GO FLY A KITE!

Another fun weekend outing in the windy hills of the bay area. What fun to control these stunt kites. It takes a bit of practice to get them aloft, but with just enough coaxing (pull right! pull left!), the kites take to the sky, straight up like a rocket. The ones with poles make a buzzing sound as the wind zips them around. The parafoil, perhaps slightly more difficult to control, but equally exciting, is not as noisy. At one time the larger stunt parafoil was directly over my head, pulling up and up. The two sets of strings are unrolled to their full lenght and attached with straps onto your wrists. When the parafoil starting going BEHIND me, I felt lifted aloft onto my heels for a moment.





The stunt kites are really a sport, as they require a lot of running around, back and forth to straighten out the strings and launch the kite. It would be difficult to enjoy this sport alone. My little single string parafoil, on the other hand, provides more of the classic kite experience - you hold it in the wind, it shoots up into the sky, and stays there! while you enjoy the pull of the kite in your hands, the beauty of the colors against the blue, and you can send little notes up the string to communicate with the gods. It is equally enjoyable, and provided a pleasant break from the joy and frustration of the stunt kiting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 10:31 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.