Kite Lines - Vol.2 No. 4 - KiteLife

We've all seen kites like thishuge,crude and dangerouscraft that can give our sport ablack eye (literally) . Mel Govig assembling his multihued Guatemalan-style kite .A stack of three birds byHod Taylor. The lead kite is a20-footer and the other twoare 18-foot span .tacular (monumental) sight thanJack Van Gilder's train of 100kites flashing in the sun and cloudsat Ocean City, Maryland, last year .Also I hold in memory a pictureof an India fighter kite with asilver ribbon tail at the SmithsonianKite Carnival in the early 70s .This tiny kite with its 100 feet orso of tail drew pictures in the skyand held the crowd spellbound .Finally, two-line control displayscan be breathtaking, such as SteveEdeiken's Rainbow Stunters andAndrew Jones's Flexifoils-verybig displays I've been privileged tosee-with kites of moderate size .I love to be thrilled by a spectacularkite display. I rarely havefelt that thrill at size alone .RAY HOLLANDRoswell, NM. Kite manufacturerand experimenter .Large size demands respect . Thekiteflier has to know what he isdoing or he can get in trouble .A large kite may be capable ofpicking up a person-and that canbe serious. Even kites that are notthis large can cause trouble . Theyrequire special know-how forlaunching . They can start up andcatch a gust and turn right backdown, with- enough speed andweight to cause personal injury . Ihave been there . It was a large experimentalkite, and I dodged it,but I tore a muscle in the calf ofmy leg getting out of the way .Also on a large kite you can geta bad string burn or you can havethe line wrapped around yourhand or a few fingers, to keep itfrom sliding, and you will wishyou hadn't!But if you respect them, largekites can be impressive. The dragof the line becomes relativelysmall, the sag from the ground tothe kite is reduced and high flightscan be made . But if the kite becomestoo large it is an aircraft inthe eyes of the law. For years thedividing line has been five pounds .Any kite weighing this much ormore comes under Federal AviationAdministration regulations .That should be looked into byanyone flying large kites .In testing some large kites whichwe made for the Lawrence RadiationLaboratory (for lifting instruments),we anchored the kite to asection of telephone pole, overwhich were piled other sections ofpole . The kite was flying normallyuntil a dry tornado (dust devil)happened along, perhaps doublingthe wind speed at the kite. Wewere not aware of it until we sawthe telephone pole section hoppingacross the field, dragged andlifted in a series of rough bounces,heading right for a highway withheavy traffic . Our anchor hadbeen pulled apart spreading theoverlying poles like jackstraws,and the pull of the kite picked upthe pole section to which it wastied . Fortunately, it was not tiedvery well . After about a 100-yarddash, the loop of anchor lineslipped off the end of the poleand the kite relaxed and settledharmlessly to the ground .These experiences taught me torespect large kites .KAREN SCHLESINGERNew York, NY. Manager of Go Flya Kite store .The trend in our store is to largekites. I have a 22-foot delta byMaxwell Eden, custom-made andvery expensive . My 11-foot and12-foot kites can't keep up withthe demand . Jalbert's J-15 andJ-25 do well, too. They are a teamworkthing, really, and it's a struggle,a thrill . People want a challengewith kites now .KEN CONRADSeattle, WA . Owner of the GreatWinds kite shop in Pioneer Square .For business reasons, I've stayedaway from big kites . Customersburn their hands on them, and soon . However, in Hamamatsu, Ireally enjoyed the big kites andages old traditions . Spectators hada sense of when the kites were goingup and coming down andwould stay clear of the kites . Idon't see that kind of awarenessover here .H . J . (HOD) TAYLORAustin, MN. Current President ofthe Essex Kite Group, England,and noted maker of giant kites.I have made a large number ofkites over the last 10 years, spendingall of my time during our fourmonths' stay in Florida each wintereither working at the benchmaking them or flying them .I became interested in kiting observingthe enjoyment Scotty(Walter Scott) was getting out ofhis kiting activity. I started outmaking five- and seven-foot kitesof every kite that I saw picturedin the kite books that I could getAn example ofvery successful scalingup : a larger-than-normalRogallo Corner Kite constructedas a single cell by "Rog" himself .my hands on at that time . I didreceive a lot of help from Scottyat that time and Mrs . Scott of lateyears with material .It was soon evident that I had tomake them larger if I was to seewhat the kites looked like in flightabove the 50-foot height that Iwas flying them at that time, sojust naturally made them larger . Inow fly the larger kites up to 200feet but very seldom above that .I will not say that bigger is betterbut I must say I have noted that itis the large kites that interest thespectators and draw the crowds .With the large kites, the flier mustassume the responsibility for thesafety of the spectators . We havea standing rule that we will notput a kite up or keep it up unlesseveryone stays behind the kiteflier .While my eyesight is not thebest, I do get around very well,can make kites in a simple way byusing tapes and glues and do reallyenjoy my kiting, making between70 and 100 small kites for thechildren each year. It bothers meto have the newspapers harp onmy blindness in connection withmy kiting activities . I actuallyhave seven percent vision in theone eye that I can use .JOHN F. VAN GILDERSeattle, WA . Insurance agent andstalwart of the Washington KitefliersAssociation .In my opinion, flying a verylarge kite is a lot of trouble . TheBad News : (a ) they tend to giveyou rope burns ; (b) they presenttransport problems . The GoodNews : (a) the sense of accomplishmentis vast (if successfullyflown) ; (b) they usually draw acrowd-good for the ego .The Question : "Is the trouble e-qual to the return?" We have a familyjoke about the city cousin visitingmy wife's farm as a child whowas warned that he'd be spankedif he rode the horse while wearinghis good trousers. He did, theydid and he stated, through tears,"Yeah, Ma, but it was worth it ."I think every collection shouldhave one .