Feb 24: Go Fly a Kite
Today was time for the hardest lesson yet; making a budget kite. The following pictures will tell the story, click the first image to see the photos in a slideshow - click on the right side of the image to advance.
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- Buying the String (Thread). Total Cost: 15 DOP (~$0.50)
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- Obtaining some Pineapple Leaves to Use as the Ribs
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- Assembling the Ribs
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- It Wasn't Easy to Convince the Boys to Let Me do the Work
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- Tying the Ribs Together to Finish the Frame
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- Testing a Couple of New Knots
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- Careful Attention to Detail
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- Preparing the Kite Surface (Garbage Bag of Course)
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- Cutting out the Correct Shape for the Kite Body
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- Tying the Surface to the Frame
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- Slowly Working my Way Around to Each Rib
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- The Final Rib
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- The Thread Holders / Fans
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- Always Keeping and Eye on Things
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- Spectator Attention is Beginning to Fade
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- Or Not!
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- Admiring the Completed Kite
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- Carefully Ripping Out a Tail from the Leftover Bag
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- First Flight Attempt
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- Success on First Try!
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- Learning to Fly
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- Ciara Even Got a Try
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- But it Didn't Last Long
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- Spectator Injury (Faked!)
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- These Things go High!
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- Returning to Our Balcony
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- Transfering Control to the Balcony
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- Final touches on the Flight Pattern
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- Ahhh, a Hard Days Work
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- This is the Life - Flying a Kite and Enjoying a Drink
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- My Fans
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- Happy Ending - but not for the Kite
That’s right. My kite met it’s untimely demise after I flew the line into a nearby tree. The boys thought quick and cut it loose only to have it get wrapped around another kite. This did allow us to reel it in for another try though.
Honestly I have never flown a kite that was so easy, so cheap, or went so high! It just shows that you don’t always get what you pay for. I even learned two new knots in the process.
Flying the kite was quite a bit of fun. There was the constant challenge of keeping the kites from tangling with each other, or from someone “stealing” control. Other kids, as part of the fun, would attach a small rock to their thread and try throw it over someone elses line. If successful they would reel in the line, break the kites thread, and take over control (while avoiding some other countermeasures). Fortunately, they took it easy on the beginner!
Comment by Tom Wilson
The facial expression in “Spectator Attention is Beginning to Fade” is priceless.
So you’re off to LA soon?