Kite Lines - Vol.3 No. 1 - KiteLife

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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 .
Flying at Manassas, from left counterclockwise : L'Albatrosflown by Lucien Gibeault of Quebec, given the "man and beast"award ; a triple-sized Flexifoil variant by Curtis Marshall withKinnaird's Cody in background and launchers in foreground-Meg and Curtis Marshall, W .D . (Red) Braswell, David Checkley ;William Pase of Ottawa and his innovative fineflyingunguyed "inverted box," which assumesshape automatically in the windand won "spectator's choice" ;a doubled-up decorative Prof .Waldof box made by the CloudPleasers-John Rausch and Bruceand Carolyn Kennington, withone of their deltas over it; (inset)Garry Woodcock of Torontoand his little engine that could .How better could a kiter spend a beautifulOctober weekend than with 110 fellowenthusiasts from the U .S ., Canada and England?It was the American Kitefliers Association'ssecond annual meeting and festivalon October 4-7, 1979, in Manassas, VA .Under a dazzling display of kites, theget-acquainted reception was hosted bythe Maryland Kite Society on Thursdaynight in the Ramada Inn's hall . The nextmorning was the meeting proper, atwhich bylaws changes were adopted andboard members and officers elected . Aresolution was passed to "endorse andsupport Kite Lines magazine," reflectingthe mood of good will present . The afternoonwas given to workshops on kitephotography, knots and such, but mostof the real idea-swapping went on informallyeverywhere in a constant buzz .The kite auction was held that eveningunder the masterful gavel of Mel Govig andnetted AKA $2700 for the donated kites .The prize of the auction was a hugeShirone rokkaku kite donated by theJapan Kite Flyers Association and broughtto Manassas by David Checkley of theWashington Kitefliers Association . Itsparked the highest bidding of the nightand was sold to Pete Ianuzzi for $290 .On Saturday was the festival at thesuperb site of the Manassas BattlefieldNational Park, and the weather was sunnyand wind-blessed . Approaching the fieldand seeing the sky punctuated with colorfulwonders was like entering kiter'sheaven . One finds it difficult to unload acar and assemble kites while feasting theeyes and babbling incoherently . It wasspectacular!-one inventive kite after another. A high point (or rather, as Nick VanSant joked, "a new low in kiting") camewhen bets were taken on how much timeRick Kinnaird's Cody, previous victim ofseveral quick crashes, would spend in theair . To the sound of many gasps, it flew-and flew well-and flew long . Relativelylong, that is . For a full 9 minutes 43seconds it filled the sky-and then crackedup into a tangle of orange and yellowmuslin and sticks plunging to earth .To list any kites is to leave out some,but here goes : Peter Powell stunters flownby the ebullient inventor himself ; SteveEdeiken flying an elegant stunting trainof Nagasaki-patterned kites (awarded"most beautiful") ; Dave Checkley's glitteringbeauty of a centipede ; Bill Biggeand one of his Janus airplane kites ; a stackof pastel Flexifoil Skysails trailing lightribbon tails ; Hugh Harrison's flags of theU .S ., Canada and Britain flown from theline of a Jalbert Parafoil ; Betsy Lewis'snovel dorsal-finned Allison sled, pulledwith line and winder from inside a beautifulwalking stick handcrafted by BobKatkowsky ; Bill Rutiser's rokkaku withdecoration to simulate asymmetry ; TomHerr's specially-made Parafoils ; JohnSherburne's all-day-up eagle Conynes ;Hank Szerlag's racy black and yellow"ladybug" circular kite ; Peter Waldronwith a new star-shaped variant of hisProf. Waldof kite ; Gerard van der Looof Holland with the only kite that"Charlie-Browned" in a tree . On the fieldand at the banquet that evening, manyawards were made, but most of us hadalready been rewarded .For me perhaps the undiluted momentof grace was at day's end on the field whenSteve Edeiken and Olan Turner performeda stunter sky ballet to music . Withoutrehearsal, filled with risk, it was extemporaneousflying poetry . Dusk rolled quietlyover this dreamy scene, soft as a MaxfieldParrish vista . Mary Ames later said, "Itwas as near to a perfect kite day as I everhope to see ." I second that .Valerie Govig
Page 5 and 6: of. IngrahamRobert Meston Phipps: W
Page 8 and 9: LettersA REALLY KEENE KITERWe have
Page 11 and 12: What's New:Kites, Books, SundriesKi
Page 13 and 14: KITING, we call it now-the serious,
Page 16: what's New. . . Continuedthe wind a
Page 19 and 20: hooks at each end to be inserted in
Page 21 and 22: Par ExcellenceGeorge conceived the
Page 24: Sirs :I wasencouragedto forward my"
Page 27 and 28: Carolina . Ray and I were together
Page 29 and 30: entered their minds and as a conseq
Page 31 and 32: Happiness lights up all the faces a
Page 33: Top left clockwise : Mel Govig's fo
Page 37: Polaroid print . An equally sure to
Page 42 and 43: Getting ready to take the kite down
Page 47: -.1

Kite Lines - Vol.3 No. 1 - KiteLife

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?