Tucked away in Onehunga is Paul’s fishing shop.  Which happens to sell kites for line fishing – you send up a kite which pulls your fishing line out to sea.  kite fishing has been part of NZ fishing techniques for a long time – an offshoot of kontiki fishing which is the same thing using a small raft.

These kites have become popular with kite photographers all over the world because of their quality and versatility.  I’ve got one of their kites (a Nighthawk, of which they sell about 1,000 a year), and was determined to visit the shop when in Auckland.  Rather like a Catholic going to the Vatican.

We had an interesting time there – Sally, a kitemaker extraordinaire for kites taken to Mawson’s Huts in Antarctica in 2009 for very successful kite photographs – talked with the lady who sews the kites and got a few tips.  One of which includes getting an industrial sewing machine for our various heavy duty sewing needs.

The kites are made to exact patterns – the care is needed because a few mm difference one side to the other can make a kite fly crooked.  The stitching needs to be careful and exact, and the spars need to be matched.

Very impressive and educational – I bought a large lightwind kite of which more later.