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Dean, Peaches and PAP at Kite Festival

Every since I can remember I flew kites of one form or another. The best remembrance is making kites with my dad as most every kid did. Making them out of newspapers. But the kind of kites we made were not the standard diamond shape.

Paper Kite

Ours were shaped a little different and flew great in all kind of wind. We used three pieces of wood, tied them together where they all met in the middle. Then we groved the sticks on the ends and put string around the whole outside. We glued newspaper around the string making it as tight as possible. And later when aluminum became more abundant we made our kites wrapping it around the sting. Sure was easier. Of course the wind determined how much tail we put on the kite. Mother used to get upset because we used her linen for the tail. In latter years, having my own son, of course I transfered this knowledge on to him. My son and I even got into building our own miniature rockets. But that's another story.

So why do I bring this up now. Well, when I started the SCUBA business we did travel a bunch. So when Darlene and I got married we went to Mission Beach in San Diego, CA., for our honeymoon. We stayed in a condo right on the beach where every hard body in the world passed by. In the area everyone was participating in some form of sports.

Not to be out done by the hard bodies, if they were riding bikes, we went and rented bikes and eventually purchased our own. If they were roller skating we purchased our own. But on one of our trips things changed.

Darlene and I were just waking up and we heard the most unusual sound out side. Looking out we saw nothing out of place. But the sound came again. I thought that a helicopter was flying about. There was always one around. This time I knew where it was coming from. There was a guy on the beach flying kites. But to me a different kind of kite. He was actually flying them with two lines. One attached to each hand by wrist straps. He was flying them sideways, doing circles, hovering over the water and dipping down toward the sand.

Dual Line Stunt Kite

The amazing thing about it was that he was flying three of them in tandem. These kites were not small. They were 6 feet wide shaped like a stretched out delta. To top off everything he was being dragged along the sand by the kites. He was actually sand surfing.

Darlene and I looked at each other and said "That's for Us!" I went down to the beach and watched this guy being dragged all over the place, under his control, stopping the kites in flight, suspending them over the surf, doing circles and all kind of things. The he landed them. Just set them down nice and soft. He took out a rod of some kind out of his belt and shoved it in the ground, placing his straps around the bar. The kites were in an upright condition ready to fly. I went over to talk to him about what he was doing. In due process, he set up one kite and asked if I wanted to fly it. Hell yes. He told me this was a stunt kite. One of many types. After a brief lecture session I took the two lines, placed one on each wrist and pulled back. The kite went straight up. And then came straight down crashing into the sand. I was embarrassed to say the least. My first solo crash.

A little more discussion from the man and I assumed the position. Took off the kite and flew it left to right at the highest point. I found that it was not easy. The way one flies this type of kite is to have the wind directly at your back. Now if you can imagine - there is an invisible cone out in front of you. At the edges of the cone the kite can remain still and the force of the wind is the least. But at the middle of the cone the wind and force on your body is the greatest. Well I made a bunch of mistakes. Fortunately the kite supports are made of carbon fibres and are very strong and forgiving.

After flying the kite for a short period, I was hooked. So you guessed it - Darlene and I went and purchased our own stunt kites. It was recommended by the guy to get smaller stunt kites to begin with. These are about 3 feet wide. So during our remaining stay we practiced control crashes on the beach in front of the condo. After flying for several months, we decided that a 6 foot kite is best to start out as a beginner. They are not as fast as a small kite. In stunt kiting one has to think well ahead of the action.

When we came back home we started flying stunt kites at some of the parks around the city. But we weren't satisfied with the small kites. So we ordered larger ones. The city didn't have a good kite store, and since I already had a store front (Watersports, Inc) we decided to go into the kite business.

I got catalogs from many different kite manufacturers, finding out that most were small in-home companies. Some major companies were listed. Each boasting the best materials and styles. Well we chose several companies with many different designs. We got single line kites - with animal, flower and people sewn into nylon material. We also got dual line and quad line kites. All in the design of the stretched delta.

Dual Line Parafoil Kite

Another type of kite was the parafoil. This was just like the current parachutes sky divers use. Very controllable. And we got them in dual and quad line.

5-6 foot Dual Lines in Tandem

As our flying became more polished, I decided to start doing tandem 6 footers. I started with two, went to three, went to four and finally five. I also flew three parafoils in tandem. These were harder to fly because they really caught the wind. If you don't think flying in tandem was hard to do . . . . They really pulled. It took a lot of wind to get them off the ground, but then that much wind really pulled on the body. And being as big as I am I wasn't being pulled (surfing) around too much. So it was real a strain on the back and knees. In sand we went bare foot so we could sand surf. Then on grass we wore moccasins so that we didn't have soles that would stick.

But the six foot kites were not enough for me. I found that a person was building 12 foot stunt kites. Now that was for me. These kites are not cheap. This one cost about 650.00. The kite was so massive that it was almost like a hang glider. It had a butt harness with quick release. So instead of having all of the stress on the wrist it was centered on the butt. It required very little control with the hands to move the kite. Again it took a bit of wind to get this thing airborne. The quick release was so you could get out of the harness if the kite pulled you off the ground. This did happen on a couple of times. I might mention that the length of the lines was from 75 feet to 150 feet depending on the wind. So this sport was an exacting sport in that it took a bit of thought, strength and craziness to fly.

But what fun. I use to chase my collies with the kites. I would dive down and touch them on their butts and go straight up. They didn't know where the kites came from. And these kites in certain attitudes - when they were dead center in the cone - made a bunch of noise. Sometimes the control was not so good and crashes did take place. Some were good enough to break the supports. So of course we had plenty of spares.

Quad Line Kite

As if this wasn't enough, I started flying qual line kites. That really took a bunch of control. But the control of the kite was more precise and I could do things with them that I could not do with the other stunt kites. So I thought I was getting good until one day a lady came into the store who said she flew quad kites. She was a petite little gal and I though - SURE!!

We went to one of the parks. She took the qual kite, and with little wind, flew that thing all over the place. Even in a circle. The wind at the front. Damn I thought. Well, it turns out she was a champion in quads and a sports representative for one of the quad manufacturers. I learned a good lesson that day.

Another thrill was flying the kites at night. We would put chemical lights of red and green, just like aircraft, on the ends of each stunt kite. The only reference we had was the chemical light. This was a blast. Many people would show up to watch us fly. Some said they didn't know what was going on just seeing the lights moving in the sky. And we use to put chem lights on the dogs collars and chase them around. We even had strip LED' s of various colors attached to the kites for night flying. We had them blinking or steady. So we did all sorts of things with kites.

After a short period of time my son Dean started to get involved in kite flying. In fact he got so good at it he started going to competitions. Kite festivals are local, national, and international. He got involved with precision, and music ballet flying. One other part of this sport is team flying, using dual or quad lines. This is where as many as 6 persons would fly precision with music standing in the same space. This became tricky, especially when each had to do circles and turns. Dean was good enough to have his way paid (air, room and board) to Laughlin, NV, on several occasions, to fly at one of the new hotels for their grand opening. Eventually he got involved with single line competition. Doing stunts with a single line kite. A difficult task. Also he started making his own single line competition kites. He made a kite that was very small and flew it in a gym with no wind.

We flew kites for a long time and have not done so for a few years. Due to other commitments. I did take kites on many of our trips. In Truk Lagoon I gave a couple of kites to the kids. You could see the kids flying the kites from most any place in the lagoon.

We will fly again. Materials have become lighter requiring less wind to get them up. Plus Xtreem flying has evolved. People are water surfing with them, sand surfing with three wheel bikes, some even using bungee cords tied to telephone poles flying off the ground. We don't think we will ever get that crazy - - - then who knows.

Copyright © 1998/1999/2000/2001/2002 by Morys H. Hines Jr.