The 2010 National Kite Month started in Maine with the Noreasters Kite Club's Rokkaku kite fly on April 3 at Bug Light Park in South Portland..  We couldn't have asked for better weather in early April.  We had a  nice southerly breeze at around 10 mph and temps in the mid 60s.  The wind held steady for most of the day, perfect for most of our kites, allowing for more kites and few tangles.  At one point we counted 16 rokkakus in the air at one time along with many other kites.

Bug Light Park will be hosting the Bug Light Kite Festival, sponsored by the South Portland Historical Society on May 8, 2010.

Early start of the kite season

This weekend was a great unofficial start for the kite flying season in Maine.  50 degree weather brought out dozens kite flyers to Bug Light Park in South Portland.  At least a dozen of them were members of the NorEasters kite club. This was the time to get out new kites for the first flight as well as old favorites.  March 20 will be our real start to the season with the KONE fly at Hampton Beach across from the Ashworth Hotel.

April is National Kite Month and in Maine we will be celebrating the season with kite flying every Saturday in several locations including Bug Light Park in South Portland and Pine Point Beach in Scarborough.  In addition we have the annual Easter Kite Fly in Fort WIlliams Park in Cape Elizabeth.  I think that may have been my first kite fly ever, way back in 1990.  For more dates, check out the calendar at the Noreaster web site,
http://sites.google.com/site/noreasterskites/Home/calendar

Kite making in South Portland Maine

For the second year, we held a kite making workshop aimed at the beginner. I called it Kitemaking 101. The new kite makers make simple diamond kites with ripstop nylon and added an appliqued design to the kite.

We had 6 people making kites, of that, 3 of them made their first kite and one made their second kite. Some of the participants were fairly new to sewing so this was a nice easy design to work with. They started with pre-cut pieces, hemmed the kite, added spar pockets and then used another color or two for their applique. To finish, they made tails out of scrap nylon.

We had a great venue for the workshop. Leo A reserved the Clubhouse, a multi purpose room at the River View Apartment complex in South Portland, thank you Leo.

This was the Noreaster's second kite making workshop this winter, Tony O hosted a box kite workshop in January, so we should be scheduling a kite fly for all the workshop participants this Spring.