Fighter kite - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fighter kites are kite

Kite

A kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...

s used for the sport of kite fighting. Traditionally most are small, unstable single line flat kites where line tension alone is used for control, and an abrasive line

Manja (kite)

Manja , is the abrasive string used with fighter kites in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chile, India, Nepal and Pakistan. It is gummed, coloured and coated with powdered glass. In Brazil, the mix of glue and powered glass is called "cerol"....

is used to cut down other kites.

Kite fighting is done in many countries, but is particularly associated with Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

and Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

Materials used to make fighter kites

In most traditional fighter kite manufacture, the skins of kites are made from a lightweight thin paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

and the spars are usually made from a lightweight and flexible wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

, usually bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

.

In modern American fighters, the kite skins are made from a variety of synthetic materials – mylar, aircraft insulation (orcon or insulfab), nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

, and polyester

Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...

sheeting. The spine may still be bamboo, but often along with the bow is constructed of fiberglass

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

or carbon fiber

Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber, carbon graphite or CF, is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber...

Line used for fighter kites

Historically, for most Asian type fighters, a thin cotton or hemp line is coated with a mixture of finely crushed glass and rice glue. In recent years, synthetic line has been coated with a variety of abrasives and stronger glue. Also, there have been some reports of metallic line being used. Some cultures use line that has metal knives attached to hook and cut the opponent's line.

Traditionally, players use a paste of some sort to toughen their line. The primary components of this include glue and crushed glass, but depending on personal preference other materials are added to improve the properties of the line.

In line touch competition, synthetic braided fishing line, 15 to 20 lb test, is used due to its low stretch and high strength for the line diameter and weight. Waxed cotton, linen line or Latex can also be used.

Line cutting contests

Many of these kites are flown with an abrasive coated line (manja). Most kites are flown with a set length of manja at the kite end. The manja is very sharp and to avoid getting hand injuries most competitors use ordinary string (saddi) for their hand position. Some cutting involves knives of some sort attached to the tail, line, or kite. Competition rules vary by geographical area. Two or more contestants fly their kites. The person who cuts the opponents line wins the fight. In multiple kite matches, the person with the last kite in the air is the winner.

The two most common types of cutting are done with abrasive coated line - release cutting or pull cutting. To release cut, once the lines are in contact, both parties start to play out line until one line is cut. In pull cutting, the flier quickly retrieves line until the opponents line is cut. There are many factors in who will win the event and include the size of the kite, the quality of the kite, the quality of the line, the quality of the abrasive on the line, the quality and size of the spool, the spool handler, initial contact, the skill of the person flying the kite, and the wind conditions.

Kite fighting is very popular in many Asian countries. The usual goal of a 'kite fighter' is to maneuver his/her kite to cut the opponent's string.

Capture or grounding competition

Two or more kites are flown. Competitors try to capture their opponents kite and bring it to the ground. The person or team who succeeds is the winner.

Expert kite fighters are able to cut their opponents line (manjha) and then encircle the trailing line (lubjow) of the cut kite. Once secured, the winner can then fly both kites and pull in the prize. Those not involved in the kite flying can be "kite runners" (Once a kite is cut, it no longer belongs to anyone until caught and claimed by the kite runner.) The film The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner (film)

The Kite Runner is a 2007 drama film directed by Marc Forster based on the novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his friend Hassan, the son of his father's...

depicts this well. Many children die every year because their pursuit is so frenzied that they run into the path of vehicles or fall off roofs. Along with this effect, occasionally the fiber glass string may cut not only the flier's finger, but also neck. The glass on the string is said to give the kite "cutting teeth".

Line touch contests

American fighters are used in touch line competition. They are flown with a strict set of rules. Two contestants stand a set distance apart. Two contestants fly their kite in a neutral area, a referee asks both people if they are ready, when both contestants give an affirmative reply, the referee announces the randomly determined type of competition - a top or bottom point. A top point is awarded when a contestant contacts his opponent's line on the top of the opponent's line and maintains flight of their kite. A bottom point is when a contestant contacts his opponent's line on the bottom of the opponent's line and maintains flight of their kite. If either of the contestants' kite touches the ground before the line makes contact with the other's line, the other gains a point. If a kite leaves the boundaries of the competition area, the other gains the point. If a competitor steps out of the flying area, the other gains a point. If a competitor's kite leaves the neutral area after saying they are ready, but before the type is announced, the other gains the point. Once a predetermined number of points is reached, a winner is declared.

Specific kinds of fighter kites

Lokta Changa (Nepal)
Indian Fighter Kite (India) (also known as a Patang),
Pakistani Fighter Kite (Pakistan),
Tukkal (Pakistan and India),
Hata (Japan),
Rokkaku (Japan),
Afghan Fighter Kite (Afghanistan),
Shield Kite (Korea),
Chula and Pakpao (Thailand),
Wau (Malaysia).

In the Americas:

American Fighter Kite (United States and Canada),
Brazilian Fighter Kite (Brazil),
Volantines (Chile).

Various names of line used for kite fighting from around the world

Spectra - A brand of fishing line used for American Kite fighting.
Power Pro - A very thin [0.25 mm diameter] braided fishing line used for American Kite Fighting.
Manjha - Cutting line used in India and Pakistan.
Tar - Cutting line used in Afghanistan.
Hilo de competencia o Hilo Curado - Cutting line used in Chile.
Dor - (India and Pakistan) The string used to fly the kite. The sharper the string, the better it is.
Pench - When two or more kites are fighting to cut one another. (India)

Nepal

Kite fighting is an strong tradition in Nepal and is especially active during the festival of Dashain. The skies are filled with colourful kites called changas, made from Nepali lokta paper. The line used is coated in crushed glass in order to cut through the lines of rival kites. When a rival line has been cut, the victorious team shouts "chet" to claim their win over the other team.

Afghanistan

Kite fighting is a large sport. The kites used range in size from 0.5 meter to 1.5 meters across. The sport is called - Gudiparan Bazi. The line used for cutting is called tar. This was traditionally made with a cotton line and coated with a mixture of crushed glass and rice glue. Currently, nylon string with stronger glue is the preferred line of choice. A new development is using a flexible razor sharp wire. These kites can go up to 3,500 meters in height depending on the size of the kite.

Pakistan

Kite flying is currently banned as some kite fliers engage in kite battles by coating their strings with glass or shards of metal, leading to injuries and death. Kite fighting is a very popular sport in Pakistan, mainly centered in Lahore

Lahore

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

people spend thousands of Rupees in preparing different types of kites and threads best suited to battle. The kites that are manufactured for battling are very different from the conventional kites as they are especially designed and made for this purpose. Kup, Patang, Guda, Nakhlaoo, etc. are some of the kites used in the battle and they vary in balance, weight and speed through the air. Threads for kite battling are manufactured using especial glues, chemicals and crushed glass and are numbered based on their ability to cut other threads and to handle kite's weight. It is a very popular social event in Pakistan that happens once a year.

Japan

The Nagasaki Hata is similar to the Indian Patang, and it believed to have been introduced into Japan, from Indonesia, by Dutch traders. It is highly maneuverable and fought with glass coated line in line cutting contests in a similar way to kite fighting in many other countries.

Japan has a very strong tradition of a quite different type of kite fighting: very large kites, requiring teams. In these contests cutting line is not used, but instead kites are forced down. The festivals at Shirone and Hamamatsu.

The Rokkaku is 1-2m high hexagonal kite fought with teams of players flying each kite. Both the Rokkaku and the smaller rectangular Buka have been adopted and further developed by western kite enthusiasts.

Korea

The Korean ﬁghter kite, the bang-pae yeon is very distinctive; arectangular, bowed “shield” kite
with a hole in the middle of the sail. The frame uses ﬁve bamboo spars—one each across the top and the “waist” of the kite, a “spine,” and two diagonals. Although cutting line and fights are similar to other Asian fighter kites, a distinctive large spool is always used.

United States

Traditional Indian, Pakistani, Afghani, Japanese kite fighting is done throughout the United States, with New York having had groups of fighters playing on a regular basis since the 1960s. Los Angeles, and San Jose have groups of people that regularly fight Indian and Afghan kites, and other forms of kite fighting, such as the Korean shield kite (pangp'aeyon), the Japanese Rokkaku and Nagasaki Hata, the Brazilian Piao, the Chilean fighter kites have been used for demonstration purposes at various large kite festivals throughout the country.

Starting in the late 1990s, "American Kite Fighting" uses small innovative kites of a range of shapes and materials on short lines for "line touch" competition. Now practised throughout the country, with an annual championship competition held in Washington state

Caribbean

Throughout the Caribbean there are kite-fighting traditions very different to those of Asian.

Most Caribbean kites are hexagonal, flown with a tail, and instead of cutting with glass-coated line, use sharp objects (generally razor blades) attached to the tails to try to "koule" (Creole

Haitian Creole language

Haitian Creole language , often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language spoken in Haiti by about twelve million people, which includes all Haitians in Haiti and via emigration, by about two to three million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, France, Cayman Islands, French...

for "drop") other kites.

Variations of this style exist throughout the Caribbean – in Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

and Surinam.

Bridle and Tuning

Bridle position, spine curve, center of gravity, and balance of tension on the spars all play a role in how the kite spins and tracks. Afghan and Indian fighter kites and their variants have their bridles attached in two places on the kites spine. The first place is at the crossing of the bow and the spine. The second attachment is three quarters to two thirds of the total length of the spine from the nose of the kite. The length of the top line to the tow point is the length between the two bridle to spine connection points. The length of the bottom bridle to the tow point is one half inch to two inches longer than the length of the two spine connections. The spine of the kite has a slight convex bend toward the face of the kite. To make the kite spin more, you shorten the upper bridle line. To make the kite spin less, you shorten the lower bridle line. Left and right tracking are controlled by either placing weight on the tip of a wing, or by weakening the bow on the side that you want the kite to track towards. The design of the kite plays a role in the tendency for the kite to spin and pull, and how much wind the kite can handle. Bridling and tuning can only be used when the kite chosen is able to handle the amount of wind that it is being flown. If the wind is so strong that the spine and bow are severely distorted, no amount of bridle tuning will help with making the kite controllable.

Accidents and kite fighting

In India, Pakistan, and Chile, there have been reported accidents involving the abrasive coated cutting line. These accidents range in severity from small cuts on the fighter's fingers to a few reported deaths from contact with the line while riding motorcycles. In recent years, the fighting lines have evolved from the traditional cotton, rice and glass line to nylon or synthetic line coated with metallic or chemical abrasive compounds. To prevent further injury, many countries have implemented restrictions or bans on the use of cutting line. Some have set limits on the materials used to make the line, others have mandated safety devices on motorcycles when riding during kite festivals. People have been injured while fixated on capturing a cut kite, see Kite running

Kite running

Kite running is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan koskesh and Iran, especially in the Indian subcontinent throughout the year and during kite flying festivals...

. Other injuries have been due to not paying attention to ones actions while watching battles. Most of these accidents are preventable when fighting is strictly controlled to a specific arena and proper safety gear is worn by the fighters. Other accidents have occurred due to the masses of people present during large kite festivals to which kite fighting has taken the blame. See manja

Manja (kite)

for specific incidents.

Afghanistan

There is an ongoing debate in Afghanistan, involving various religious, emotional, and political beliefs on the subject of kite fighting and flying. From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban government in Afghanistan outlawed kite fighting, and kite flying, by declaring it "un-Islamic". After the fall of the Taliban government kite fighting has returned to the country with vigor.

Environmental and safety concerns

Bird lovers have declared all cutting line to be "deadly", and their concerns seem to lie within the issue of a bird accidentally flying into the line, as opposed to cutting line left around as trash that an animal may later encounter. As with any sport, a controlled environment is critical to preventing unnecessary accidents. Many bans have been lifted as kite fighters, manufacturers, and governments come to agreements to achieve a balance of safety and tolerance.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Materials used to make fighter kites

Line used for fighter kites

Line cutting contests

Capture or grounding competition

Line touch contests

Specific kinds of fighter kites

Various names of line used for kite fighting from around the world

Nepal

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Japan

Korea

United States

Caribbean

Bridle and Tuning

Accidents and kite fighting

Afghanistan

Environmental and safety concerns

See also

External links