Associated Press Writer

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) - Kites dancing in formation high above the South Padre beach left Jeff and Donna McCown contemplating ballets in the sky and string-controlled flight shows.

Four and a half years of practice later, they are national champions in the small but growing world of tethered aviation. Their home is a roost of kites and lines, their obsession weather, their muses birds and Navy pilots.

"We'll steal anything, anywhere," said Jeff McCown, who sells electrical and plumbing supplies when he's not flying kites. "Pelicans are awesome formation fliers, as are Air Force and Navy precision flight teams. We're not proud."

With another couple, Guy Blatnik and Claudia Steen, they make up Team SPI (South Padre Island), a four-person act that placed in the top ten internationally and last year placed first in the both the ballet and compulsory figures competitions at the American Kitefliers Association convention. They're shooting for the same trophy when the 2003 convention starts Monday in Dayton, Ohio, but this time on the master's level. The convention runs through Saturday, Oct. 4.

The convention features competitions for singles, doubles, and teams, as well as contests in kite design and matches for those who have taken up the Asian-inspired sport of kite fighting -- literally slicing and bumping others' kites to the ground.

There's also the daily mass ascension, when hundreds of kites mingle high over the competition field, some as big as school buses, others as small as fingernails.

Growing participation in the convention is testament to an age-old pastime catching new wind, AKA president David Gomberg said. Childhood memories of flying that first kite mixed with exposure to sophisticated tricks and team flying captivate people, he said.

"It attracts all different kinds of people who are able to compete on equal levels regardless of their age, their gender and their physical stamina," Gomberg said. "It's an athletic thing, but it's not unusual to see teenagers and grandparents flying in the same event, as well as people with disabilities."

The origins of kite flying are murky. Chinese lore tells of third century Gen. Han Hsin using a kite to scope the width of an evil emperor's palace fortifications before attacking. One legend says he tied himself to a kite and flew across.

Long before that, it's believed Polynesian fishermen began using kites to cast shadows that big fish mistake for schools of small ones, giving the fishermen an easier catch.

In some areas of the world, kites are associated with celebrations for health, harvest, and childbirth. A Japanese child may treasure a New Year's kite the way a Western child does a birthday gift.

Then there's the all-American image of Benjamin Franklin using kites to study the atmosphere and determine that yes, there is electricity.

The two-line maneuverable kites favored by modern competitors dbuted during World War II, with the Navy using them as target practice.

With the 1970s came lightweight nylon fabrics, fiberglass frames, and high-tech, low-sag lines able to endure fast flying and fancy turns. That gave way to a new hobby and AKA's first convention in 1978.

It's a clean hobby and cheap, Gomberg said.

"While most competitive circuit kites cost $200 to $300, a good performance kite can be bought for $50. And there's no lift tickets or greens fees," he said. "And the wind is free."

Of course, cost is relative.

Team SPI now totes about $20,000 in kites and kiting equipment -- including at least a half dozen bottles of Crazy glue for repairs -- to competitions.

Old-timers who see the team's gleaming equipment laid out carefully on the beach tend to reminisce about five-and-dime kites and balk at the modern-day extravagance, McCown.

But most people who pass the team practicing on the Texas beach, can't help but stop and watch, enchanted as the kites swoop and soar, spin and flip. McCown calls the maneuvers: "Turn, turn, break, break ... zipper, scatter ..." while the others join in chaotic dashes up and down the beach to guide the choreography 130 feet above.

"In light wind, it's almost as though you're dancing with the kite," said team member Blatnik, who also sells electrical supplies. "In high wind, you point it in the direction you want to go and hang on."

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On the Net:

American Kitefliers Association: www.aka.kite.org