- Home Page
- Stories & Photos
- Lost Kite
YOUR Lost Kite Story
So Many Ways to Lose a Kite!
An unexpected loss is the subject of many a kite story. In fact, if you ask me, there are only two types of kite flyers on this planet: those with a lost-kite story to tell, and those who will one day have one!
This category is a big proportion of all stories submitted to this site. The variety was endless. There was just no way to predict how the next person would manage to lose their kite!
Of course, for those who made their own craft, the monetary loss was minimized.
On this site, there's more kite-making info than you can poke a stick at :-)
Want to know the most convenient way of using it all?
The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads—printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small.
Every kite in every MBK series.
On several occasions at kite festivals, I've seen kites move off over the ocean, or further down the beach.
Most likely, these were due
to a small child simply forgetting to hang onto a winder, or letting the
line slip too far through their fingers.
Actual line breakages seem to be rare, but they can generate some rather entertaining stories when they happen! More often, the kite is not secured properly, at the flyer's end. Along comes an extra strong gust and ... ooops, there goes the reel or winder!
Personally, I've lost a small retail delta and a small 2-Skewer Box kite. Then, a couple of years later, the original Dowel Barn Door. And more recently, a couple of Paper Series prototypes went their merry way. The circumstances were completely different in each case.
Here's where I asked the following question of this page's visitors:
What's the funniest / saddest / most spectacular kite loss that YOU have ever experienced? Enjoy (or perhaps weep) as you peruse the stories below.
Stories Left By Other Visitors Here
Click below to read some entertaining stories from other kite fliers. Some of these are amazing!
Kite-Eating Cow!
There is a big area of public land near my home it takes a few minutes to reach by bicycle. Some of it is wooded but most of it is open fields with just …
Delta Lost Over the Pacific Ocean
I built a large delta kite and took it to the Oregon coast one day. The coast is very breezy yet it flew very well in even the lightest wind conditions. …
Flying Buffalo Kite Lost on the Crow Reservation
The Flying Buffalo Project buys Native American art that depicts buffalo and makes the original art fly. We now have 15 artists that we represent and we …
Big Box Kite on 100 lb Line
My husband and I often fly kites together. While flying our latest creation, a six-foot nylon box kite, we knew it would pull HARD, so we used 100 lb. …
Wind Shear, Sheer Panic
For years, I had begged for a "kite with cartoon characters on it" (aka a retail kite), and finally, for my 10th birthday, I got a box kite with the "Garfield" …
Knot What it Seemed
I had bought some new kite line and wanted to add to it, so I spliced two sections together thinking I had made a good knot. I was out flying the kite …
Loss of a Collapsible Moon Kite
My best kite recently is Moon Kite or Wau Bulan in Malay language, its origin was Malaysia where it was widely flown in Kelantan. I live in Singapore. …
A Manx Kite
The name 'Manx' is from the language of the Isle of Man, which is the name of an island off the west coast of England. It is a beautiful place, with its …
After One Delta Departs, One Rok Takes Wing!
I was very proud of my 1-Skewer Delta kite. It had its maiden flight in Ruskin Park in South London, but the fun was cut short as I managed to stab my …
The Lost and Found Rokkaku Kite!
I haven't been able to do much kite flying lately due to the stresses of moving. Yesterday was an exception! It was the first clear day all week, but it …
Just Saw a Ghost!
This kite loss story takes place at Rodeo Beach in Marin County. I had my wife, god son Jake and our Norwegian Forest Cat, Buddha, with us. We had a …
A Lost Kite Can Be a Good Thing
We were at a club fun fly. Beautiful day with lots of local people joining us with their discount store kites.
One family had a plastic, princess delta …
North Vegas 14m
Went out with a friend with my new North Vegas 14m earlier today around 5pm after work. Was really excited and also quite annoyed to find that the wind …
RUNAWAY KITES!
Never thought it would happen...
On the maiden flight of the Flock of Swallows pulled up by a Triangulation Delta... a huge gust of wind came along. …
Box Kite Disaster
When I was around 10 years old, I received a box kite kit as a present. This was in the early 1960s, when kits like this required a certain amount of exacting …
Delta Airlines
When I was a youngster, my brother and I were flying a handsome purple and blue delta wing kite on the beach in Folkestone (at the south east corner of …
A Very Efficient Simple Kite
When my little girl was three years old we bought her a simple kite (ram air) with the Teletubbies printed on it.
One fine but brisk day a family outing …
Kite Lost Kite Found
I had a homemade tail-less diamond kite that I built using actual bamboo poles for the frame. Like most stories go I was flying the kite at around nine …
The Kite Eating Tree
I remember I was flying a small home-made delta kite in my backyard. Unfortunately for me though, my backyard was covered by tall trees. I take 2 seconds …
Kite Gone
In 1995 I was flying a plastic single line delta kite made by Spectra Star. It came with four hundred feet of line on a plastic spool winder. I was demonstrating …
A Day Flying Kites In Portales
Well here we go. It was a very nice day here in the "big" city of Portales, New Mexico. I had a bad hankering to loft a kite because the winds were just …
My Grandson Loses his First Kite
Today we had enough wind to test a Dragon kite my grandson got for his 7th birthday. We headed over to the school field to give us plenty of mostly tree-less …
Vienna Kite Festival
After many hours of designing, building, and testing kites the final event for the year had arrived. The Vienna Kite Festival. Held on the banks of an …
Run Away Kite
My friend and I decided to fly a kite a few weeks ago. We'd flown kites before and saved all the string. We brought the kite, which had about a 3 foot …
Homemade Box Kite — Lost ... Sorta
I was 9 yrs old flying my box kite in Iroquois Point (Navy Housing on Oahu) in 1966. A KC135 Tanker flew in from the west on final to Hickam AFB and swallowed …
Cheap Delta Kite, Expensive String
Had lots of fun with this Delta kite design. Lost several but no great $. Lost one kite over the sea due to bad knot tying - and I am a sailor. I had so …
Of course, for every actual lost kite, there are surely many more "close call" stories. From my own experience, it's amazing how often it was possible to either pull out or fly out a kite from inaccessible tree branches! In every case, the kite somehow escaped damage even after being dragged through foliage.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed those lost kite stories from all around the world!
Kite Loss Stories on the Web
If you search the Web for great kite loss stories, you will be disappointed. The best ones are right here on this page. Tens of thousands of people have visited these kite story pages over the years.
After a short Web search, you will probably find one of these two things:
The occasional kite surfer posts a lost kite story after going out on the ocean and losing their kite and/or board. Usually, the loss is due to equipment failure, or perhaps brain fade if they didn't bother to even use a leash!
Secondly. references to children's materials:
- Books, for example, "Little Lion's Lost Kite" by Emily Bolam.
- DVDs, for example, "Thomas and the Runaway Kite".
- TV shows, for example, the "Kite" episode of Fireman Sam.
Those last two were once very familiar to my own son, I'm sure of it!
As mentioned earlier, there's more kite-making on this site than you can poke a stick at :-)
Want to know the most convenient way of using it all?
The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads—printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small.
Every kite in every MBK series.
