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424 Main St. Exeter 235-1331
Stunt flyer bringing kites to Exeter
Fred Cook uses a kit to harness the wind for a land sailing" demonstration. Cook will be
bringing his acrobatic stunt kites to Exeter for a kite flying show during summer active' 95 May
22.
By Chris Skalkos
T -A staff
Dave Cook has always wanted to
work for himself, so four years ago,
he turned his life-long hobby into a
full-time career.
Now Cook is flying a kite for a
living.
What started out as a fun way to
pass the time developed into a part-
time business and when Cook got
fed up with his job as a computer
technician in Toronto, he walked
away from his big city lifestyle and
started his own kite business in
Mitchell.
"We wanted to go into business
ourselves so we started out part-
time and when we started to to see
a growth in the
market we took the
chance," says
Cook.
And what a chance
it was.
With inter-
national clients
mostly from Eu-
rope and the United States, Cook's
new business venture is picking up
wind. Along with his wife and busi-
ness partner Sandy, Cook created
Tailspin Kites, manufacturers of
professional stunt and recreational
kites.
"Traditionally, kites have been
considered to be a kids thing but
were way past that," Cook says.
Kite Flying is a serious sporting
event on a global scale with a
World Cup Kite Flying competition
held every year. This year it will be
held in Australia.
Kite competitions vary from Bal-
let Kite Flying where kites are con-
trolled with finesse and grace to
music, to Precision Flying where
uniform and accuracy count, or
Team Flying where a group of kite
flyers fly together in unison. Some
enthusiasts even attach tails to their
kites for sky -writing effects while
others like to fly multiple kites to-
gether by stacking them one on top
of the other.
However, Cook says it has yet to
spark the interest of Canadians.
"Kites have been around for a lot
of years, but in Canada its popular-
ity is still in its growth stage," says
Cook.
Cook designs the traditional sin-
gle line kites for recreational use
but specializes in multi -lined stunt
kites capable of ariel acrobatics. He
also makes power kites, a kite with
enough pull to lift an individual off
their feet.
Similar to a parachute, these type
of kites are popular in the US
where they are used for land sail-
ing.
With prices ranging from $20 to
$900 for some of the .more elab-
orate kites, Cook says most of his
customers are athletically inclined
teenagers or adults but kite stunt
flying is simple to learn.
He says first-time kite flyers are
surprised at the amount of pull and
response they get from the kite, and
according to Cook, it doesn't take
much to get hooked on kites.
"When you
"Traditionally, kites
have been
considered to be a
kids' thing but we're
way past that"
put a kite in some-
body's hand for the
very first time, the
first thing they do is
smile and the first
thing they say is 'I
didn't know it would
be this easy."
Cook says that
most first-time kite
flyers who start off with a $25 kite
end up having so much fun they
soon move up to performance kites.
"People who like to fly them usu-
ally carry their kites around with
them all the time like a windsurfer
looking for waves," says Cook.
Cook and his wife do not ad-
vertise but rely solely on their rep-
utation. They supplement this by
touring on a small scale and con-
ducting demonstrations at Kite
shows.
The rec centre has scheduled
Cook to to do a show in Exeter for
their summer active '95 program
next week. Cook will be doing a
stunt kite flying demonstration at
the soccer field behind the rec cen-
tre on May 22. Billed as Family
Kite Day, children and adults will
be making their own kites and
learning how to fly them.
Most of Cook's customers buy
kites for serious competition or for
some serious fun, but Cook says he
derives a lot more from flying
kites.
"I enjoy a certain degree of sol-
itude. My special time is going in a
field by myself to fly a kite. With
stunt flying you have to focus so
much on the kite it takes your mind
off of everything, it's very re-
laxing," Cook says.
Even though Cook is sometimes
working over sixteen hours a day
he wouldn't give it up flying kites
for anything.
"I'm fortunate that I can work
with kites and have fun. To me it's
still a hobby," he says.
For Cook, tuming his passion for
kites into a career was a natural
transition.
"I can never stop thinking about
kites, even when I'm eating or driv-
ing, I can't help but to think about
it," Cook says. "Kites are my life."
Kites are not lust for kids
anymore but are considered a
serious sporting competition
internationally.
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