Wildwood Fighter Kite Games
Contributed by Andrew Selzer

"After all the tracks are in their boxes, and the clowns have all gone to bed."

( Jimi Hendrix, The wind cries Mary ) Optional quote, don't know if it applies, use it you want to.

Saturday around noon was the fighter kite competition.

Sunday at about the same time would be the individual rokakau battle that left Sunday morning for fighter kite pilots with time to play and improve their skills.

On the challenge field a set of skills test was setup, consisting of three parts.

Directly down wind was a nylon mesh screen 3 foot by 5 foot in dimension on 10 foot poles.

To the right side of the ( wind window ) were 3 banner poles with 2 about 15 feet apart and the third about 10 feet back in the center.

To the left side of the ( window ) was a 3 foot in diameter bullseye on a linen table cloth. It was setup on 4 foot poles at a 45 degree angle facing the flyers.

Giving 2 minutes each to complete the first and third parts of the test. The object of the mesh was to paste your kite on it. The bullseye was to hit it and end the challenge.

The banner poles were set so you could spin your kite in between them, with the total number of revolutions coming off of your score for the other two parts.

Earlier you saw wind window in pararenthesis. The weather being so perfect this year at Wildwood presented a situation of very low wind conditions.

Early Sunday morning it was almost still to about 2mph.

The challenge was to fly your kite; so no one kept score of times.

About eight fighter pilots tested their skills at pasting on the screen, plus the linen target and the banner poles.

Mostly it was a good time for the flyers to get together and enjoy the morning flying and, perhaps, this is what a skills test should be, a great way for everyone to get together, enjoy the camadrie, and exchange information.

Also it should be a venue for all pilots to improve their skills in a non competition oriented enviroment. So at your next fly try your hand at some skills test.

An easy one to do is knocking a paper cup off a 4 or 5 foot pole. Set it out about 75 to 100 feet from the flyer(s). The object is to use the kite or string to take the cup off the pole.

There are as many games to be invented, as the imagination will allow.

So go ahead invent some and let us all in on it. And remember to keep those kites danceing in the wind