywave is an “old school” dual line stunt kite.  The day we took them out to fly the wind was on the light side and I wasn’t sure there was enough for this kite.  If not, we would have to be content with our low wind single-line kites.  Boy, was I wrong.  Both flew smooth with hardly any pull.  Beautifully responsive and not tricky, just the way I like to fly.  So another piece of history landed at our house and we are so pleased.

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Skywave by David Prentice

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Fair Winds All.

Playing Catch-Up II

It’s that time of year where it is not winter anymore but it is not quite spring.  The temperatures have started to moderate but you still need to wrap up and wear your hat.  Some need to wrap more than others.

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There was a good crowd of regulars at this fly and the wind was cooperating.  Not too strong, and not too weak.  It was a good day to test fly a couple of the new kites coming out this year.  So up went two new Kritter Kites and a new Travel Diamond.  All of them flew quite well and looked really good in the sky.  The most surprising was the Travel Diamond.  It hung above our heads all morning and handled gusts easily.  The Nemo Kritter Kite made us laugh as his little fins flapped in the wind, making him look like he was swimming.

Owl Kritter by Skydog
Owl Kritter Kite by Skydog
Nemo Kritter by Skydog
Nemo Kritter Kite by Skydog
Travel Diamond by Premier
Travel Diamond by Premier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of us dug older kites out of our bags,  kites that hadn’t seen the sky in months or even years.  Some of these kites are still available in kite shops and some are no longer being made.  As we stood and watched them, I realized that each one had a story to go along with it.  Each one was more than just a pretty thing that flies.  The kites hold our memories.  They may commemorate an event, honor someone no longer with us or just remind us of good times spent with friends and family.

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So grab a kite and head to the beach or the park or the nearest big field and make some memories.  I guarantee you’ll smile then and later on.

Fair Winds All.

 

Playing Catch-Up

The weather has taken a turn for the better with Spring arriving.  And I have fallen behind on my posting. It seems I’d rather be out flying my kites than writing about them.  So here’s to playing Catch-Up.

The last club fly of February was one of the prettiest days we’d had in quite a while.  The wind was up and the morning sky was a beautiful blue.  There were only a few of the regular kite club members on the field and we had an interesting mix of old and new kites.  My friend Bob dug out some of his older kites that hadn’t seen the sun in a while.  The red-white-blue airplane was purported to be a “unflyable” kite.  But after some work and innovation, Bob got it to fly remarkably well.  It just hung in the sky all morning.  The same goes for his Sutton and red-white-blue Double Delta Box kite.  Both very reliable flyers.  The Angel kite can be finicky at times.  But this morning was not one of those times.

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Jet Fighter 16 by Skydog
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Angel kite by Premier

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I put up our relatively new Vertical Visuals Malay Diamonds.  We have one of each color variation.  They fly well with or without tails.  I prefer the look of the tails trailing along behind.

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Vertical Visual Malay Diamonds by Into The Wind

The newest kites in the sky were the pair of Flakes made by Jeri at the Kites Unlimited shop in Atlantic Beach, NC.  These were custom-made, one in white and one in black.  They made quite a pair hanging together.  Rumor has it that there will never be another black Flake made.

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And so ended the month of February.  Happy to say, this was the start of better weather and better flying. More to come as I continue to play Catch-Up.

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Fair Winds All.