Do you remember your very first kite?

[frob]

An older brother who was traveling --- then age 19 with a job and money --- was introduced to kiting and bought two stackable power kites in 1985 (I believe they are Flexifoils) which is how I ended up with Catch the Wind catalogs. CTW kept sending catalogs to our house every few months, and I'd read all I could. 

I had several cheap plastic kites, but my first "real" kites were a single line parafoil in 1986 and a basic dual line line in 1987, both from Catch the Wind.  I would fly them both in a weed-filled field near my house after school, and since I wasn't allowed to actually touch my brother's power kites and he was away, I learned how to fly dual lines as a ten year old flying by myself. I cannot begin to guess how many times I set down my lines hoping the kite wouldn't fly away, set the kite up carefully resting on a tall weed, ran back over to the lines, and tried to launch. ... then after instantly crashing, setting the lines down, walking back across the field, carefully standing it back up, running back before it fell over, and attempting again.  This was before standoffs, and I had nobody to fly with, nor videos to watch.  
 

I keep the parafoil in my car and it sees occasional flight time. Last summer I flew with my brother who still has those flexifoils, while we occasionally traded off with my newer kites.  I keep that old simple 4' dual line kite in my kite bag for nostalgic reasons, the elastics and seams are basically dead.  I still have the old blue SpiderLine, though, it is spectra line that still works after 32 years.

[Andy Klie]

Peter Powell Stunt Kite in 1987 or 88. It had a plastic sail. I bought in at Kitty Hawk Kites In Nags Head, NC. I think it was $35 big money for an 11 year old. Loved that kite. I flew it until it just disintegrated.


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[DeusVult]

My dad's large 5 foot delta from his father.  He put it on a massive 3000yd spool of fishing line.

 

Flew it in the park with him one day and dropped the spool.  Never saw it again...

[flyguy]

Ridge lifting one day off the ridges of Palos Verdes .... Cal.    it kept flying out to sea until I lost site... radio would not respond and it was last headed west.

[RythmFlyer]

First kite was a Benson Phantom copy called “Cheetah” [emoji16]. Still have it! It’s pretty loud in decent wind but still fun to fly! [emoji38]...Although it does need a little tlc: has a few tears on the LE that need to be fixed and the old vinyl hose fittings are a little long in the tooth...


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[Hengdakite Fan]

Strat-O-Flier HIgh Flier, the one with the Buck Rogers space ship on it, somewhere around 1960, and I was seven. 

[Steve R]

My grandfather built his own kites after the war in 1947 when he finished building his own home. (Yeah they made them different back then). He flew model planes and his own plane, he had a piper cub, anyway back to the kites. We built a modified box kite together in the early 90’s and I got featured in the local paper with it.


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[Jeepster360]

Ok, I just got back into the joy of kites a few years ago. Like many, my first kite i remember flying was the Gala sky spy and bat kites. Probably not the first kite I tried to fly but the first kite that I actually flew!

Few years back I bought a kite for my daughter as a decoration for her room. Kind of a 3D head on it and very colorful. I took it out with her to try it out just to see how it would fly....?...hard left and crash. Oh well. 

Fast forward a few years and a trip to the Oregon coast. Found the New Port  kite store. My daughter liked the dragon kite Beauty. I ended up the next day with Beast. Great flyers, great fun and now I'm hooked as an adult. The wife has a high flying delta. Just ordered an 18m octopus kite I saw on YouTube. What was i thinking!!

 

John

[David56]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:36 AM, Jeepster360 said:

Ok, I just got back into the joy of kites a few years ago. Like many, my first kite i remember flying was the Gala sky spy and bat kites. Probably not the first kite I tried to fly but the first kite that I actually flew!

Few years back I bought a kite for my daughter as a decoration for her room. Kind of a 3D head on it and very colorful. I took it out with her to try it out just to see how it would fly....?...hard left and crash. Oh well. 

Fast forward a few years and a trip to the Oregon coast. Found the New Port  kite store. My daughter liked the dragon kite Beauty. I ended up the next day with Beast. Great flyers, great fun and now I'm hooked as an adult. The wife has a high flying delta. Just ordered an 18m octopus kite I saw on YouTube. What was i thinking!!

 

John

.

The Gayla Sky Spy and Baby Bat!  Such beautiful kites - all the neighborhood kids had them in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  They now sell the Sky Spy in a nylon version, with no keel(!). Amazon sells the keeled plastic version:  https://www.amazon.com/x22-Sky-Delta-Wing-Kite/dp/B079VLT8X1

[David56]

On 9/6/2019 at 11:59 AM, flyguy said:

Ridge lifting one day off the ridges of Palos Verdes .... Cal.    it kept flying out to sea until I lost site... radio would not respond and it was last headed west.

.

Super high aspect ratio on that glider!

.

[David56]

I remember flying a paper "Top Flite" brand diamond kite when I was 6 or 7 (about 1975).  It had the "Man in the Moon" cover.

[Ejay]

First one I remember the name of was a Peter Powell Stunt in the mid 70's, had several paper 10-15 cent kites in 60's. They were all fun.

[Cot51stState]

On 6/28/2021 at 11:51 PM, David56 said:

.

The Gayla Sky Spy and Baby Bat!  Such beautiful kites - all the neighborhood kids had them in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  They now sell the Sky Spy in a nylon version, with no keel(!). Amazon sells the keeled plastic version:  https://www.amazon.com/x22-Sky-Delta-Wing-Kite/dp/B079VLT8X1

Wow, the Sky Spy brings back memories. A nearby convenience store carried them and, amongst my friends, someone came up with the idea of trying to 'fight' with them. I remember placing duct tape along the leading edge of the keel so I could place multiple attach points to vary the angle of attack. Thank you for sharing that link. I haven't thought of Gayla kites in years. 

[davide63]

My first dual line kite was a Mettoy Barnstormer, I spent hours down on the beach looping it about.

40 odd years later I'm still on the beach, but flicking a Benson around!

[Outlaw]

My adult addiction to kites started in 2013 while I was on a vacation in Nags Head NC. We had rented a beach house and I found my way to Kitty Hawk kite store, bought a Prisim Quantum and a Snapshot 1.9 speed foil. I took a break for a few years but have come back with a vengeance, still have the original kites plus 5 quads, 1 quad traction kite, 6 dual line and 2 SLK. 

 

[David56]

Did anyone ever have one of these kites - the "Glite"?  It was sold in the 1970s and 1980s.  It was made by North Pacific, the same company that made those balsa wood, rubber-band-powered airplanes:

 

[Outlaw]

 

5 hours ago, David56 said:

Did anyone ever have one of these kites - the "Glite"?  It was sold in the 1970s and 1980s.  It was made by North Pacific, the same company that made those balsa wood, rubber-band-powered airplanes:

 

Don't remember the kite, but definitly had the rubber band plane.