Do you remember your very first kite?

[stev123]

I mean "first" kite. I was 6 in '66 and it was a new design, a bat or a firebird kite..It was a delta with red and black scalloped wings...I flew that thing so much it wore out in two weeks, dad ran a grabbed another one for me. I think that kite is why I'm back doing this again. I loved flying kites at 6 and at 46, I love it again...

Steve

[Dorsal]

My very "first" kite was a diamond kite made from 2 bamboo sticks, approx. "3" and "4" in proportional length. My dad sawed a notch in both ends of both sticks, then we tied them together and tied a string through all 4 notches, making the diamond shape. When we laid that on top of a sheet of butcher paper, cutout around the perimeter with about 1" extra all around, then folded the flaps and glued them with Elmer's glue. Used another piece of string for the tensioner for the horizontal.

We made a tail out of some torn bedsheet and flew it half of the day.

I think I was about 7 at the time.

[Backspin23]

ok very first kite was a plastic blue angle dual line kite. Flew it one day in 15mph winds and it had too many holes to fly the next day and that is when I figured I needed to pay more than 4 bucks for a kite.

[cbabbman]

Bat kite.... black vinyl with black & white eyes... made bloodshot with a red crayon...lots of string... lots of it... the higher you put it up the better it was... to the point where you couldn't even see it any more.....

When I go to the park that I used to fly at, I can't believe that we even tried let alone succeded... it's so small...

When my 4 year old saw Mary Poppins, she had to fly one... of course, me being me, I had to get one too... a 2 line Premiere Vision.... within 10 seconds, I was done...

Now it's a couple of deltas, 5 revolutions and 3 ozones.... and I'm not done yet...

[Scott]

Numerous cheap plastic deltas were my first kites. I don't remember the specific first one, but I do remember having a smurf one once that had this cool red plastic reel for winding in the string. I think that kite broke loose and I lost it over the tree tops. Had this great flying red plastic delta for a few years and some other cheap ones that i'd fly 3 at a time out in my grandpa's pasture. I'd have 3 or 4 up as far as the string would go and then walk the long trip back to my grandparent's house and see how long they'd stay flying by themselves! A pocket sled was my first kite made of nylon. Still have a tiny plastic wrist kite somewhere that you can store in a pouch you wear around your wrist! First dual line...a go fly a kite boomer that I NEVER learned to fly til after getting the larger bandit. Got hooked with a bandit and now I have a parastunter, Revolution Exp and prism 3d. Along with a 6' delta, rainbow ship, 8' delta conyne, and prism triad!

Oh, and during those childhood to adult days, I had to make a kite for a project in college!! Made 2 rokakus, one of bamboo and some heavier than nylon material, and one from a yardstick and garbage bag! Painted one and used marker on the other to decorate. Well I guess that's my life's kites story there!

[Team Pink Panther]

My first kite was a Flying Wings Hornet. Took forver to get use too. After a year

I got the hang of it. I now still fly that kite, but now I have like 30 kites sitting in my

basement

[ilh]

My first was a cheap paper and bamboo diamond kite probably from the 5&10. I had a number of those as a kid, with many spending the rest of their lives in neighborhood trees.

My first stunt kite was a Fire Dart. I sold that for the Katana in my avatar.

[ant man]

when i was a kid we used to build kites out of plastic trash bags with wooden sticks me and me friends learned how to do it one day at a school field trip in 6 th grade we all built these black square kites that flew in circles as i got older in the 80s my first sport kite was a hawaiian that i got from my dad as a gift for helping him out and doing my daily chores since then i fell in love and have been doing it to this day now i hope to get my son into it when he gets older and mabie one day he will be writing to tell you his memories i still have that hawaiian kite and still love flying it its a lilttle beat up but it always takes me back

[John Barresi]

August of 1990, my very first kite was a Cheetah by Sky Toys... Neon green and forest green. I found a photo (below), but it's not the colors I had.

All fiberglass frame, although I opted for the spectra lines.

A month or two later, I ripped the entire keel off the kite attempting to dogstake it in some pretty high winds.

[ant man]

i rember those kites john they were fun to fly i forgot how much they were i still have my hawaiin spinoff that i got in 89 it was one of my first stunt kites and wildwood at the time were selling them everywhere all of the boardwalk stores from the summer of 86 untill summer 90 had them everywhere that cheetah was a fast one good for the expert flier

[kite slinger]

I grand father use to make them and won 6 years in a row at California 2 oldest kite event {and still going}

I flew what ever he made

after he pasted on my very 1st store bought kite was a Hi-Flyer{i still have it and I also got into collecting them}.... I use to set the tow point on them almost all the way down to fly them UP-SIDE down and even cut holes in them for high wind days

[Mousie]

First off.. let me say I think this is a great thread. Enjoyed reading about everyone's first adventures.

Mine was a large yellow inflated **puffer kite** You had to blow it up like a giant floatation device lol. I was flying it in my neihborhood and I hit the end of the 500 feet of cheap line... when it came right off the winder....

My friends and I ran after it thinkin we could catch it...but it was never to be seen again .... it was the first time I had ever flown it.. and the last lol

[ant man]

i too am loveing this thread it takes me back to my flying spot at the old school yard when i was a kid now the local town moved the school to another location and the old field is a 20 home neighborhood i look and wonder what houses were built on my old flying area

[Jimbo]

My first was a Hi-Flyer "Space Station". I think my next 30-40 were the same

2 hours collecting bottles, and we had 2 or 3 spools of line and a kite. The first year was 1970 I think. I had a rainbow stack of small delta type 2 liners in the 80s, and built a 2 liner in 89 I think? Man our building material options sucked then, lol.

Now I'm building them again now, with my son

Its a blast...

[Hyper Kiter]

It was a yellow paper on wood frame with a rocket image. My mom cut some rags for a tail and we got some of my grandmothers cotton twine (She had a huge spool) and I wrapped the string on a broken plier handle.

Flew it every day for weeks till it was more tape than paper.

A couple years ago my mom found the string still on the broken plier in the back corner of the garage, she has it displayed in front of my picture of me flying in Thailand.

Great thread!

[Penny Lingenfelter]

A couple years ago my mom found the string still on the broken plier in the back corner of the garage, she has it displayed in front of my picture of me flying in Thailand.

Great thread!

That is so awesome.

I don't remember my very first kite, only bits and pieces of kites as a young child. I remember rags for tails before I was in school. We only flew in March.You know -- March wind, April Showers.

Daddy always made a kite in March. I'm sure the wind had to be at least 10-12 mph for us to fly. Butcher paper, or brown paper bag. He usually made a box kite. We flew for a few days and it usually ended up in pieces. Funny thing is people weren't flying kites on the beach in the summer months. I guess with those heavy paper/stick kites we needed the heavy winds. We sure looked forward to every March.

A Skynasaur (sp) was my first "modern" dual line kite. That poor kite would pull like crazy in a high wind, but nothing under 12mph. Every kite store in the area tried adjusting it, but it never flew well.

I bought the $30 dollar kite to play with while I waited on my first Rev. to arrive. I couldn't sleep at night I was so afraid that I would not be able to learn how to control the Rev.

When it arrived I took it out the first two times at night, in the dark, in the rain.. no wind.. etc. Hey, it was the only time I wasn't working.

First few trips to the beach were no better... Murphy's law says when you bring a newbie to the beach, there will be NO wind. Rev. on the beach and no wind as a beginner. Yup, that's what we got. Through sleet, rain, and snow we flew or tried to fly that Rev.

I'm just glad there's indoor flying so I don't have to be in the snow to fly in the winter.

For me my first kite is synonymous with Daddy.

BB Penny

[sky fish]

I think it was from the dime and ten . delta's and diamond's made of plastic and the spool was cotton twine. I always liked the bright color's. Thay never lasted long the trees kept eating them .First big kite was a yellow and green delta that was 6 feet across it would fly in a light breeze and had 500 feet of line. I attached a fishing reel to it but my arm would still get sore winding it back in and for some strange reason I never could resist letting out all the line .

[f86sabjf]

Mine was the old Gala bat kites with the blood shot eyes. I believe i had one in black ,1in red ,1in blue. Then i fell away as car racing took over. My next trip into kiting was in the mid 90's. I still have my Shanti Airwave from then. Flies real good on the new spectra lines. My current adventure has me with the Airwave and a new E2 . We'll see where kiting takes me this time. I keep coming back to kiting for some reason. I must be hard headed .

Believe it or not i've never flown a diamond kite. Gonna have to change that.

Seeyaaa

Jeff

[wen]

i don't remember the kite but i do remember it was in my frends front yard. he was teaching me to fly it was a go fly spool i think my mom says i was 2 at the time

[Aerochic]

I flew my first kite(s) when I would vacation in Wildwood with my family as a kid. I'm not sure but my first kite was either one of those black vinyl bat deltas with the eyes (that everyone had) OR it was a styrofoam psychadelic looking UFO kite that my Grandmom brought back from Florida with her for me & my brother. Hee! Those silly things were good for 1 fly until they would crash and shatter into a million little pieces. They were pretty cool in the air tho. I remember them spinning in the sky.

[KC Jewel]

Not only do I remember, I have one. They sure have gone up in price since the 50's. John

[LS Kite Stakes]

One of my first kites was a Scott's sled made from white paper bag and two straws. My dad bought it as a kit at some Boeing club event that I am too young to remember. I had that kite attached to a old aluminum wire reel that I still have, with over 2000' of nylon fishing line on it. The kite was so far away, it was a tiny white dot in the sky. I can still remember the high pitched whine the line made when my dad held a paper cup against it.

[ant man]

seeing this thread still alive is great... i miss my hawaiian ... should have never sold it

[spikeman]

Greetings everyone. I realise I am coming in to an old thread. But im new to the board. I am in Wales uk. My first kite was a gibson girl, I think I was about 5 or 6 then . we had a junk shop not far from us he used to sell old valve radios. I can remember my father buying the kite it was in the tube. We flew it a lot until one day the line broke and it went over the vast ammount of railway tracks we had in the area. That was the end! of that kite. I can remember the first kite I bought in Belgium oostend beach it was a bird kite and flew great. So a potted history.

I wish the shop and the kites were there now ha! Anyway I fly single line but like to watch all kites single line are much better for me as I can sit and watch them with a beer ha ha.

Going to Dieppe France next month for the kite festival anyone on here going.

[Box Boy]

I would love to be able to say that my first kite was a box kite but as I recall my little brother bought that one and I bought an Eddy kite. It would have been at least 50 years ago and at the time I believe those paper and stick kites cost around .50 cents with kite string. When we were really lucky we got to take the kite home after flying it for awhile, most of the time the kites got tangled in power lines or were so badly torn up during an unplanned landing that we threw them away