How to Fly a Kite

Posted on July 6th, 2009 by Carmelia

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Flying a kite on a windy day is one of life’s simple pleasures. Bask in the warm afternoon sun and fly a kite with your loved ones. Here’s how you can fly a kite of your very own.

Materials

A kite
A windy day
A wide area of land with no trees, power lines or poles, etc.
A friend

Procedure

Flying a kite requires some degree of preparation. A day or two before kite-flying day, check the local weather news reports. If you’re a beginner, you’re aiming for more moderate winds. A wind of five to 15 mph should be enough for your kite-flying purposes.

kite flying

It would also do some good to make a quick run through the are where you’ll be doing your kite-flying. Trees can spell big trouble for your kites. Electric posts are even more dangerous, so avoid areas with tall posts that might catch your kite and tangle the strings. It would also be advisable to check the area for potholes or rabbit holes that you might catch your feet and cause you injury. Kite-flying can be highly diverting, so make sure that you make the area you’re in is safe!
Have a friend help you out with your kite-flying. Have your friend hold the kite, with you holding the kite’s string on the farther side. Your back should be to the wind, while your friend faces the wind.
Have your friend step away from you, at least ten meters away. If the wind is strong enough, your friend should then lightly toss the kite up until the wind picks it up.
If the wind isn’t picking up, give a signal to your friend that you’re going for the run. Run towards the wind, with your friend running behind you, still holding the kite. Have your friend toss up the kite and keep running.
As soon as the kite is in the air, let out a bit of string. Keep running until you feel that the kite is in the air on its own. Then you can stand back and let the wind do its job.
Let out more string if you want to keep the kite flying higher. Keep it stable by using pumping motions on the string.
Keep an eye out for the kite. Sudden wind changes may cause it to dip suddenly or fall altogether. If it does, run a bit or pull down the string to encourage lift.
If you want to bring your kite down, start looping the string back in. Catch it once it’s close enough. Don’t let the kite crash as it might cause irreparable damage.