Monday 4 June 2012

Challenge #7: Sarah vs. Kite Flying

I hadn't even started making plans to tackle the kite flying challenge, but right after I got off my horse (see last post, no really, you should) this one just kind of happened.

My mate Sam and I had just finished the horse riding challenge and headed back to her house to regroup in prep for an evening of burritos and mojitos, and for me to rest my poorly arse. Several coffees later we got onto the topic of The List and the challenges I have left to take on.

When kite flying came up, Sam's boyfriend Mat brought in this huge kite. "There you go, you can take that home with you," he said. Awesome, I thought, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to get it on the train, considering it is as tall as me.

Then Sam hit upon a genius idea, we would go and fly it in the park there and then...


This is Mat setting up the kite. 
I'm behind the camera doing my over-excited dance that only my closest friends get to see.

So here's me playing kite flyer while Mat is chuck-in-the-air-er and Sam is photographer, because she is a photographer.

It was a shakey start, as the kite had two strings and my brain struggled to compute that you need to pull the opposite string to the way it's going. I think in this picture I had just crashed it straight into the ground.

I'm flying!

Ooh, she's taking a dive...

Sam managed to capture this one just as I crashed it into her head. You take someone horse riding and then let them play with your kite and that's the thansk you get. Sorry Sam.


After a bit of expert tuition from Sam, I finally started to get the hang of it.
I know you can't see me in this picture, but it is me flying it...

...See!

Eventually, I managed to keep it in the air for more than a couple of seconds.


Told you the kite was as big as me.

Stoked to have completed another challenge.
Now, can we go celebrate with mojitos please?


I feel I should explain why kite flying made it onto the list, because I'm sure you'll be wondering how I've managed to get through 29 years of life without doing so earlier. Well, I'm not entirely sure I haven't flown a kite before, it's just I have no recollection of doing so. The only memeory of kite flying I have is of a shitty polystyrene one that I made at school and didn't really fly properly.

I've just asked my mum about it and she said we bought some crap kites when we were kids and took them down the park, but they didn't fly very well so it probably doesn't count. Besides, I wasn't a very outdoorsy child, which is why we never tried again, I was always too busy making things out of cardboard boxes and yoghurt pots.

All in all, kite flying is great fun and quite addictive once you get it into the air. It's not a lone hobby though, you do need someone to help chuck it in the air and another one to take photos. I also found it adds a little excitement if you select one person as a target and crash the kite straight at them. I'd like to do it again though and think I might even buy one now.


Verdict: WIN!


1 comment:

  1. OMG fab, I remember when I last flew a kite. I was in India and they do a this once a year in a festival. I just remember the fushia pink thread staining everything and I cut my fingers with it quite bad :(

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