Flying Home-Made Kites Is Best!

It can be great fun for all the family, from age 2 to 102. Small kites for small kids, even toddlers. Larger or even huge flying creations for, well, the more mature among us who enjoy a building challenge. Besides, bigger usually flies better!

There is definitely something extra to enjoy when you know that attractive construction flying steadily way up there was made by your own hands. Requiring nothing more than tape, plastic sheets and a few dowels or skewers.

It's almost never too calm - or too windy - to fly, as long as you pick the right kite. The information here makes that easy!

This site has 3 areas of focus....

1. Learning to make a kite, of course! Roll your sleeves up and enjoy the construction process. Then get out and fly, with the sun on your face and the wind on your back. Anyone can afford dowels or bamboo skewers, some plastic bags and sticky tape. Sounds very homey and humble - but we routinely have some amazing high flights with these light-weight craft.And yes, there are plenty of photos and videos of all the building and flying action.
2. Visitors contribute their own kiting experiences. Photos too, from time to time. And...Have a nagging question about some aspect of the hobby? No problem! Just click on the ask Tim link at the top of this page. I will try to publish a satisfying and useful answer within a day or 2.
3. General kiting information abounds here, particularly when you dig a little deeper into the site. A large body of researched facts and photos provide an interesting and educational background on the hobby.Find out about the most popular kinds of fabric and paper designs being flown these days, or in times past. Discover things you never knew.

Plus there is some kite info that is just plain different, and intriguing. Like the radio-controlled variety being deftly flown indoors in Singapore, or a flexible flying monster the size of a football field... But we'll get to that later.

By clicking the what's new! link at the top of this page, you can stay up-to-date with the latest additions to this site. From any of those 3 areas in that numbered list above.

This includes those occasions when we write up one of our own outings as a Flight Report.

We do this all in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, home to one of the bigger annual kiting festivals in Australia, and possibly the whole Southern Hemisphere. We've been keeping tabs on this festival for years, and we're not about to stop, don't you worry. :-)

The picture over there was taken at one such event, as we walked along the jetty at Semaphore Beach. A light Southerly was blowing along the sand, and music boomed from loud-speakers arranged along one side of the wooden planks.

At other times, live commentary kept everyone informed about interesting aspects of the aerial display.

Although not strenuous most of the time, kiting is quite a healthy activity!

The benefits of kite-flying...

1. Office workers can get some much-needed Vitamin D from sunlight. My wife's a court officer, and she certainly doesn't get much Vitamin-D inducing sunlight while she's at her desk. Or anywhere in the building actually, since windows apparently screen out most of the UV.
2. It's good exercise for your eyes, focusing near and far all the time. Helps slow down the progression of 'old age sight'. I know all about it, trying to unpick the tiny Lark's Head knot to detach a small kite from its 20-pound Dacron line...
3. Breathe that fresh air! We're very fortunate here in Adelaide, in that respect.
4. You can even fit in a bit of moderate exercise sometimes, when towing up to search for faster air!
5. Getting the kids involved too is good quality family time. You can see it in our faces, in the photo below...

In my opinion, every new kite is an adventure. Come and join us!