Kites

When I moved here five years ago I was asked “What do you plan to do?” and responded “Gardening”, which about 50% of the time brought the response “Oh you can’t garden here; it’s too cold, it’s too wet, it’s too windy; it’s all rock, there’s no soil”.

I parried “I’ll make compost” to which “You can’t compost here, it won’t rot down in time”. Where do these people think the soil in which to grow their potatoes comes from?

Those responses have triggered my activity in composting, supplying pumpkins for Halloween, and starting late last year, guerilla gardening, sometimes secretly planting bulbs and seeds on neighbours’ properties.

This past week I have focused on the phrase “it’s too windy”. I’ve been told that “Bonavista is the windiest place in The World/North America/Canada/Newfoundland” none of which is true. Antarctica, Mount Washington in New Hampshire, various places in Canada, and “Wreckhouse” on the SW tip of the island – it’s name alone is suggestive.

Bonavista IS windy – last winter a gust toppled my 44-gallon steel drum full of composted scraps right over; that’s a gust!

All of this makes me wonder why Bonavista doesn’t have a kite shop, a kite festival, a way of capitalizing on the wind. Kites with scenes of Bonavista as souvenirs and so on.

What can be done?

(1) Order some sample kits from various firms

(2) Test for ease of assembly, ease of flight, ability to maintain flight while anchored (so advertising)

(3) Test for ease of fabrication (DIY kits)

(4) 

Uses of Kites

(1) Annual kite festival

(2) Advertising

(3) Learn about wind energy, airfoils

(4) Move items from one point to another

(5) Energy generator ( pawl and ratchet )

(6) 

As usual we are not buying a kite as much as selecting a supplier. Which supplier appears to be compatible with our ideas? As well we usually look for a complete set of public contact details (see table above)

To answer that question we must establish our ideas.

Our ideas are varied, but our long-term goal in Bonavista is a kite shop that supplies kites to tourists and which can sponsor one or more kite festivals each year.

To this end we are looking for kites that are simple to assemble, easy to fly; basically ten minutes from the sale, most customers are flying a kite.

Hello, I am looking for a kite shop that can supply a kite suitable for immediate use by the general public. The kite must be easy to assemble and fly. For most purchasers this will be their first kite.

My long-term aim is to establish a kite festival here in Bonavista Newfoundland, but to that end I need a supply of kites that can be assembled and flying within about ten minutes of sale.

Picture if you will a tourist, attracted by a flying kite, asking if kites are for sale and being told “yes”, digs into the pocket or purse and buys, assembles, and flies a kite on the spot within ten minutes.

Imagine a table across the road from The Little Dairy King on the road between Bonavista and the lighthouse, a popular route for tourists. I am flying a kite, folks watch while they buy an ice-cream, wander across the road to chat, and presto! In ten minutes or less they are flying a kite!

Directly across the street from my home is a large vacant lot for visitors who might roll up and want to try flying immediately.

I am not sure who will be selling the kites here, nor whether they will be re-sold from you as a source or perhaps fabricated under license. I am a software engineer and writer, conscious of copyright laws.

My first step is necessarily finding out if a rank amateur (me!) can locate a kite that takes me from start to flying in ten minutes (which is, I think, the attention span of a tourist who faces a 3.5 hour drive back to St John’s!)

Would you please suggest from your available stock the two kites which you feel can meet my crude criteria of ten minutes from purse/wallet to flight?

Monday, June 03, 2024

The two kite kits have arrived.

A slim packet about two feet long.

With two chocolate dollars in a sealed pouch! Nice touch.

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