Copyright © Verve Enterprises, Inc . 1979 Contents Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without prior written consent of the publishers . the comprehensive international MONUMENTALITY in Kites : A Symposium / 19 Kite Lines is journal of kiting and the only magazine of its Why is bigger better? Or is it? Answers from 23 noted kiters cover kind in America . It is jointly published by many shades of gray-as well as the polarities . Included are theories, Fishergate Publishing Co ., Inc ., of Annapolis, practical advice and a suggested scale of size definitions . MD, and Verve Enterprises, Inc., with edito- rial offices at 7106 Campfield Road, Balti- Weight Watching Japan's Giants / 33 more, MD 21207, USA, telephone : (301) By A . Pete lanuzzi . The mighty are measured . Pocket 484-6287 . Kite Lines is on file in the libraries calculator in hand, Pete questions the weight claims for of the National Air and Space Museum, Smith- Japan's giants and compares area/weight ratios of 11 kites . sonian ; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Administration ; the National Geo- The Bedsheet O'dako / 34 graphic ; and the University of Notre Dame's By A. Pete lanuzzi . A tested American version for a giant Sports and Games Research Collection . kite you can make and fly-to startle the neighborhood . Founder: Robert M. Ingraham 200 Years of Kite Fishing Success / 38 Publishers : Fishergate Publishing Co ., Inc ., By Bill Trebilcock, Principal Keeper, Eddystone Lighthouse, and Verve Enterprises, Inc . 17 miles off Plymouth, England . Kite Lines documents the working Editor : Valerie Govig Business Consultant : Kalman Illyefalvi system at Britain's last lighthouse stronghold of kite fishing. Circulation/Reader Services : Judith Faecher For the Record / 40 Design Consultant : Weston Phipps Two new kite records are claimed and discussed in Kite Lines : Mechanicals : Cathy Pasquale (1) Bernard Stewart's kite-pulled boat trip from the shores British Correspondents: Ron Moulton and of Washington to his hometown, Victoria, B .C ., Canada ; Clive C . O . Rawlinson (2) Six-year-old Angus White's flight of a 24-foot delta Editorial Advisory Panel : in London, claimed as a junior record . His father, John White, Guy D . Aydlett A . Pete lanuzzi suggests a formula for the record and describes his kite, too . William R . Bigge Robert M . Ingraham Lt .Col . Bevan Brown Domina C . Jalbert The International Exposition of Asymmetrical Kites / 44 Wyatt Brummitt Nat Kobitz Announcing a new event to be held in Burtonsville, MD, USA, June 7, Wood Ellis Arthur Kurle 1980. Asymmetrical awards, of course! You have plenty Paul Edward Garber Curtis Marshall, M .D . of time to think this out (or conclude it's all bonkers) . Melvin Govig Robert S . Price Edwin L . Grauel John F. Van Gilder Gary Hinze Will Yolen Ray Holland, Jr. Departments Kite associations and clubs are located around the U .S . and the world . Kite Lines works for and with all of them and maintains an Letter from the Editor / 6 updated file on them . Write for information Letters / 8 about your nearest group . What's New / 12 Subscriptions to Kite Lines : One year Beautifully crafted kites from Sri Lanka reviewed . (4 issues), $9 .00 ; two years (8 issues), $17 .00 . Profiles / 36 Single copies of current or back issues are Louise Crowley : Free Spirit . available ® $2 .50 ($3 .00 overseas) from America's finest kite shops or the journal Story and Photographs by John F . Van Gilder . offices . Postage outside the U .S ., its posses- News from Here and There : Stateside / 42 sions and Canada is $1 .00 per year additional . News from Here and There : International / 46 Air mail rates for foreign mailings are $3 .00 Directory of Outlets / 43 per year additional for Latin America ; $5 .00 per year additional for Europe and Israel ; and Design Workshop / 48 $7.00 per year additional for all other The Super Conyne, proposed as a standard, by Arthur Kurle . countries . All foreign drafts must be in U .S . Swap Shop / 50 dollars through a U .S . bank or the post office . Classifieds / 50 Change of Address : Attach or copy mailing label in letter, giving new address . If mailing label is wrong, please correct it. Advertising rate sheet and information is Cover available upon request . Real greatness in kites : a giant at Sagamihara, Japan, Contributions and correspondence are always invited . Enthusiasts who contemplate sending at the moment of launch, a spectacle that few would believe substantial material should request our guide- if it were not for the camera of David Checkley . lines for writers and photographers . Return of unsolicited material cannot be guaranteed The scene was shot in May of this year on the kite tour of Japan unless accompanied by ample stamps and led by Checkley . Perhaps the picture partially answers some envelope, self-addressed . Accuracy of contents of the questions raised in our symposium on monumentality in of Kite Lines is the responsibility of individual contributors. Diverse views presented in Kite kites (pages 19 to 34) . But such a kite somehow stands apart ; Lines are not necessarily those of the editor, it is an answer that does not need a question . publishers, staff or advisory panelists . Closing Dates for advertising, articles and news are : Feb . 20 for Spring ; May 20 for Summer ; Aug . 20 for Fall ; Nov . 20 for Winter. Postmaster : Second class postage paid at Balti- more, Maryland . If undeliverable, please send address change Form 3579 to Kite Lines, 7106 Campfield Road, Baltimore, MD 21207 . L from the Editor What a weekend! We've just come back from the American Kitefliers Association's second annual meeting and kite festival, held in Manassas, VA . It was as memorable and successful an occasion as anyone could want and of course Kite Lines will cover it in a forthcoming issue . For now we have only the space this letter provides to explain the relationship of AKA and Kite Lines as it developed at the gathering . The chief outcome of the meeting was a general sense of harmony, brought about by the passing of a resolution, as follows : "The assembled members of AKA at the second annual convention and festival en- dorse and support Kite Lines magazine." The resolution does not bind either AKA or Kite Lines to any specific actions, but it serves to reflect the spirit of the members present . That and the changes which were adopted in the bylaws give both parties a great deal of freedom . The journal's relationship to AKA will be much as it is to any kite club, that of friendly reporter, in a spirit of coopera- tive independence . We would very much like to have your views as a reader regard- ing the directions your journal should take . Though Kite Lines is no longer the offi- cial journal of the AKA, we carry a public trust as the research and information center of the worldwide kite community . We are at least as committed to being res- ponsive to that community as if we were a volunteer organization . As authors of the original AKA bylaws, we of Kite Lines sub- scribe to those stated purposes . The future of kiting is our joy . As Wyatt Brummitt said, "The sky is big enough for all of us ." With a fresh spirit of cooperation in the air, we feel more optimistic than we have in a long time . The meeting brought about these good feelings . For that we kiters owe the meeting's organizers and participants our thanks . For those of you who have stood by in various degrees of anguish, feel free, as you may, to love or hate all of us. Your comments-by mail, by phone, by kite -are valuable to us, whatever you have to say. Your ideas guide us and demonstrate that you care . The vitality of kiting and its warm bonds of friendship cut across all boundaries of politics, creed, nation, age, sex and factionalism . It is that vision which guides this journal . Letters COFFEE STIRRERS TO THE RESCUE beautifully . Their main drawback is in the There are various ways of designing I have left for a while Israel and my good number of spars required ; these have to these kites-rigid with bowed cross spar, kite friend Alex Cohen and his family to be kept as light as possible, being so many, nonrigid with floating cross spar, rigid take up a post in the cardiac surgery de- and in strong winds some may break . If with straight cross spar held back by a partment of Montefiore Hospital where I you are flying in an airfield or on an open spacer, etc . I use the nonrigid arrange- work as a biomedical engineer . moorland, that is not too bad, but in semi- ment in mine. One of the troubles I found On arrival in New York we stayed at a restricted places it could be a disaster . was that the kite made with a straight hotel on 44th Street, close to Benihana of So I turned my attention to single sur- spine would frequently dive forward Tokyo . Walking past that famous restaur- face kites, such as the Eddy, Malay, Para- towards me, in the manner of a delta . I ant, we saw an advertisement for New kite or whatever you like to call them . I corrected this by making the spine angle York's Benihana/Go Fly a Kite Festival . have spent a considerable amount of time back from a point about 18 inches from Not having brought my kite collection and money on trying to construct one of the top . The total deflection is fairly from Israel, I raced up to the hotel room these which will fulfill the statements small-about three inches in a six-foot armed with coffee stirrer sticks and some made in many books that they are tailless .