Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 2 - KiteLife

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The Multikite PhenomenonAND A HISTORY OFTHE WORLD RECORDBy Valerie GovigThe number of kites flown from oneline has been little documented untilthe last three years or so . Before that,there were no records kept of howmany disks had ever been flown in acentipede-which is, of course, a train .Centipede kites, though of a prescribedappearance and rigging, are essentiallya series of round kites flown in train,and they have been made and flownin Japan and China for an unknownnumber of decades .Multi-kite attempts, or at leastaccounts of them, have been few in theWest . One such appears in Jane Yolen'sbook, World on a String, telling ofCharles Lohsen of New Jersey, who in1949 lofted 108 kites on one line .Trains certainly had been done beforeWill Yolen came along in 1972and made multikiteflying freshlypopular . Yolen at the time was hungryfor new laurels to replace the verybrown ones he had worn so long fromhis kite fighting exploits in UttarPradesh, India . Those capers hadgiven him the cachet required forlaunching his then-new book, TheYoung Sportsman's Guide to Kite Flying.The book was out of print by 1972,and Yolen was ready to write a newone . He needed credentials, so in hisusual flamboyant style he set out tocreate them . He flew 50 kites and anempty champagne bottle from oneline at the Sarasota, FL, kite conteston January 15 . He claimed this brokehis own previous record of 30 kitesflown from one line at Adamant, VT,in 1962 . This claim not only wentundisputed, it was dressed up in someof the niftiest prose the papers hadseen in some time .Whether Yolen had intended it ornot, his feat inevitably attracted rivalry .William R . Bigge, of Washington, DC,decided to try a train of sleds . On June3, 1972, in Harpers Ferry, WV, he flew70 kites from a single, hand-held line .In contrast to Yolen's train of large,Hustler brand two-stickers, Bigge'ssleds were 9 in . x 12 in . and made ofclear polyethylene drop cloth, withstruts of plastic window blind slatting .Total pull was 8 to 10 lbs . The sledshad no vents . ("I claim a vent meansyour kite is too heavy," Bigge was wontto say.) All had been neatly stackedin a box in advance and were re-packedon retrieval . The operation wasengineered to be an economical, onemanjob from start to finish .The following January, Yolen triedagain . This time, 57 kites ; again, muchpublicity .Then on June 2, 1973, in HarpersFerry, Bigge doubled his ammunitionand flew 151 kites . For this occasionhe improved his method, massproducinghis sleds in a smaller size,only 3 .3 in . x 4 .4 in . each . Logically,to increase the number of kites youfly, you must reduce the size of thekites . Yolen's stock models ("real kites,"as he lamely protested) were a limitingBill Bigge's hands pull out pre-numbered kites like Jacks from a box .factor for him . Since Bigge made hisown craft, his only limits were practicalityof manufacture and balancein flight of his cobwebby little sleds .This time Bigge's story appeared inthe Baltimore Sun, and as reporter forthe Maryland Kite Society at the time,I followed up with a petition to Guinnessto include Bigge's record in thebook. Initial response was negativebecause no such category existed ; onlyaltitude and duration were recognized .Before long it was time for anotherJanuary fly in Sarasota, and Yolen wasat it again, this time to fly 178 kiteson one line, a distinct achievement .As usual, Yolen had oiled his publicitymachinery well beforehand, and thestory was everywhere-withoutreference to Bigge .Now in a fighting mood, Bigge cameback to Harpers Ferry in June, 1974,this time to fly 188 kites . It was a newrecord, achieved in unfavorably strongwind, but Bigge wanted to make a more
Countdown of the Bigge trainof sleds, Burtonsville, MD, 1974 .definitive advance in quantity anddemonstrate the real potentialities ofhis system . He believed he could easilyhandle 500 kites, maybe 1000 . At aboutthat time, word was received that Gore,Kudo, in Japan, had flown 204 kiteson one line . So Bigge made more kitesand waited for the first good opportunityto try again . The day came onOctober 5, 1974, in Burtonsville, MD .Despite limited time and somedamage to line from a standard kitethat strayed into the area, the countdownof the sparkling little kites,verified by seven witnesses, was 261 .It was a new world record, and thistime my correspondence with Guinnesspaid off for Bigge . I argued for a newcategory in kiteflying records, on thebasis that altitude and duration wereno more and probably less a technicalchallenge than flying many kites onone line . Further, Yolen's claim to thetitle of "International Kite FlyingChampion" was based in part on hisefforts in this area .The 1976 Guinness and Yolen's newvolume, The Complete Book of Kites andKiteliving came out soon after, in thesame year, with their contradictoryinformation .In January, 1976, Yolen made yetanother effort to attain legitimate renownthrough multikiteflying, butfailed to better even his old count of178 . His coverage again was superlative,including the national radio showMonitor, but in his desire to be equalto the occasion he did not name hisreal competition, Bill Bigge .Meantime, in Japan a reprint of thestory in the Windy Notice (newsletterof the Maryland Kite Society) appearedin the Japan Kite Association magazine. The noted competitiveness ofthat country was thus baited . The followingJuly, Mitsuo Tanaka flew 283kites from one line . Then in November,1975, a wire service reported thatTanaka had gone to 343 kites in a neweffort when the string snapped . Thoughthis invalidated the attempt as a record,reporters wrote it up anyway, and itthus became a new standard . It was anapparent incentive for Jean Goineau,in Angers, France, to fly 358 kites onone line, according to a wire serviceaccount which appeared in the UnitedStates in late February, 1976 . None ofthese efforts were nearly so impressive,however, as the 1050 kites flown byKazuhiko Asaba, in Kamakura, Japan,on April 4, 1976 . He was the next tobe officially recognized by Guinness forthat category .There's no question that Japan dominatesthe skies where kite trains areconcerned . Larry Hoffman, our correspondentin Toyko, reports that kitetrain flying is not unusual in Japan .He says that Matsuo Isobe "always hasone with him and usually has about 300to 500 kites up at a minimum . The wifeof another Creative Kites Club memberalmost always has her train diamondsup, several hundred of them ."Lest we forget, in September of 1976,Henry H . Boutwell and crew in NewOrleans laid out 1251 sleds on theground, following a completely newmethod, in an abortive attempt torecapture the record for the UnitedStates . Boutwell employed three branchlines from one main line, a system thatproved to be unworkable . His effortwas well-publicized in his area andhas to rank as one of the most spectacularfailures in the limited historyof this kiteflying specialty .Since then, in Japan there has beenmore than one new multikite attempt .The latest of these was an incrediblesweep of 1585 kites on November 19,1976 . Plastic and bamboo Eddy-typekites about a foot long were run up andthen retrieved in about 4 1/2 hours, asreported in somewhat more detail inthe Spring issue of Kite Lines . As Iwrite this article, I am willing to saythat the end is not in sight . 0PROPOSED STANDARDS FORMULTIKITEFLYING, WORLD RECORD CLASS• All the kites must fly . To meet this standard,it must be clear that no kite pulls another . Socalled"sky anchors," or large kites launchedfirst, are not recommended nor proper procedure. The first kites out should be attachedto the lightest line, which can then increasein strength as the pull increases .• All kites should be approximately the samesize, again on the principle that no kitepulls another .• All kites must be retrieved . Kites lost orimpaired in flight do not count .• Any number of kitefliers may participate andshare the glory as they choose, though asa matter of convenience in reference it isgood to use a leader's name or chapter orclub name .*An increase of fewer than 10 kites over aprevious record may not be recognized .• Persons making such efforts in the U .S .A.must notify and receive clearance from theFAA in advance .• At least two disinterested parties must witnessthe count and sign a paper giving numberof kites flown, date of effort, and name ornames of kiteflier or kitefliers involved . Optionalinformation may be added about sizeand type of kites used, methods and timeemployed, etc . A copy of the signed papershould be sent to both AKA and Guinnessfor vertification .Note : The above standards are not carvedn granite. They are presented here as astarting point, and correspondence on thistopic is encouraged .
Page 5: The American Kitefliers Association
Page 8: LettersUPS AND DOWNSFascinating fac
Page 11: Conyne kite . So far we have had a
Page 14 and 15: Kites Past :Historic NotesPerson-Li
Page 17: the end is notin sightMillions of p
Page 21 and 22: How to Conduct ThemTHE FLYING DUTCH
Page 23 and 24: aided or monofilament nylon .Here i
Page 25 and 26: unlike any other style or variant I
Page 28 and 29: What's New :Kites, books, SundriesK
Page 30 and 31: What's New(Continued)as the kite ap
Page 32: What's New(Continued)zines . These
Page 36 and 37: News From Here & There(Continued)ab
Page 39: ½-fo coolNews From Here &There(Con
Page 43: News From Here & There(Continued)ha
Page 47: News From Here & There(Continued)Ki
Page 51: News From Here & Therel Washington
Page 54: Flying withThe Old ProBy Bob Ingrah
Page 58 and 59: THE DUTCH KITE2. Open paper flat .
Page 60 and 61: June6Thomas Ansboro files first rot

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