The Dragons Among Us

Another beautiful day on the beach with good winds and good temperatures. I pulled out a kite bag containing kites that hadn’t been flown in quite a while. For a couple of them, it had been years. It was a show of square-head dragon kites.

I find this style of dragon makes a great show in the sky and, at the same time, is very easy to handle. The head is framed with two spars crossed and it has a three-point bridle. Essentially it’s a della-porta kite with a large attached tail which has a slight taper down its length. Each kite is about twenty-five feet long. It takes a while to wind everything up at the end of the day but it’s worth it.

Two of these kites, the Green Dragon and the Dog, were made by Skydog Kites. The Dog is the logo of Skydog Kites and is still in production. In place of the green dragon, Skydog Kites now makes a pirate motif on a square-head dragon kite.

The other three dragon kites were made by Go Fly A Kite. A company that is no longer in existence. I guess that makes these kites collector items. After some research, I found the lion and tiger motifs were also used on smaller round-head dragon kites. They were advertised as the Wildcat Dragon kites. The Joker kite reminds me of my father. He liked to play cards with friends and, every now and then, would vacation at a casino.

It was a wonderful, relaxing afternoon; sitting in the sun, watching our kites dance in the wind. The walkers on the beach seemed to like watching the kites, too. Quite often, a cell phone would come out for a picture or two. As the sun went down, the temperature cooled a little and it was time to pack everything away for the day.

Luckily, the Sunday community kite fly at Fort Macon State Park has started up again. So there was an excuse for flying more than once. This week the winds went up a notch and made flying somewhat of a challenge. I only put up one kite, the Illustion Delta kite by Skydog Kites. It had a hard time with the rising winds and after a couple of crashes, I figured it was time to pack it away and return home.

Now to figure out the theme for our next trek to the beach.

Fair Winds All.

And Sunday Was A Beautiful Day

We finally made it to a local community kite fly. The winds were low to moderate which made it hard to decide what kites to haul down to the beach. As we get older, we find ourselves only picking two or three kites to fly and not pulling the cart with a ton of stuff. Most times we make the right picks but sometimes we don’t have the right stuff and have to decide whether to walk back to the truck and change kites or not. This day we picked kites that would fly at least for a while. Until the wind died completely.

Weather-wise it was a great day to sit on the beach and watch the waves, the birds, the boats and, of course, the kites. Temperature was comfortable with a hoodie and there was sunshine, blessed sunshine. Just a small group of the regular flyers were there. So relaxing.

I did put up my kite show kit. I love how I can handle the lifter and all the associated line laundry by myself. The lower winds actually added a new aspect to the kite show. The crab was often just barely above the ground, so it looked like he was scuttling across the sand instead of flying above it. I also flew a new delta kite. Really wanted to put the tube tails on it but the wind was not quite strong enough.

Some of the serious stunt kite flyers may take offense but there are times when it is just seems like too much work to put out the lines and assemble a stunt kite. This was one of those days. The quad line kite stayed in the bag. Instead time was spent visiting.

Hopefully we will have the chance to fly on Thanksgiving Day before feasting. We will see.

Fair Winds All

Happy Father’s Day

Father’s Day turned out to be a beautiful day to fly kites on the beach. The temperature was lower than the past days. The humidity dropped markedly and the winds were perfect. Well, actually they were a little higher than predicted but still perfect for the new and larger kites we planned to fly.

We brought one of the two kites my husband received for Father’s Day. He had said weeks before that he liked a butterfly kite. So today he flew his own blue butterfly kite.

The slightly higher winds were perfect for the two larger kites we wanted to fly. The first was the large skeleton kite that is a new release by Premier Kites this year. They have three styles of skeleton kites in two sizes. While I don’t normally go for big kites, on a whim, I did get the larger of the skeleton kites. After seeing it in the sky, I’m glad I did. The other kite was a one that has been in our bag for two years without being flown. It is a square-headed dragon kite with a lion motif. It is a beautiful kite made by Go Fly A Kite, a company no longer in business.

Dia de los Muertos Skeleton Kite by Premier Kites

Don Dixon of Kites Unlimited just happened to bring along the black skeleton in the smaller size. It took a little maneuvering but we got both skeletons to fly next to one another without tangling. They looked pretty good together.

All the single line kites were flying so well, I took the opportunity to get my full-vent Kites Unlimited Rev out and get some much-needed practice. And someone else took advantage of the fact I put the camera down. I’ll have to be more careful where I leave it next time.

Fair Winds All.

Reflecting On Kites While Watching It Rain

I’m sitting on the balcony of my hotel room on the Outer Banks of North Carolina watching it rain. My plans for kite flying on the beach are foiled. So I am reflecting on the last two weekend kite club flys and what marvelous weather we had.

Two weeks ago we pulled some oldies from our bags and gave them some air time. One was a Mesh Delta and the other was the Gecko Totem both by Premier Kites. The mesh delta flew like a champ, with transition tails and a hypo twister attached. One of our regulate flyers put up his Brasington Waif train and a hexagon fish kite he made in a workshop.

Mesh Delta by Premier Kites and Brasington Waif Train

It seems to be the day for creatures as the Owl and the Butterfly also flew. Then they were joined by a new offering from Premier Kites, the Skeleton.

The line up for the day was completed by the Martin Lester Legs kite and the Firefly made by Jeri Dixon at the Kites Unlimited shop.

The following week proved to be just as good a day weather-wise but not quite as good wind wise. Things started out great with a friend from out-of-town putting up a couple of gorgeous kites, one of which he made himself. The first was Jon Burkhardt’s South China Sea and the second was the Lighthouse. The background for the Lighthouse kite was hand-dyed to appear as the layered oranges of a sunset (unfortunately the photo makes it look yellow). Joining them was a cute Elephant and a newcomer, the Fox.

SCS — Jon Burkhardt’s South China Sea by Premier Kites

A couple of us were out flying some dual line kites and one flyer attempted to put up an old large Stratoscope. At the time it even seemed like a good idea to get out the Tri-Tail Delta. But before I could get the camera out, the wind completely died away. Everything fell to the ground. Not just once but repeatedly as we kept trying to get them back in the air.

Before giving up for the day, I did get out the Revolution Reflex. It does fly in light winds and in this case almost no wind. The hardest part about this was I am not a “no wind” flyer and I have to learn to adjust to a slower and softer type of flying. It may take some practice but I will get there. Hopefully when this rain stops and I can get back on the beach. Until next time…

Fair Winds All.

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