flying day. In this week's Taste section, Rebecca Zuill talks to the Island's reigning Kite King, Vincent Tuzo, who tells how he makes his kites and the best way to fly Bermuda-made paper kites on Good Friday. Also on this page, see recipes for everyone's Easter food, including codfish cakes and hot cross buns.

Vincent Tuzo has been Bermuda's reigning Kite King for decades, but he points out that there is a wealth of expertise and talent behind the title.

"It's a gift,'' he said. "Behind that name is a gift of God.'' Looking around Mr. Tuzo's house a few days before Good Friday, which is traditionally set aside for kite flying, it seems logical to accept Mr. Tuzo's assertion.

Colourful kites of every description hang jauntily from the ceilings throughout his house. There are square kites, round kites, bullseye kites and `H' kites, each one crafted meticulously.

Adding to his stature as the Kite King, a title gained through his successes in every category of numerous competitions held between groups of friends, he holds the official kite flying record - 49 hours and 40 minutes, which he subsequently smashed in an unofficial effort, when he kept a kite flying for more than 61 hours. He has also helped such dignitaries as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President George Bush enjoy the local tradition, and built the red, white and blue kites they each flew.

"I'm the best, but people sell kites for twice as much as I do,'' he said.

"I do it for love.'' His square kites, the simplest to build, sell for a mere $10. The `H' line kites, which have an intricate `H' pattern defined by the string and paper, have a $13 price tag. Round kites, or Bulls Eyes, cost $20.

"If you have four or five different colours in a kite, that takes more time to make than a kite with just one colour,'' he notes.

Mr. Tuzo also builds kites with a complex swirling pattern which is so far unnamed, but it is reminiscent of shapes viewed through a kaleidoscope.

When Mr. Tuzo first built kites as a small boy, he used brown paper, fennel sticks and his mother's wool. As time went on, he learned to cut the sticks from disposed apple boxes, and if old glue made the wood a little heavy, he baked it in the oven, which had the effect of melting the adhesive.

"I would let it dry for a day or two before using it,'' he explained.

"Today, those boxes are gone, so I have to buy the wood.'' He makes it clear that the correct terminology is important. "When a kite is fully pasted, it is a kite. Before that, its a kite frame.'' Mr. Tuzo is an exacting and meticulous kite builder. He glues each piece of paper at a point at the short end of the triangle, after carefully checking to ensure he has placed it squarely on the geometric shape of string and wood.

"It's anchored by the corner -- like the corner store of a house,''he explained. Then, Mr. Tuzo carefully applies the glue to the wood or string beneath the paper shape, and then smooths the paper on. Mr. Tuzo suggests allowing the paper to dry over a couple of days before gluing the interesting tissue triangles on top. "The patch on top must be squared up and straight,'' he explained.

This year, Mr. Tuzo plans to build about 100 kites, although he used to build as many as 250 during the kite season when he was a younger man.

It seems incongruous with the rush to get a kite built in time for Good Friday holiday, but Mr. Tuzo prefers to leave his kites for at least a year before he flies them. "I don't like to fly a kite the year I build it. I have kites which are 10,20 and 30 years old, and they are lighter and fly better.'' During his career Mr. Tuzo has made numerous sorts of kites, among them some very big ones. His largest have been eight feet high, built for an ambition as yet unrealised -- to carry a man.

Mr. Tuzo does keep one aspect of kite building and flying close to his chest, and that is the science of the loop. Much mystery surrounds this pyramid of twine or nylon, attached to either side of the top of the kite and the centre section, and many kite-flying miracles have been attributed its dimensions.

"You have to adjust the loop for stronger wind,'' he let on, going on to reveal. "If you have a nylon loop, you should use nylon string.

"The loop is the main thing on the kite -- but knowing about the loop is a gift.'' Accidents do happen, even to the Kite King, and when a kite is damaged, Mr.

Tuzo says he can mend it so carefully that a person would have difficulty seeing the patch.

Many of Mr. Tuzo's kites are several years old, including some of his sophisticated designs. One of his prize kites comprises of two square kites, marching in line and attached by kite sticks at each corner.

"People will say: `I've never seen it fly.' Well, I don't make them for show -- I make them to fly. But you have to know about the kite you are about to fly,'' he said.

Mr. Tuzo has built some still more extraordinary kites, including one model which consists of 13 kites with 13 loops, three tails and one string. Another consisted of three square kites, two `T' kites topped with around kite, each with its own loop and a single string. A third involved attaching three round kites on the bottom with three squares on the top, and a box kite at each end.

That kite required eight loops and two tails.

"I started making kites when I was five years old. I used brown paper, and my mother's thread or wool.'' Although he would get into trouble for it, his mother did teach him the right way to build a kite.

"She would say: `Make sure its neat!'' I would race to finish it, so I could go out and fly it with my friends, but if it wasn't quite right, she would make me start all over again.

"But my mother said I had a gift.'' Photos by Tony Cordeiro AT WORK -- Vincent Tuzo puts the finshing touches on one of his Bermuda kites.

FLYING HIGH -- "Kite King'' Vincent Tuzo, who has been building kites since he was five-years-old, shows off some of the hundreds of kites he makes every year for Good Friday at his Valley Road,Paget home.