How to Use String Winders

There is a useful, easy-to-learn trick to winding up kite string. For those who hate fighting the wind while trying to wrestle a kite out the sky, this simple and effective technique of using string winders is well worth learning.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A kite

1. Hand the string winder to someone for safety and ask the person to stand still as you walk away. Pull some kite string toward the ground and step on it with one foot.

2. Step on the string again with your next step. Keep walking forward always stepping on the string. Gradually, with each step that you take, the kite will lower to the ground. This gets the kite out of the sky without fighting the wind's power. Continue in this fashion until the kite is on the ground.

3. Walk back to your assistant and take back the string winder. Crook the arm of your less dominant hand.

4. Place one handle of the string winder into the crook and spin the other handle with your dominant hand. With the kite on the ground, the string will roll onto the winder almost effortlessly.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't like the crook of the arm method, you can also hold one handle in your non-dominant hand while quickly winding string around the shaft with your more flexible hand.
• For best results, keep moving forward rather than walking in place; stretched-out string knots less frequently than a large string pile.
• It's important to use two people for this technique. You can tangle the string badly when attempting to hold the winder while stepping the kite down. Placing the winder on the ground unattended is also a mistake—a misstep can result in the loss of your kite.