Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 3 - KiteLife

the pro soccer game the night before ."And do you know," continued thesupervisor, "there was a guy downthere who sure looked like you!"Another halftime kite show has beenrequested for a televised pro basketballgame on March 26, 1978 .The July 4th holiday found severalmembers of WKA hard at work helpingover 1500 kids assemble free kites atthe Heritage Festival in MarymoorPark, near Seattle . The county purchasedthe little sled kites from TheKite Factory, and WKA volunteers,headed by Dave Checkley, earned a$90 honorarium for their club treasury .The WKA also continues its weeklySunday afternoon flies at variouspoints around Seattle .Seattle's Kingdome halftime show of super-light kites flown by the Washington Kitefliers(Continuedfrom page 47)WASHINGTONNews from the Washington Kitefliers Association,by John F Van Gilder :April 30 at Seward Park in Seattlewe enjoyed a little gem of a kite festival. The day was lovely, the breeze justright and the atmosphere relaxing .The Japanese Consul-General toSeattle contributed a nice trophy, wonby Bill Lee, President of WKA, with awinged box kite .May 21 and 22 on Seattle's waterfront,the WKA provided an umbrellaof kites at the dedication of the city'snew aquarium . Van Gilder sent amovie camera up with his 100-kitedelta train, at the 70-kite mark . Thecrowd waved as the camera ground onfor three minutes . The film turned outwell, too .The next weekend, at the dedicationof a new Seattle park, WKA membersdid the same thing, provided an umbrellaof kites . It was heard later thatsome of the politicians didn't hearmuch of the speeches ; they were watchingthe kites overhead .On the evening of June 29, 26 membersof the WKA, on a week's notice,flew 25 kites and five delta trains of 10kites each at Seattle's indoor stadium,the Kingdome (in King county) . It wasduring the halftime of a professionalsoccer game and about 20,000 peoplewere in attendance .Sighs and gasps were heard whenthe first group of five kites went uparound the perimeter of the field-Eddy kites . All kites were of tissuepaper material, super light weight .Next came five of Bill Lee's wingedbox kites ; then five cobras built by.Bill, John Dusenberry and Jack VanGilder ; then five sleds ; and finallyfive large tissue deltas . The youngpeople carrying them were able to pullthem around at normal walking speed .Some of those with the cobras had tojog . Betty . Davisson and Tom Sissonalso contributed beautiful deltas . Lastto be displayed were five trains oftissue deltas, 10 to the train . Gaspswere heard when Bruce Kimball hunga delta on a loudspeaker cable 100feet in the air-and then applausewhen he expertly extricated himself .While all the deltas and trains weremoving around the field, Ken Conrad,partner in the Great Winds kite shop,joined Carl Brewer and others in afighter kite demonstration in the centerof the field .Bill Hull of Great Winds, havingonce been a professional radio announcer,did a polished job of describingall the kites as they were launchedand retrieved . WKA left the field withapplause ringing! (Incidentally, theirclub, the Seattle Sounders, lost - thegame to the Dallas Tornados .)Next morning, while at work atBoeing, where he is a technical writer,Bill Lee was approached by one ofhis supervisors and told of thebeautiful halftime kite show duringPeripheral to the Flags, Banners andKites Exhibition (see page 48) were anopening day fly and festivities onSeattle's waterfront . July 16 was spentin demonstration and practice and July17 was reserved for competitive events .In the Long Line event, StephenD'Oyley won for letting out the mostline in two minutes at the flattest possibleangle . Highest Angle of Flightwas a tie between Jack Van Gilderflying a Tony Toledo Filipino fighterkite, and Carl Brewer with a balsaand-tissueairplane-type kite . MostBeautiful was won by J .C . Young witha 60-disc Chinese centipede . The Kite-Boat Race was won by Bob McCort .Professor Tsutomu Hiroi and PeterTravis, both house guests of the DaveCheckleys, served as judges . They alsodemonstrated their kites several times .There wasn't much time to rest beforethe Seafair/Port of Seattle Kite Contestwas held on July 30 . It was a fineday and a well-attended event . bnote some of the more importantentries : in the Most Beautiful eventwere Jack Van Gilder's Chinese butterflyin rip-stop nylon, and Coe Axt'slong-tailed appliqued hexagon . TheLongest Tail event brought out bagsfull of tails that unfolded, accordionlike,as the kites rose . David Lee andhis sister Linda crossed line and tailso that one kite became tailless andthe other flew two tails . "Tail transference,"they called it . Largest Kitewent to Van Gilder's 21-foot delta,challenged by a Parafoil flown byCharles Locklin, who came fromAustin, TX, to participate .(News from Here & There continues)