2005.08.28 When Kites Attack

From RooKwiki
Revision as of 03:23, 9 August 2022 by RooK (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search


kite-windwing440.jpg

Some of my fellows from work have recently got into kiting, and they invited me last weekend to head out to the beach to try it with them. One of their wives described it best, "You look at it and think - how much fun can it be? But then you try it, and it's just a blast." Sure enough, I was handed one of the control bars and got the 4.4 meter airfoil to swoop around the sky, and it was indeed a blast.

I should have paid more attention to some of the guys grumbling about how the wind hadn't really picked up yet. Because when the wind did come, it grabbed that kite, and said, "Dance little monkey, dance." At first I wrestled valiantly with the thing, and it was even more fun than before. It was hard work, and a little exciting, but come on - it was still just a kite. A kite, fer christsakes, like that scene in Mary Poppins with little girls giggling and bad cockney accents singing silly whimsical tunes.

I'll tell you, though, when you're being helplessly dragged across a beach as if attached to a mastodon, you start to respect the kite.

kite-fight51.JPG

kite-fight61.JPG

kite-fight66.JPG

kite-fight69.JPG

kite-fight72.JPG

kite-fight73.JPG

kite-fighthard.JPG

And, when the kite yanks you up into the air, you realize that it's not you controlling the kite necessarily, but rather that the wind is playing with you like a marionette.

kite-fight54.JPG

kite-hop55.JPG

kite-hop58.JPG

kite-jump2.JPG

Then the wind got tired of my pathetic resistance, and got angry with me. With a yank that felt like it made both my shoulders consider dislocating, I completely lost balance and went down. But I didn't go straight down. Oh no. Without the ability to dig in my heels, I actually got going pretty fast while sliding down the beach helplessly scooping up sand in my shorts. Notice the spraying sand and drag marks in these photos. This went on until the wind tired of toying with my limp form, and tossed the kite down onto the beach.

kite-goingdown.JPG

kite-grimdrag.JPG

kite-fightdone.JPG

Kite 1, Clayton nuthin.