On these warm summer days one of my favorite activities is kite flying. I remember going to Seal Beach or Long Beach as a youth and flying my kite as I wondered what was on the other side of that ocean. (Later I found out the answer is China. Oh the irony as you will soon discover. Read on…)
Often I would make my own kite using a torn bed sheet destined for the land fill and some dowels and tape I would acquire from my dad’s work bench. I would grab some Magic Markers or a random Crayola crayon or two and make some colorful designs to suite my mood. Of course a long tail, sometimes with bows was to be attached to my kite creation followed by the large roll of string.
These days I am nowhere near a beach and can afford to buy a kite though I never seem to ‘find the time’ as so many adults do although recently I bought two ‘pocket kites’ for Brenna and myself. They are cute as they measure all of about 12″ when assembled. I look forward to trying them out with her.
Kites were invented in China. The kite has been claimed as the invention of the 5th-century BC Chinese philosophers Mozi (also Mo Di) and Lu Ban (also Gongshu Ban). In China materials ideal for kite building were readily available: silk fabric for sail material; fine, high-tensile-strength silk for flying line; and resilient bamboo for a strong, lightweight framework.
In 1750 Benjamin Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning was caused by electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. It is not known whether Franklin ever performed his experiment.
Recently I found myself in San Francisco at SF Kites and Toys marveling at the different types of stunt kites and power kites. I also recently visited Flights of Fancy at the beautiful MonteLago Village near my home. The kites they have there are amazing.
I recently watched an episode of ‘No Reservations‘ starring Anthony Bourdain where he did a segment on the hillside slums of Rio, Brazil, where kite flying is a very popular leisure activity for children and teenagers, mostly boys, sometimes even adults. Kite fighting is a game whose goal is to maneuver their own kites to cut the other persons’ kite string during flight, and then proceed in a race through the streets to steal the free-drifting kites. This is often done with the aid of powdered glass or aluminium glued to the string creating a very sharp micro-serration.
Whatever the goal or reason for kite flying it always brings a smile to my face.
Do you like to go kite flying? What type of kites do you fly? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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