A Long Time Kiting Story

Over 50 years ago my grandfather showed me how to make a brown paper kite, using ¾ inch dowels and string. We used "Clag" glue and the tail was made of scrunched up Sydney Morning Herald.

The fascination of the power of the wind started then. I constructed a flying fox over about seven of the neighbours houses. One problem was to get the cord over the power lines without being electrocuted. All this so my friends and I could keep in touch. Today kids have mobile phones.

After our move to the Gold Coast in 1993, we bought a take-away food shop & in my spare time I flew a 3 foot span stunt kite. It was fast but became boring, so I bought a 5ft stunter, then a 7 footer in 1995.

In 1997 I met Lachlan Gifford of Skytes, and started to hanker for more power, so I stacked the 5 & 7 footers together.

In our café bistro I had had a really bad time with my legs - circulation, veins stopped moving the blood. The doctors had told me that I would get gangrene and probably loose my legs at the end of '97. I was not prepared to listen to this so I set about to fix my legs. We sold the shop and went house-sitting for a couple of years.

On our annual family visit to Sydney I called in to see Bob Dawson of Leading Edge Kites for a demo fly & bought a Peter Lynn 6 metre Peel. The power was awesome. As we were house sitting at Coolum Beach I had a great chance to fly on the beach. I really had quite a reputation.

I bought a Buggy because if I was to lose my legs I still wanted to fly kites. I bought a 2.2 N'gen because the peel was just too much power in 12+ knot wind.

My doctor is amazed at my progress. The action of walking to & fro without stamping my feet has started to repair the problem. Even in the buggy the exercise is excellent.

I bought a 5 metre water wing because it is more stable in gusty winds, and in the buggy on the beach it really is `something else'.

Now armed with a 3.5 N'gen & buggy on the beach at Coolum or Bribie Island or the Sandgate mud flats, this body really gets a work-out.

This fifty year saga has come a long way.

It doesn't matter what the wind is doing, I can fly, but the body's age is a bit restrictive. Oh! To be thirty again.

In closing, I would like to thank everybody who has helped or advised me, as I would like to help anybody considering this great hobby/sport/pastime. If we can train people to fly these big kites with safety, so as to not hurt themselves or others, we have done our bit.

Alan Bayley