Tag: Fort Macon State Park

We’re Free To Fly

The beach accesses have been opened.  Parking is at a premium as not all the parking lots have been opened.  The stay-at-home order has not been lifted but that didn’t keep the people off the beaches.  It looked like a holiday weekend with cars parked everywhere and people scattered throughout the public beach.

We, however, had a more private place to fly our kites, away from the crowds, with lots of room for kites.  We love putting up a small personal festival when we fly and this kite fly was a combination of a test fly and a kite show.  The afternoon couldn’t have been better, with good winds, mild temperatures and plenty of sunshine.

The first kite up was the newly finished Sun/Moon Giant Hata.  Instead of fuzzy tails, it has a combination of ribbon tails and a streamer tail.  The wind was in the teens and I was afraid it may be too high for this kite.  But after some bridle adjustments, it went up and hung in the sky.  A very satisfying fly for the first flight.

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Then next kite up was the first flight of the newly purchased Killips foil.  It was a little smaller than we expected and was so easy to handle.  And it really made a statement in the sky.  We’re looking forward to its next flight with some color coordinating line laundry beneath it.

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So after successful first flights, it was time to add lots of color in the sky.  One of the things I like to do is put up kites with a common theme.  It could be having the same sail pattern or having the same colors or being of a common style.  So for this fly, I decided to fly all of the HQ Xylon kites.  There are four in this series and only one is still available.  This just makes me even happier to have all four and fly them all at once.

The last kite up is a real show stopper, a large flo-tail delta.  The tails seem like water rippling in the sky.  And the colors draw the eye and cause the casual strollers to stop and admire it.  And take pictures.  That’s what makes it so satisfying to put up several kites instead of just one or two.  It draws people’s attention and makes them smile.

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So here’s to having more days like this day, to fly more kites and create more personal shows.  And for the state park to open up soon so the community kite flys can begin again and there will be more of us to share in the color in the sky.

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Fair Winds All

 

 

 

A Time Of Quiet Desperation

The weather has truly been against us as far as the community kite fly.  And this day was no exception.  Early morning rain, cloudy skies and high winds made it dark and gloomy and questionable for flying.  However, there were a couple of desperate people who were willing to take a chance and put a kite in the air.  I got some heavier line and flew my Illusion delta with its tube tails.  It handled the winds very well.  My flying buddy put up the little Spinner kite.  It just hung in the gusty winds and spun itself into a blur.  The line vibrated in a shallow repeating shallow sine curve.  It really is a fun little kite.  Because the temperature was mild, people were out walking the park.  And that little kite drew a lot of attention.

The kite build I began in the last post has been put on hold.  Instead, I am going to the Maryland Kite Society’s Kitemakers Retreat in Ellicott City, MD next month.  I’ve never been to this four-day kite building marathon and am nervously looking forward to it.  Several of my kite builder friends have been encouraging me to go, so this year instead of going to Kitemania in Florida, we’re going north.  The featured presenter is Ron Gibian and I will be making a kite of his design.  This is the 40th retreat so there are going to be some special activities.  The gem for a 40th anniversary is the ruby.  So one of the events is to build something with the anniversary/ruby theme.  So I am starting a banner with ruby gems on it.

This banner was meant to be, as a friend of mine was clearing out her stash of fabric and gave me some large pieces of nylon banner material.  And, by coincidence, they were red and black.  I’m hoping this turns out well as I’ve never made a banner before.  So I’ve checked out some banner patterns and instructions and examined some commercial banners to see how they’re made.  I think my idea will work.  Keep your fingers crossed.

The Beanie Babies as weights idea was stolen from another kite builder friend.  My bean bag weights were packed away and I have two drawers full of these little creatures courtesy of my grown daughter.  Like most children, they leave half of their “stuff” behind when they move out to live their own lives.  I hung on to these and will have them for the grandchildren when they come to visit.  Maybe I can send them home a couple at a time until the drawers are empty.  Or at least reduced down to only the ones I’m using as weights.  What do you think?

Fair Winds All

 

 

 

 

 

Our First Fly of 2019

After missing the New Year’s Day kite fly on the beach, we made it out this past weekend for our first kite fly of 2019.  The day was sunny, relatively warm with light to moderate winds.  The regular kite flyers were there and a couple of our out-of-town flyers had come down for an extended holiday.  There were so many kites in the air you would have thought it was a festival.

I spent most of the time photographing the kites and catching up on what flying I had missed over the New Year’s holiday.  They all told me it was the best fly ever.  I hated to miss it but I must admit grandchildren rate higher than kite flying.  And we had a great visit (and second Christmas) with ours.

The highlight of the fly was a group flight of the Randy Tom warrior princesses.  Several of us have purchased Randy’s kites over the years and we just happened to have them in our kite bags.  I am happy to say I have two of the warrior princess kites and both of them were in the air on this day.

Before leaving I brought out my Rainbow Revolution quad line kite.  It’s a special kite I got from a friend and don’t fly it very often.  Because I was flying it, there was no one to get a photo.  I guess I’ll just have to work out a remote camera arrangement.  Though I’d rather carry extra kites than extra camera equipment.

It was a grand day and we stayed longer than usual, enjoying the sunshine.  Here’s to hoping that it is a sign of more grand days to come.

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Fair Winds All

 

Holiday Flying and Holiday Guests

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone.  This year we did have the time to go to the beach and fly some kites.  Unfortunately, the wind was high and coming from the mainland, passing over homes and condos before reaching the beach.  The result was gusty, “squirrelly” winds.  Not very conducive to dong much flying.  Sometimes it seems we just can’t get a break and have a good flying day.

Did my best to fly a White Bird dragon kite.  Usually one I can depend on in higher winds.  This day, however, I spent most of the time picking it off the sand and relaunching.

What made this day special was the inaugural flight of the Peter Lynn Manta Ray, a recent purchase by some good friends.  It was not the best day to attempt flight but, as most of you may know, when you get something new you just have to put it in the air.  It is really an impressive kite with its black and white pattern and its blue eyes.

We missed the Sunday community kite fly.  It was a little chilly and the grandchildren were visiting.  It was a joy to have them with us and we did visit Fort Macon with them.  From there we saw the kites in the sky.  And a pretty impressive show it was with quite a few Randy Tom art kites in the air.  Hopefully next weekend will be a better weekend and we can put some kites in the sky ourselves.

Fair Winds All.