An indoor kite competition? 'You are the wind,' says the judge

WILDWOOD — The brightly colored kites at this Memorial Day competition rose and dipped, spun and stalled, soared and swooped, danced, even walked.

But one thing they didn't do was ride the wind.

Wildwood on Memorial Day hosted an indoor kite competition at its decidedly windless convention center. All windows and doors were closed. Not even a fan was blowing.

Everything was still except for the kite flyers, who supplied the power by moving their arms, walking backward, slowly, then fast, jerking and gently pulling, all to the music of their choice.

"You're the wind," said Pauly Berard, an electrician from Woonsocket, R.I., who judged the competition. "You're in control, and that amount of control, I love that."

The competition culminates the four-day Wildwoods International Kite Festival — a Memorial Day staple in this Shore town for 33 years. Produced by Sky Festival Productions, the event includes an antique kite auction, stunt kite competition, an illuminated night kite fly, and for those who don't like to play nice, a Rokkaku, in which traditional Japanese fighting kites try to take down their competitors.

At the indoor competition, the kites weigh only grams, akin to the weight of a few dollar bills. They're made of sheer material and delicate rods. Some weren't much bigger than an open book; others were as tall as nine feet and as wide as three feet, but still light as a feather.

A retired school bus driver from Ontario, a Drexel University chemical engineering professor, a maintenance man from Baltimore, and an environmental engineer from Sussex County, N.J., were among the eight competitors.

They were judged on choreography, execution, and entertainment value. That's how many oohs and aahs they drew from the audience. Winning yields only bragging rights and perhaps some points toward entry in the national indoor kite competition.

It was clearly the thrill of the flight that motivated these flyers.

"Nobody cares an hour later who won," said Paul LaMasters, 62, a government communications worker from Germantown, Md. "I'm not in it to win it. My goal is not to come in last."

But LaMasters did, indeed, win. He came in first in the multiple line event, giving an energetic performance to "Back to the Future."

James Fletcher, the maintenance worker from Baltimore, placed second in the single line competition and third in the multiple line event. He performed barefoot so he could he feel if he stepped on the string. In the single line competition, he made his small white kite, which resembled a butterfly, gently land on his hand, and at one point caught it in his mouth.

"It's great cardio," said Donna Taylor, 60,  the school bus driver, who was winded after her performance to Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball." "You're intense. You're focused."

She appeared to walk her powder blue kite across the floor.

"You dance with it. I dance with my kite," she said.

Doug Stout, the Sussex County environmental engineer, won the single line competition, performing to "Jealous of the Angels" by Donna Taggart. He also builds the kites, using Cuben, a fabric used to make ultra light sailboats. He's made about 150 of them. Some kites cost as much as $150, he said.

"We're always on the hunt for technology we can capitalize on," said Stout, 61.

Among the 100 or so people in the audience was Villanova professor Thomas Harris, who teaches aerodynamics. When he heard about the competition, he came to film it so he could show his students.

"They were amazing," he said after the performance. "There are some aerodynamic challenges. They have to balance the weight with lift. Lift is proportional to velocity squared. If you have low velocity, that's a huge challenge."

To see the competition is to get drawn in. Mike Stuligross, who came in third place, was delivering gymnastics equipment to the convention center two years ago, peeked inside, and saw the kites flying.

"They handed me a kite and I got hooked," said Stuligross, who lives in New York's Catskill Mountains.

He donned a grass skirt and Hawaiian shirt and performed to the overture for South Pacific.

Rich Cairncross, 51, the Drexel professor, builds his own kites. On Monday, he flew one that looked like an autumn leaf and weighed just 14 grams (one pound is 453 grams).

He enjoys the challenge and likes to analyze the aerodynamics. But mostly he has fun and hopes he doesn't find all the answers.

"I like the magic," he said.