WORKING -- Cathy Kent

-- Story by Paul Clinton; photo by Greg Fry

SHE IS

Flying high with kites

GO FLY A KITE

Sitting in her shop window with the morning light on her shoulder,

Cathy Kent is awash in kites. Red and white kites. Box and diamond kites.

Kites of all shapes and sizes deck the walls of Kent’s Balboa Peninsula

shop.

For Kent, who owns Kites Etc. with her husband, Steve, flying a kite

can bring on a peaceful, easy feeling.

“It’s very relaxing,” she said. “It’s a good family activity.”

Kent advises kite beginners to start with a single-string kite and 500

feet of line. More advanced enthusiasts go for two-string stunt kites.

For those nostalgic for their youth, she recommends box kites.

Then there’s the dragon kites, those with up to 90 feet of tail.

KITES GALORE

Come March, the Kents will celebrate their 14th year in the kite

business. The shop has moved in and out of several Newport Beach

neighborhoods, settling not much more than a gust of wind from the Balboa

Fun Zone and the beach.

The Kents also own a shop in Sunset Beach that hasincorporated surfing

and other leisure activities into its retail inventory.

Wind socks, flags and balsa-wood airplanes are among the items the

Kents sell.

FLIGHTS OF FANCY

Kent, 48, has had some odd requests in her years of selling wind toys.

One customer wanted to mount a camera on a kite to take airborne

pictures. Another wanted a kite to pull him to Catalina Island on a

kayak.

But most of the time, the requests come from children who want

something to play with on the beach on a warm, summer day.

No one is too young for kites, Kent said.

“As soon as they can grip that little handle, “ Kent said, “they can

fly a kite.”