Let's go fly a kite.

• Position: What's New? - Brief Article

Kites used to be among the simplest of toys, assembled from a couple of thin sticks to form a frame, newspaper to wrap around them to shape the body, strips of rags to make a tail, and a ball of string to control it once--and if--you got it airborne. Nowadays, they are hi-tech, often put together with Space Age materials, and the variety is dizzying. Take, as evidence, the 120-page catalogue from Go Fly a Kite, East Haddam, Conn., with hundreds of colorful models.

With so many to choose from, we settled on four to try, not even remotely covering all the different types. We started with the endearing Biplane Bernie ($22.99), almost 40" long with a 60" tail. Shaped to resemble an old-time biplane, complete with 32"-wide wings, a rudder, and a spinning propeller on the nose, it is embellished with a cartoonish face, including a tongue sticking resolutely out of the corner of its mouth, showing Bernie's determination. Made from ripstop nylon with a flexible fiberglass frame and controlled with 30-pound test line, the kite is recommended for ages eight and up, so our pride in getting it into the sky was tempered somewhat. Emboldened by our atleast modest success, we graduated to an ominous 10'-long 3-D black shark ($29.99), designed to scare wimpier competition out of the air and requiring a 50-pound line to control. Once aloft, it fills with air through a special slit, providing a three-dimensional body and turning it into "Jaws" of the sky.

A totally different experience comes from flying a parafoil, which is frameless and depends on its shape and air-filled pouch to manipulate. We tried the Neon Pocket Parafoil ($19.99), a...