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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fair Winds All.

Where There’s A Will…

We are not flying now as the weather forecast was accurate. It is 23 degrees with a 15 mph steady wind with gusts. Only real men fly in these conditions. I am inside and warm.

This was the announcement made by our local kite shop last week regarding the weekly kite club fly. And I have to agree it was very cold outside. But we were desperate to fly as the past few weeks had ended up being practically kite-less. So off we went to Fort Macon State Park equipped with two special kites.

These kites were made in a workshop at Kitemania South in Treasure Island, FL a couple of weeks ago. And they were test flown there between rain showers. They were the perfect kites to fly on a cold windy day. And so we flew them, inside the cab of the pickup truck where the temperature was a balmy 70 degrees.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Fair Winds All.

The Problem With ‘Hanging Out’ At The Kite Shop

It seems we just can’t catch a break. After a few days of cold temperatures, it warmed somewhat but the warmer air brought rain the for the weekly club fly. The morning broke with gray skies, an ugly misty rain and little to no wind. By the time we got to the beach, the winds had come up strong. Or as is said around here, “blowin’ a gale”. And there was standing water on the sand. I did have my Flexifoil with me and could have flown it in those winds but I don’t particularly like putting my bags or kites down on wet sand. So we headed to the kite shop to spend some time and chat.

The problem with hanging out at the kite shop is that you are on site when boxes of kites are opened for inspection. In this case, a shipment of long-awaited Hyperkites arrived. I currently have three stacks of Hyperkites. A vintage stack of six in rainbow colors with the original wooden dowel frames. I have never flown this set and I know it is going to need some work before it is flyable. The second one is a nine stack made up of berry, wine and slate colored kites. The third is a six stack of gold, green and blue. I have been toying with the idea of enlarging the last two stacks but the colors have not always been available. And that was a good excuse not to. However, when this box was opened, there were the colors I was looking for. I made a quick decision to enlarge both stacks while I could as you never know when another shipment would come in.

NineStack — Nine Stack of Hyperkites Guarded by The House Supervisor

So I ended up buying six new Hyperkites, tails and necessary train lines to add them to my stacks. Now I have to remove the bridals from the new kites and add them to my current stacks with the new train lines. Not a hard task but tedious. I may end up taking the old stacks apart in order to update the order of the colors to accommodate the new kites. We shall see.

So the problem with “hangin’ out” at the kite shop is it costs money and gives me another task to do in my “free time”. Oh well, maybe the weather will be cold and wet a little longer so I am forced to stay indoors and catch up on all those little kite tasks I’ve been putting off and the new ones I’ve just gained.

Fair Winds All

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