Feeling 21 again…

..if I just ignore the pain in my back and knees and….

I had totally forgotten how much fun stunt kites can be, especially on a sunny afternoon on the beach. Jeff’s birthday is tomorrow and I had no idea what to get him. And when I asked he said – how about getting me a stunt kite. We had seen some a couple of weeks ago when we walked along Jericho Beach. So today, after our morning paddle on Burnaby Lake we went to “Kites & Puppets” in the Kids Market on Granville Island and bought some. Of course I had to get one too even though it won’t be my birthday any time soon. And even more so we had to try them out right away nevermind Jeff’s birthday isn’t till tomorrow. The wind was light to moderate and the sun was out. We drove out to Spanish Banks hoping there are fewer people around. With stunt kits it isn’t a matter of if we’d be crashing them into the ground at 50km/hr, it is only a matter of when. I had flown stunt kites way back when I was an undergrad at University back in Germany. So that’s many summer ago :-). The kites have evolved a bit since then – no more trimming necessary and they are assembled in minutes and hop into the air so smoothly, it was great. At least for me. Jeff had a bit more trouble getting his kite off the ground. The first 3 tries went up less than a meter before the kite turned 180 degrees and slammed into the beach. Jeff figured his lines are not the same length. So he shortened one tying a loop. But the result was the same – bang! Finally he noticed that the problem was at the kites end – during assembly he had routed the lines on one site below the cross-bar or spreader rather than above…. no wonder it didn’t fly. With that fixed, Jeff got the kite into the air no problem. It still took a few tries and crashes before he figured out how to steer the kite but he soon was able to master quite a few tricks. We must have spent a couple of hours on the beach. What a day!!! Even in this moderate wind the kite was trying to drag me off my feet every so often. And the sounds they make when they accelerate across the wind is just as cool as a race car speeding by….not as loud mind you. But why people need to stop UNDERNEATH the kites to watch us fly them is a mystery to me…I guess they just don’t know better.

Ready…

…set…

…go

Well, Jeff needed to fix his lines first

.. but eventuelly the kite lifts into the air.

.. don’t hit anyone!!!

Obviously I am getting much less picture time…