Dave’s Kites

While scouring the web for some good kite news this afternoon I stumbled upon the following extract, which has to be the most ridiculous one ever! I always thought kite flying was good, but this article makes me think!!:

Satan Spotted Flying Kite

George Tambov and his friends Nathan Horn and Jerry Lillo of South Carolina were enjoying a warm fall day, throwing a football around in what was usually a deserted field, when they saw something rather unexpected.

“I had just caught a pass when out of the corner of my eye, I saw an enormous red, hooved, horned man laughing and giggling as he flew a kite across the field,” said George of his encounter.

The other two friends confirmed the story and were very certain the man they saw was Satan himself.

“Satan’s a hard guy to miss, there aren’t too many other giant red men with horns on their heads that cause everything around them to wilt and die,” said George.

Upon realizing that he was being watched, a horrified Satan fled into the nearby woods. Afraid to incur his wraith, the three friends did not follow.

Flying a kite is a clean, fun activity, often times enjoyed between elder family members and their children. This starkly contrasts the activities Satan is most often associated with, activities such as torture, torture, more torture, and Celine Deon concerts. Being associated with kite flying could be a huge hit on Satan’s reputation.

“It’s hard to fear and respect a man who is giddy about flying a kite,” said historian Rob Anderson of the South Caroline Museum of Modern Evil.

Source: http://www.smthop.com

Here is another strange story from the land of fighters:

The kite-flying activity during Sankranti festival has claimed lives of 218 pigeons while another 500 pigeons were injured, according to a release from Sahayog Organisation on Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

The company that makes Bubble Wrap is offering a $10,000 savings bond to the young inventor who comes up with the the most ingenious use of the box-filler. The semi-finalists have shown lots of creativity. 13 year-old Nicolette Mann of Christiansburg, VA made a kit for constructing multiple types of flying kites out of bubble wrap.

After trawling through some sites I came across the following site: horvath.ch where some excellent innovations are being dreamed up! The site is home to a range of single line kites called ‘Synergistic Kites’. These are single line freestyle kites that at first appear to be based on Indian fighter kites. On closer examination it is clear that they are a lot more than that. The underlying design of the kites is based on hang gliders.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 1st is the Day of the Dead in Mexico. As part of the ceremonies in Guatamala, kites are flown to raise the souls of the dead to heaven and to turn away evil spirits. Apparently, the kite flying takes place in graveyards as well! The photo above shows a traditional kite that is flown. The kites are constructed with fabric, paper and bamboo rods and often feature religious graphics. Its a long way from the fields of happy inflatable line junk on display at the UK kite festivals - no funny crabs here!

I’ve never seen one of these before, but while looking at some sites came across them. Marco Casadio makes them, probably more popular this year due to the inflatable cherub kite seen at a number of festivals. These kites bring inflatable and framed kites together in an excellent way. Its quite rare to see rods in inflatable kites, with only a few people giving it a try, such as Martin Lester. This seems to work really well. Take a look at the side view below: Read the rest of this entry »

Flying Empress Kites are relatively new to the kiting scene. But in a relatively short space of time they have begun to pop out a number of interesting designs. The first few kites were based on a novel version of the sled kite, which allowed a number of character kites to be produced relatively easily. Lately they have developed the inflatable Chinese dragon kite which has proved to be a popular design. There are now producing two new ’stunt’ foils. These are not built for performance, but rather as show stoppers at festivals! Read the rest of this entry »

Following a huge number of deaths during large kite flying festivals across Pakistan the use of nylon, metallic and Manjha (glass coated kite line) was banned. Kites are traditionally flown from the roofs of houses across cities and fighter kite battles are held between neighbours. This Tuesday it was announced by the Local Government and Community Development Association that amendments in the Punjab Prohibition of Dangerous Kite-Flying Activities would be made. The proposed amendments include lifting the ban on the use of Manjha. Read the rest of this entry »

2007 marks Brookite’s 100th year in business! Since 1907 the company has been manufacturing kites for Marconi, the Government and children and adults all over the world. It was over 90 years ago when a Brookite Kite literally hit the heights when headlines the world over announced that Marconi had made the world’s first transatlantic wireless message, which was made possible by an aerial carried aloft using a Brookite kite. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a Linefoil made by Karen of the Kite Collective, UK. She is using two large tube tails to successfully provide enough drag to stabilise the kite. It flies well in a range of winds, and can be used as a pilot kite itself to lift up your line junk.