Page:Kitecraft and kite tournaments (1914).djvu/137

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tournaments
129

On the ground, separated from the others, would be a bulletin board that is fastened to a post and this is set in the ground. The post is about nine feet long, and the bulletin board is nailed to it, the lower edge being about one foot down on the post. If the post is set eighteen inches in the ground there would be six and a half feet up to the lower edge of bulletin. The announcements can be printed with chalk. They stand out and can be read across the field, see Fig. 263. The tournament is always on a Saturday afternoon, so the bulletins are set Saturday morning.

If there is no space fenced off for aeroplane model flying, and for the races, a few posts should be set and two wires about No. 9 run around an enclosure. Make it an enclosure, for if you don't it will be impossible to keep the spectators back. We tried a V-shaped fence, but it was useless; with an enclosure and two or three policemen about, it is possible to keep the crowd out.

Fig. 263.

Judges. Settle on your judges at least two weeks ahead of the tournament. It will assist in arousing interest in the schools with which they are connected. Principals and manual training teachers should be available and serviceable. It is not necsary to be a kite maker to be able to judge a kite. About three judges to a group is good, then if one fails to appear you still have two. Try to start at the appointed time and urge your judges to be there on time. Caution the pupils about putting their kites up before the time, as they are so liable to accident if played with beforehand.

Save a place of honor for your superintendents. They may be asked to award prize badges, or to select the prettiest kite in the air, and the most ingenious device, the best made model or the best invention; not all of these but something of this kind. Don't forget to use them in some place. Get the promise of two, three, or four policemen, a few days ahead. The presence of a few good officers helps in curbing desires for destruction among a few. Kites are liable to accident, so if you