For the past two years Dr. Phillip Jones has gotten a certain gleam in his eye and a twitch in his fingers which has nothing to do with his profession as an emergency specialist at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital — but everything to do with designing and creating amazing kites to enter in the Smithsonian Institution's international kite flying competition in Washington, D.C.

As a man who is passionate about his hobby, and who has built and flown many styles of kites over the years, there is nothing Dr. Jones likes better than the challenge of creating something new and different, particularly for such a major event as the Smithsonian, where he knows that whatever he does must be extraordinary to catch the judges' eyes among the hundreds of kites filling the skies around the Washington monument.

Certainly the kite enthusiast leaves no stone unturned in his search for the perfect concept. Once he finds it, it is a case of "full steam ahead" on research, design, calculations, ordering the necessary components, and finally getting out the sewing machine. His whole approach is as meticulous as the finished kite, and thus far it has paid off handsomely.

Last year the first-time entrant sent aloft a kite shaped like a wedding ring, 30 feet in circumference. Officially known as a circoflex, it was made of vivid lime green rip-stop nylon, on which he had patiently stitched 60 psychedelic flowers.

Was it a case of beginner's luck that Dr. Jones placed first in the adult category of his section, third overall in the entire festival, and returned home with a Special Recognition award from the Smithsonian?

Well, not really, because this year he entered something even more dramatic and won again — not just one prize but two, as well as elevation to the Master Kite Builders division.

It was last December when Dr. Jones finally found the inspiration for a concept to fit this year's festival theme, 'Japan' when he saw the work of another kite enthusiast which reminded him of a pagoda.

"That's it, that's terrific," he said. "I'll do a pagoda in red, with black Japanese characters."

In the ensuing months he contacted master kite builders and other enthusiasts, all of whom proved enormously helpful and encouraging about the engineering and construction processes. There was a lot to work out, and a lot to learn because his design was innovative and experimental.

"Structurally, it is based on an original by Russell Roby in San Diego, and to my knowledge is only the second one ever built, but with a lot of mostly minor modifications that I made." Dr. Jones says.

Help also came from master kite builder Cliff Quinn, the 2005 American national grand champion.

But what about the Japanese Kanji characters representing the seven virtues, suggested by his friend Nancy Thompson, which he wanted to put on the various layers? Most Westerners replicating them do so imperfectly, and Dr. Jones wanted his to look like brush strokes.

This time he located the actual calligraphy on a Japanese internet site and e-mailed the artist, who graciously gave him permission to use his work. Bermuda Blue Printing was "extremely helpful" in enlarging the kanji so he could trace them out to the correct size before sewing them on to the rip-stop nylon.

In fact, so authentic were the characters that Japanese dignitaries visiting the kite festival declared themselves impressed with his "brushwork".

Then there were the lightweight carbon fibre spars and dacron tensioning lines to configure and attach in a complex criss-cross pattern for stability and to hold the fabric straight.

Finally, the kite builder spent about seven weeks at the sewing machine. When all was done, the kite was 11 feet tall, two feet wide, and 20 inches deep.

"I am pretty pleased with how it came out — my best sewing yet, I think," he surmises.

Then it was off to Washington, where Dr. Jones again teamed up with his former medical school colleague, Dr. David Barr, whom he describes as knowing nothing about kites, but who is very good at taking orders, being generally helpful on the ground and with launchings, as well as taking excellent photographs.

At their hotel the duo partially assembled the kite, inserting some of the ... spars, and then wondered how they would carry it on foot to the festival site. A pillow case proved too small, so they wrapped it in the shower curtain, which later doubled as a nice little picnic blanket before it was duly returned to its rightful location.

Unlike last year, Dr. Jones discovered many rule changes this time around. Instead of a variety of categories, entries were simply divided into three age groups: children, adults, master kite builders (usually people who do it for a living). Rather than kites being examined in and out of flight by a series of judges, this year they only looked at the designs in flight. Rules required kites to reach a height of around 150 feet and stay aloft for five minutes.

"It was even more meaningful for me because all the kite builders are now given a vote, and the judges take that peer selection into account when making their final decisions," Dr. Jones says.

On site, the design of the bridle (the arrangement of wires at the top of the kite to which the string is attached) proved unworkable, so the two doctors spent the morning adjusting and fine-tuning it so that the kite would fly perfectly.

In the afternoon, to oohs and aahs from the crowd, the lone Bermuda entrant's magnificent red pagoda soared easily on perfect breezes into the bright blue sky, and made a spectacular sight. Majestic and perfectly behaved, the big red pagoda fulfilled its mission to the total satisfaction of the judges, and earned Dr. Jones the top prize in the adult section. He also scooped the Air and Space Museum Docents' award for ingenuity — "an unexpected honour". Best of all, perhaps, was that, based on his winning form over two years, he is now admitted to the Master Builders category, where no doubt the competition will be even stiffer — not that that will be a deterrent, of course, but simply a more exciting challenge.

"The masters' kites are beautifully done and cleverly thought out so it will be an honour to compete with them," the Bermuda competitor says.

Summing up this year's success, Dr. Jones says: "I was absolutely thrilled. It was a banner day."