Self Portrait.
I've always enjoyed flying kites. I made box kites as a kid that would fly real high, and in the North Dakota wind, I'd use every foot of fishing string that my dad had in his tackle box.
This kite, however, is my favorite one so far - the two string. It's an incredibly windy day today, so we went out to relieve a little stress. The two strings allow the kite to fly back and forth, up and down, and to do loops. A little tug on the right string, and it turns to the right. A hard tug on the left and hold, with a strong wind and it loops to the left. The weather report says that current wind gusts are up to 37 mph!
I first used this one at the beach last summer. I had to get there early in the morning before lots of people arrived because of my lack of experience - as I didn't want to hit anyone. I did, however, like to have fun with the seagulls. The trick is to fly casually to the right, and let the seagulls gather within reach. After the gulls come in, and are feeling secure with it, quickly pull to the left and swoop down - and watch them jump! It's fun also to catch them by surprise in mid-air. One gull looked like he was putting both wings forward to break and get out of the way.
Just a word of caution, always watch out for where the power lines are. The two strings are short, and dont' allow the kite to fly very high.
March is here and springtime is coming, I'm glad to have my kite in my van. Oh, just last week, I was stopped by a Chesterfield police officer, as the light on my license plate was burned out. He was just doing a routine check, when he saw my kite bag, and asked 'what is that?' I had a smile on my face and quickly replied, 'my kite' as last Saturday was also a windy day.
No comments:
Post a Comment