Kite Lines - Vol.3 No. 1 - KiteLife

Louise Crowley and her prize Goto crane kite .comers and to kites of occidental as wellas oriental design, with cash prizes forfirst place in each event and gifts forsecond- and third-place winners . Everycontestant-but only contestants-wasgiven a ticket on the Grand Prize drawing-and the prize was one of those magnificentGoto crane kites . At that, my usualreluctance to enter competitions vanishedin a flash .The judges awarded "Most Beautiful"to Margaret Greger for a multicoloredFlow Form Parafoil . "Most Interesting"(a novice category) was a frame of fourred and blue diamonds jointly constructedby Atsuko Brewer and Faye Leong . "HighestFlier" was young Jim Greeno's doublekeeleddelta . "Best Logo Kite" went to avented delta by Bill Lee . One of my appliquedEddys came in second to Margaret'skite, and the two of us were still congratulatingeach other when Dave, presidingover the awards, urged a small child tocome forward and pick out the prizewinningticket . The kid wouldn't come,and Dave coaxed another . At last, thesecond little kid selected a ticket andgravely handed it up to Dave, and Daveread out-MY NUMBER!Oh, that wonderful little kid! If Iknew who he was, I'd write a new will!My prize crane was 65 inches long, disassembled. There was no box to pack it in,and I was already carrying around a bulgingkite bag and a shoulder tote full ofreels . John Dusenberry locked it in his carfor safekeeping, and with the formalitiesconcluded, I went off to fly kites freelyin the rising late afternoon breeze . Adragon-headed centipede, J . C . Young'slatest, was still waiting for more wind ;but the Japanese visitors were flying smalloriental kites, stunters and Flexifoils werewarming up and various winged-box configurationsappeared among the lighterkites that had held the field earlier .Some friends wanted to see my newbird and we went to John's car, but Johnhad lost his car keys . We combed desperatelythrough the weeds . At last someonefound the keys ; we raised our eyes andthere was the giant o'dako, floating- incredibly! .- above a westering sunOur Japanese visitors flew home thenext morning, but the kites they madehere stayed to brighten Seattle skies . Thehuge o'dako, rebridled and with flightdamage to its mulberry paper skin repairedby WKA members, is again stored in thehangar . The Bon, with no space to exhibitit permanently, donated the giant kite tothe Pacific Science Center, where it willbe displayed at the WKA's next kite showin the spring . The willow-framed, ricepaper-coveredGoto crane will hang, tillthe end of the winter rains, from the ceilingof the biggest room in the Crowleyhouse . It's such a lovely and fragile-seemingwork of art that I hesitated to risk itto the air-but it is a kite : its propercanvas is the sky . As it turned out, Ineedn't have feared . Perfectly balancedfrom its single point bridle, it flies withall the assurance of its living prototype .Cranes, after all, are a symbol of long lifein Japan .