In my wanderings through the mountains and valleys, I fell a little behind progressive humanity. And periodically coming across something new for me, I am no longer surprised when it turns out that this “new thing” is as old as the hills and went out of fashion in the last century.
This time the news for me was a message from one of my tourists. Like, he takes a kite with him on a hike in the Crimea. What-what?.. Well, kite, k-a-i-t. Don't know?
I’m not completely dark, I knew something, heard it somewhere, somehow guessed that the kite was somehow connected with the air and its movement (wind).
As the leader of the group, the first thing I did was ask whether it was dangerous and how much it weighed, and only then gave in to my curiosity - “Show me, show me.” He showed me something similar to a tennis racket case. Hmm, not that heavy, and not big at all. And how does it work?
The opportunity to show the kite in action appeared the next day. We then climbed Angar-Burun (a mountain peak on the Chatyr-Dag plateau, Crimea) and, having had a hearty lunch, settled down to rest with a view of the valley and Alushta whitening in the distance. And so, when sleep was almost overtaking us, something suddenly whistled and buzzed overhead.
You don't have to be a psychic to guess that it was a kite flying. Sasha (his owner) finally uncovered his toy and let it fly.
And immediately everything became clear. The kite turned out to be a cross between a kite and a paraglider. A small wing parachute on two long lines. The ends of the lines are tied to a plastic crossbar - it is held in the hands of the kite “operator”. To prevent the kite from falling to the ground, you must not only hold the bar, but constantly pull it left and right, forcing the kite to make turns and figure eights in the sky.
Our kite was a training kite, its wingspan was a little more than a meter. These are where “pilots” practice their technique. And then they pick up big “adult” kites. With these you can race across the sea on a surfboard, or on land on a snowboard or a special rollerboard.
Our pilot, fortunately, did not fly away or roll away, and we, having seen enough of his exercises, went on to look for a place to stay for the night. But the wind, stirred up by the unprecedented miracle bird, could not calm down for a long time and tossed our tents until the morning.
And when I returned from the trip, I found out that in Crimea, on Kazantip (that cape) a whole kite surfing festival is being held - “Free Wind”.