It's Sunday afternoon. It's Dollymount Strand in Dublin. On a truck parked near the sand, there is a sign which reads "Go Fly A Kite!" Looking up, the sky is suddenly filled with what look like incredibly colourful birds of prey.
They're not, of course. They're kites with wonderfully exotic names like Rokkau, Nassau Power Ring, Black Widow and Flexifoil Skytiger.
On the sand, people are flying single-line kites (the old-fashioned ones we all know from childhood), power kiting (being pulled and lifted by big kites), kite-surfing and kite-buggying. All of a sudden, flying kites has jumped from the pages of Richmal Crompton and into the forefront of leisure culture.
The Bull Island end of Dollymount is headquarters to most of Dublin's kitefliers. But Tramore, Co Waterford, and Portrush, Co Antrim are also popular.
The Dollymount kiters are quite tom cat-like - each group marks its van, car or territory with a single-line kite "parked" either to one of the beach's many boulders or the wing mirror of their vehicle. But the mood is friendly - part Point Break, part Brady Bunch, with two and three generations enjoying the unifying force of the great outdoors. It's an eco-friendly, Sunday service of sorts. Kiting is also good exercise - for both mind and body. You use every muscle. Laura Rowen believes "it's the perfect sport". It's kept her family - her husband Clive and their three children, Keri, Nathan and Eva - "out all through the winter". Meanwhile couples are flying "tandem". It's a great way to seduce someone. You get to stand close, being all masterful and well inside their personal space, while not being invasive. Dave Langan is relatively new to the sport. He's been coming to Dollymount to fly kites for three months. His girlfriend Davinia Jordison first got him hooked. She bought him a "small Stacker kite". On the beach Dave met Clive Rowen, charismatic kite-keeper who's turned on most of the community to the new activity through his shop, Skate City.
The kite Dave's currently flying, a Nassau Power Wing, was also bought for him by his girlfriend, as an engagement present and they're planning to "get a tandem buggy".
Paddy Collins graduated to kite-surfing via skateboarding, roller-blading, BMX bikes, snowboarding, surfing and windsurfing. He also owns a 1973 VW van, vehicle of choice for surfer dudes.
Just back from a three-week kite-surfing trip to Hawaii, Paddy epitomises 21st century man. He decided not to take on the sharks of the business world, but rather to surf with the real thing, as he did in Hawaii. Does he fancy turning professional? He reckons all you need is "no fear, a lot of neck and a lot of practice. Anyone can do it." He also kite-buggies and recommends that anyone interested in getting into it "should buy a small power kite and learn to fly and steer it before you buy a buggy".
Down the beach, Clive Rowen sports flying goggles and a customised German infantry helmet while kite-buggying. Safety is important. When the wind is up, the buggies can get up to 65 m.p.h. Fellow kite-buggy-er Kieran Ryan has given up. The wind just isn't strong enough. He returns to flying his Flexifoil Skytiger, which he likens to "flying a mattress". David Smyth is the community's elder statesman. He started his kids off with Brook kites. Thirty-two years later after a "long lay off", he saw Skate City's "We Sell Kites" sign. He "gave up the drink and started kiting". At 63, he's bought at least 12 since then.
Stuart Smyth, son of David, is a photographer who has done several kite sequences for film and television. His credits include David Copperfield and Dancing at Lughnasa. Another regular is Mark Kiernan, a plumber by trade, who got into kiting just by wanting "to get out of the gaff". He "thought a mountain board would be a good combination with a power kite". This proves an alternative to Clive and Kieran's kite-buggies but equally as effective. Larry Barry flies a twin-bridle stunt kite which is making dragonfly noises as it twists and turns. He's been flying kites for 20 years and completes the core group. He used to make kites but "it's takes too much time. It's easier, not cheaper, to buy them". He's noticed their increase in popularity. "It's already huge in the UK and Holland. You get hooked on it when you fly and feel the power behind the wind." On a good day he likes to "sandsurf", "moon-hop" or even leap over cars. "Jumping" or "scudding", being propelled forward by your power kite, is exhilarating with wind at anywhere between 15 and 20 m.p.h. Anything over 20 m.p.h. is for "crazies only" says Clive. Meanwhile Paddy has to content himself with some jumps.
The wind's just too low to go kite-surfing. He's inflated his surf-kite anyway, on the off-chance that the wind picks up. Similar in principle to wind-surfing, the surf-kite's edges and inner tubes are pumped with air, making catching the wind easy-peasy.
Next Saturday there is an opportunity to see Ben Hunbury, one of the world's top kite-surfers, at Tramore. There will be demonstrations and coaching from 10 a.m.
