Dozens of kite notables socializing, laughing and playing like kids, Zillions of kites on the ground spread out like one huge art gallery... Kites begging for close up scrutiny!

This AVI fest included a " A kite festival first for me"… A cocktail party with an open bar! Many thanks to the AVI Casino and Kathy Plumer (of the Dream merchant) for a good time.

And I personally think ALL kite festivals should be held at Casinos!

I also attended the San Diego Kite Clubs New Years Day fly. More good fun, good people ... and whacking wind!

This group put on one heck of a raffle... thou they were too busy to take my money… Lucky winners received things like Bicycles, boom box’s, kites, and variety of other cool things.

An awesome pot luck lunch and an auction rounded out another day in the life of a happy kitten’s life!

While reading rec.kite posts last week, I read one that struck a chord .

The author wrote "I bought my first kite yesterday, are there web sites were I can learn the tricks?"

No need to learn how to fly a straight line, no need to learn nice turns, or symmetrical circles. No need wasting time learning how to land the kite............sigh !

While I love the tricks and spend hours playing with them, I do believe that the basics will improve your over all kiting enjoyment. Spend some time during your trick practice on basics. Learn to control the kite accurately. Play with speed control, discover that it is no easy trick to carve a perfect circle in the sky!

All of these skills as well as the tricks will keep you a happy and confident flier for years to come. And while you are practicing those tricks here are three more of the tricks I use to get the kite back in the air after an unplanned landing without WALKING!

The Dropped Handle Dash

First let me say this should only be attempted in light winds! If the wind is blowing hard and you loose (drop) one handle just let go of the other, the kite will tumble for a distance and will inevitably come to rest face down nose to the wind....

When we drop a handle our first instincts are to tear out running after the dropped handle only to realize (again) that the faster you run, the faster the errant handle will go... just outta reach! The reason for this is obvious if you think bout it for a sec!

The trick IS…

• While you are running reach with your free hand (the one with the missing handle) up the other line as far as you can reach and pull it in and hand it off to your handled hand.

Look you’re catching with it! Reach up and grab in some more line.

• Now you should be able to pick up the handle, let the line in your other hand go, and resume flying... like you meant to do that.

The Slider

This one, the kite is on the ground on its back, the left wing tip is pointing right at your belly button, the right line is under the kite, and when you pull on the lines the kite just slides towards you... still on its back, still pointing at your belly!

This one is easy but often overlooked. We yank and tug jump up and down and holler, but never think to move our body position.

In this case moving to the right some five or six steps will change the angle of the lines over (and under) the kite. (For right wing tip move left).

Now when you pull on the line the kite will stand up with a wing wrap. Correct the wing wrap (previous page) and launch the kite.

The Upside Down Slider

The kite is on its belly, nose pointing left, wing tip pointing your direction. When you pull on the lines the kite slides towards you.

Like the Slider the answer lies in YOU moving.

Move a few steps in the opposite direction the nose is pointing...now pulling on the lines will make the kite stand on its nose, roll it over with a ground flip (previous page) and take off.

Next page: The Wing Launch, The Death Spin, and The Belly Launch.

         

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This page was last updated May 26, 2003 01:37 AM