Do you remember your very first kite?

[FlyinKen]

This is a great thread that I hope keeps going.

My 1st kite was home made.

It was an eddy made of dowels, and I believe tissue paper.

My dad and I made it as a cub scout badge project about 35 years ago.

It flew great, we maxed out the line on the 1st spool, then were able to attach a 2nd spool till it was just a dot up in the air.

Ken

[linekahuna]

My first kite was a Tide (laundry detergent) eddy style.

Was yellow and white like a bullseye.

Very good thread.

[kiteking]

my kites for the first 25 years, were 5 and dime, paper and plastic, or home made out of anything we could scrounge up. In the later years I would go into the stores off season and purchase kites and line for 1.00 or less, I still look for great deals on cheap kites, then when out at the beach or park and a young person gets interested I give them a kite and line. My first real kite was a Coaster Delta from Catch the Wind. Then I got the 2 line bug and got some rainbows that was around 1978, since then I have increased the number of kite bags (5 currently not counting the Nexus 7 stack) Luckily I don't suffer from regret of selling a kite, I have all from 197? to present. I have been doing a photo inventory, I think I have about half of my collection uploaded so far.

[cerfs-volantstylistes]

I wish I could remember my first kite.

My mom told me that she bought me my first kite at Old Orchard beach. I was 10 years old. Hum that's some years ago. outch !

[Jynx]

As a kid (more than a few years ago) we made our own kites, never store-bought. Usually with newspaper, wood cut-offs from under my dad's table saw, fishing line, and multi-rag tails... My brother, cousin, and I actually got them to fly, and high too!

...Boy... That takes me back!

My first "real" kite, that got me into the posh, obsessive mess I'm in... is an Aerie 108" dual (two-tone blue and white) that my son bartered for, for my birthday in October of 2007. Great kite which I flew exclusively until I bought my first Rev (July of this year).

...You know the rest of the $$$$$$$$$tory!

[MyBestKiteGuy]

Mmm the very first kite was probably a home made effort using twigs (!), heavy plastic and twine to lash together a crude diamond. I made a number of these, which flew at very modest (make that 'poor') line angles. But, I was just a kid and had fun flying them with the help of a fishing reel. Oh yes, the monofilament was probably shockingly heavy as well! Have memories of standing on a dusty outback road (middle of the N.T., Australia) near sunset, with one of these kites struggling to stay airborne way in the distance...

As for first shop-bought kite... Must have been the Indian bamboo and tissue diamond I bought in 1974. It lasted until Cyclone Tracy wiped Darwin off the map on Christmas Day! The horizontal spar was curved, but it wasn't a fighter since it was tailed and stable. I remember being extremely impressed with how steeply it flew. A real pleasure at the time, for my 14 year old soul!

Still into kite-making after a very long break. Having a lot of fun with ultra-basic materials and techniques, and involving others via the website.

[kitecowboy]

My first kite were actually kites for a birthday (I wish I could remember which one) lets say early teens i got a delta from GFAK. took awhile to figure out those two handles and a single line box. I remember someone calling it a military kite.??

I still fly the box my kids love it they call it Emo. The dual is long gone, well sorta the frame is in onother kite but the sail fell apart. I miss it, strange as that seems. It's the only kite I ever got that i dont still have.

Cowboy.

[quaa714]

2 Hawaiians circa 1982.

One still in my bag, the other I gifted to Antman for his birthday this yr.

Both amazing old school dualies.

[ant man]

i fly it with grace as always rich .. thank you again

[Alan Cragg]

It was during WW2, my Grandmother made it out of brown paper (parcel wrapping ?) and some sticks from the garden;

it didn't really fly, and then the Police Seargent came and politely confiscated it, because "you're not allowed to fly kites

during the war." Fast-forward to May 1979, and Dorothy bought me a Brookite 'Cutter' for a 10th Anniversary present.

I still have it--we call it 'Old Faithful'--and still fly it, last time at Portsmouth IKF last year (08) Best Wishes, Alan.

[cerfvoliste]

I still remember that Box Kite

1956 or so......

Rx

[roisinroisin21]

please please Andy and the rest ..............

[mallard]

the only kites available to us in the mid 70s were the plastic Gayla kites sold at K-mart down the street. I had a Sky Spy (with big bloodshot eyes), a Baby Bat and I think a blue Sky Raider. I was in 4th grade i think.....and it seemed like they were so far up in the sky they looked so small so way up there (really just 100 feet). I always wanted to combine spools of line to get it up 500 to 1000 feet up. I remember sitting at the park with my kite way up in the air and seeing another kid not far away with their kite way up there and noticing that everyone had the same brand, different styles.

oh, and a big puffer kite

[deltasteve]

My grandfather owned a Texaco station back in the 50s. My first kite was probably around 1957, it was a Hi-Flyer light green Texaco diamond kite made of paper. I think I got a second one becuase as you might guess, paper kites in the hands of small children didn't last too long. However back then...you could find a kite field just about anywhere, sadly not so today.

[bill2468]

My first kite was a store bought (1956 and $0.25 I think)paper diamond kite. I flew it until the paper ripped. This scenario occurred yearly until I was about 10 year old. Then I recycled the sticks, strung cotton kite string around the diamond shape, glued newspaper around the string, and used some poster paint to give it some attraction other than black & white print. The NEW RECYCLED kite flew okay (albeit not so easily since my craftwork made it heavier than the original store bought kite). I never dreamed that adults would play with kites nor that I would get the urge to build and fly kites as an adult. But WOW!!! Look at what modern materials and creativity have brung - large kites, inflatable kites, stunt kites, traction kites, kite ballets - and all of it beautiful to see coloring the sky.

[SHBKF]

First kite, like this one, was flown by myself, with help from my brother, in 1957 as best as I can remember. Kite field was the street in front of the house, Archwood Place in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The whole neighborhood flew kites back then. There was always one on the power lines with it's tail hanging. It's a rare sight now. Last kite I saw trashed was run over & laying on a on ramp on I-40 near Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

[RobB]

My first kite was the Gayla Bat Kite, bloodshot eyes & all.

[Wayne Dowler]

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.

Think I still have Seth's Cheetah around here somewhere!

[Wayne Dowler]

my kites for the first 25 years, were 5 and dime, paper and plastic, or home made out of anything we could scrounge up. In the later years I would go into the stores off season and purchase kites and line for 1.00 or less, I still look for great deals on cheap kites, then when out at the beach or park and a young person gets interested I give them a kite and line. My first real kite was a Coaster Delta from Catch the Wind. Then I got the 2 line bug and got some rainbows that was around 1978, since then I have increased the number of kite bags (5 currently not counting the Nexus 7 stack) Luckily I don't suffer from regret of selling a kite, I have all from 197? to present. I have been doing a photo inventory, I think I have about half of my collection uploaded so far.

Still got the Coaster Delta in Firebird colors with a 10' sock!

[Wayne Dowler]

First kite I remember owning was a freebie from Jif peanut butter! Yellow with a kangaroo on it, diamond shaped, no tail needed! Neighborhood kids were jealous I didn't need to run to get it in the air!!

[Michael E. Allen]

My first kite was a Bat kite with the blood shot eyes, my second kite was the same thing, as well as my third and so on. That is untill my mom and dad said they were not going to buy me anymore. After gluing the bat kites back together until there was nothing left of them I started making diamond kites out of newspaper, dowel rods, string and glue. Learned how to do that from a book I checked out from the school library.

Hmmmmm Got me thinking is it hard to learn how to sew? I would love to make my own kites but how hard is it? I would like to make something other then newspaper.

[SunriseKites]

_{First kite as a kid was a little diamond HiFlyer. They cost a quarter and were worth about just that much. It was paper and blasla wood kite. broke the first time I flew it, then I had to rebuild it out of "news paper", it would them fly a little longer, then I'd be back rebuilding it again. That was in 1955 didnt even have plastic bags yet! Wow makes me feel pretty old.}

[SunriseKites]

I gave my grand kids a nice deta from Premier a few years back. They were over in Oregan flying it when the line holder broke one handle off, the kite started flying off across the bay, about the time the kite was to come down, the line holder (the kind wth a handle on both ends and line in the middle) would hit the water and ankor the kite, it would then soar back into the sky, until the kite lifted the line out of the water, then it would start falling again. the process repeated several times across about a mile of water, until a guy on the far side of the bay cought it as it came ashore. My grand daughter ran all the way around the bay to get her kite back. The guy was very gracious and gave it back to her. By the time she got back to us she was beat but very poud her kite didnt get away. One of the funnyiest things I've ever seen!

[mystainedskin]

I have no memories of a kite as a kid. My first kite was only a few years ago.... A Snapshot 1.2. I saw some of Johns videos and just had to get started somehow. The little Prism was a great way, I learned about wind and the window some and got the basic reaction jitters out of the way.....next thing you know... A kite collection is starting, but the Revs started it all. These are great stories. I hope by putting kiting on my grandsons life ....he will have some stories like this.

[flyguy]

Ah, yes in the eighty's I had a large foil sled single line Coast Guard Orange, used it on the Canoe while fishing to keep me in the middle of a channel at anchor.