HOME PAGE
|
Sunday, July 11, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Fifth-graders test the winds
by making their own kites
By Joan Whitely
Review-Journal
Anything can be a kite," says Mike Walden, authoritatively. "As long as it's bridled right and there's wind."
He relishes telling the true-life tale of several friends who once entered a lawn chair in a make-your-own-kite contest, and actually got it to fly.
But after watching Walden coach a multipurpose room full of antsy, distractible fifth-graders at building -- and then successfully flying -- their own kites, one tends to believe the man.
Turns out Walden, 33, of WindPower Sports has other kite-flying credentials, too. He's a veteran of numerous kite presentations to youth groups. He has demonstrated the aerial ability of the contraptions, which usually consist solely of paper or cloth and a light frame, to audiences in Hawaii as well as in Las Vegas.
He's also a member of JAMS, a precision kite-flying team of five. He was on the team when it won the title of national team champion in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Titles are awarded in competitions sanctioned by the American Kitefliers Association, based on performance in two areas: precision maneuvers -- similar to compulsory figures for ice skaters -- and ballet, which is a choreographed routine.
Based in Hawaii, the JAMS team flies dual-line kites -- unlike the fifth-graders' kites, which have a single line and therefore can't be steered.
But JAMS has been on hiatus for several years because of a turnover in members, as well as a shoulder injury suffered by Walden, who moved here from the islands in March.
Sure, Walden misses the steady trade winds of Hawaii, which are eminently conducive to kite-flying. But other opportunities beckon.
First, the Southwest has plenty of dry lake beds, which are eminently conducive to two of his other favorite sports: land sailing and kite buggying.
Land sailing involves being propelled on wheels across terrain by the power of wind against a sail on a mast. Kite buggying involves rider propulsion by the power of a dual-line kite in the air. Both require large tracts of open land.
"In Hawaii, there aren't enough big parks clear of obstacles, clear of big trees," Walden explains.
"(Las Vegas) is the Yosemite of kite buggying," claims another WindPower employee, Corey Jensen, 48. Nowhere else can participants find the same combination of open space plus "cheap rooms and cheap food."
Second, the dearth of retail competitors in Las Vegas offers lots of chances to lure outsiders into the sheer joy of flying a kite.
Dearing Elementary teacher Nadolyn Banks invited WindPower Sports to send a rep for a kite demo on the day of the classes' picnic at a nearby park. The exercise is the culmination to a series of readings the children had done on the subject of flight.
"Who's built a kite before?" is how Walden opens his recent session with several fifth-grade classes at Dearing Elementary School, 3046 S. Ferndale St.
Many hands go up.
"Who's built a kite that flew before?" is Walden's next query.
Most hands go down.
Diamond-shaped kites -- the kind traditionally sold to children -- are actually difficult to balance well, Walden tells his crowd. So, to guarantee a smooth flight, their kites will be shaped like a sled. This type is supported only by a pair of parallel spars. It balances so well it doesn't even need a tail.
But Walden has his skeptics among Dearing pupils, who are either sitting cross-legged or bent over on hands and knees as they listen and work. Each is assembling a kite out of one hexagon of durable paper, two spars, six blank address labels -- to attach the spars and strengthen the kite's corners -- one short length of bridle string and one 100-foot length of flying string.
"It's going to crumple together. It's not even windy enough," is the dire prediction from Ryan Scott, 11, who has drawn a geometric pattern on his kite.
Megan Tapp's crayon doodling indicates hers is dedicated to the singing group, 'N Sync. "They're all guys, and they're mine. I love their music and they're all fine," says the 11-year-old.
Kush Bhatnagar, 11, has a big "K" on the center of his kite. He says it stands for "Super Kid."
After 10 minutes of intensive kite decorating, the students line up to walk to Parkdale Park, where their tethered papers will meet the wind.
Walden doesn't dwell on the aerodynamics of the sled kites, except to note that when a bridle is tied off-center -- the bridle being the string link between the kite itself and the long flying string -- it won't fly well.
Within seconds of arrival, Scott's craft is airborne. The boy lets out an exuberant, "Yee-haw! Whoooo!"
Soon the patch of sky over the park is filled with white hexagons. Other children at the park, who are not part of the fifth-grade picnic contingent from Dearing Elementary, immediately flock with questions to the proud owners of the sky-high hexagons.
"I love it so much that that's what I do for a living," Walden says about the kite instruction he gives to store customers and student audiences. "To see their faces after it does work, that's the best part."
Walden first landed in Hawaii 15 years ago as a helicopter crew chief in the Marines. To this day, he'd rather go fly a kite than earn a license to fly a copter or airplane. "That takes money, the wind is free," he notes.
E-mail this story to a friend:
Give us your FEEDBACK on this or any story.
1999 Best of Las Vegas Results.
|
Printable version of this story
|
