13 Kites by 1

by Gary Resnick
(Dade City, Florida, USA)

Thought I would get your April challenge going.

This past Sunday the winds looked like they were blowing just right for flying a bunch of Rokkakus until I started to put them in the sky. At about kite number 4 the wind dropped. I figured it would come back so I just kept putting them out. Sure enough the wind came back up and I was able to get all the Rokakkus in the air for a photo.

While I was setting up the kites people driving by the field kept slowing down, trying to figure out what I was up to. When I finally started to send the kites skyward I got waves and horns honked in approval.

The whole thing took about three hours and twenty minutes. I had to hurry home, supper was waiting.

The kites are all paper and bamboo Rokkakus about 45cm x 60cm and painted with images I found in books and on the Internet. Since they are small kites cotton line around 10-15 lbs was plenty strong and for anchors I used wood dowels run through a pencil sharpener. Once the line was let out I attached it to the dowel with a lark's head and then used a rubberband to hold it in place. I thought that 12 Rokkakus would do for now but when I started to put them away I realized that 13 had actually made it into the air.

I know the Rokkakus are pretty small in the photo but they are little kites and the sky was rather large that day.

I have flown many more kites at one time but they were on a feather train line and I thought that trains would be cheating.

Looking forward to more photos.

Best winds,

Gary Resnick (aka Dade City Kiter)