GONE WITH THE WIND : Kite enthusiasts will get their chance to let it fly at the annual festival.

When Randy Joe was 8 years old, his father helped him build his first kite. The homemade toy made of cellophane and bamboo would barely take off, but it launched a lifelong love for the high-flying pastime.

Now 39, Joe owns the Sunshine Kite Co. in Redondo Beach and is captain of the Tsunami Flight Team, a group that exhibits and competes in kite-flying events. This weekend and next, South Bay residents can catch Joe’s passion for tethered flight during festivities scheduled for fun and sport.

The soaring Delta, Eddy, box and other kites, the appearance of which signifies the arrival of spring as surely as the first crocus, will be celebrated Sunday at the 18th annual Festival of the Kite from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. on the beach south of the Redondo Pier.

The non-competitive festival gives first-timers a chance to test the breeze with traditional single-line kites beside old pros floating high-tech dual-line sports models. Five hundred kites are expected to fill the beach sky during the free public event co-sponsored by Joe’s Redondo Beach-based Sunshine Kite Co., The Pier merchants, Spectra Star Kites and Spectra Sports.

At 3:30 p.m., festival fliers will clear airspace for the five-member Tsunami Flight Team, a group that will demonstrate precision kite flying with routines challenging the old-fashioned image of a kite floating serenely above.

Dual-line kites, tightly controlled to perform flips and turn corners, will be coordinated in moves such as the “shutterbug,” a dramatic trick that converges four kites to a near mid-air crash, then angles them swiftly to safety. The team will also demonstrate interpretive aerial ballet with kites flying in graceful formation to music.

The performance, Joe said, is “kind of like the Blue Angels, but with strings. You’d never imagine a kite was capable of these kinds of things.”

Following tradition, free kites will be given to the first 100 senior citizens to join the festival. This year, youngsters from the Richstone Family Center will also receive kites and string donated by Spectra Star Kites. Equipment may be picked up between 11 a.m. and noon at pier level under the information center.

Celebrity guest Bugs Bunny will be on hand to take photographs and frolic on the beach with young fliers. Parking is available at the pier where Torrance Boulevard meets the ocean.

More serious fliers can test their wings March 21 in the first South Bay Sport Kite Championship in Manhattan Beach. Competition will be held in novice and intermediate skill levels and for individuals, pairs and teams between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the beach north of the Manhattan Pier. The Tsunami Flight Team and the Flight Squadron of San Diego will give a special exhibition at 2 p.m.

It is believed that kites originated in China centuries ago and that the first kites were made of such natural materials as twigs and leaves, Joe said.

In the West, traditional paper kites are rarely flown today, having been replaced by more durable plastic. Serious fliers prefer easy to launch lightweight kites constructed of nylon stretched over a graphite frame.

The popularity of kite-flying has remained steady despite the winds of change, Joe said, but growing interest in dual-line kites and the emergence of kite competitions have drawn a new type of fan to the hobby.

Single-line kites such as the familiar diamond-shaped Eddy are basically stationary once they catch a breeze, but dual-line models respond to a skilled handler’s commands, he said. It is the challenge of dual-line kites that has persuaded competitive sports lovers to take flight.

For more information, call (310) 372-0308.