Now, 30 pounds lighter, the Alpena man has flown his way to better health and become a fixture in Alpena parks as the man on the other end of a kite.

As Eisenman readied a bald eagle kite for flight at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday, he wondered why more people don’t fly kites.

He resumed the hobby he’d loved for years as a way to get exercise after he was diagnosed with heart trouble in spring. Kites were scarce in Alpena, he said, but he began collecting them from online sites, amassing a collection of about 15 high-quality kites that he flies almost every day in Alpena parks.

Eisenman has become a recognizable figure in the city, with passers-by greeting him by name as he tugs and adjusts the lines that tether whirling kaleidoscopes and fantastic creatures to the earth.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena resident Robert Eisenman keeps an eye on bald eagle and killer whale kites at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

On warm days, children often ask if they can fly his kites.

Hesitant to trust his $400 trick kites into young hands, he stocked up on all the inexpensive kites he could find in town and gives them to children who want to learn to fly. Over the summer, he gave away about 15, he said.

Eisenman’s own kites he knows like old friends. The eagle kite he lofted into the air on Tuesday has a stitch out of place and always flies to the left, Eisenman said. Shortly thereafter, the eagle took a nosedive to the left, skidding to a halt on the harbor’s ice.

He knows the winds, too. Wind that tumbles across the city and out toward Thunder Bay is “dirty wind,” full of rolls and swirls from bumping against trees and buildings, Eisenman said.

“You have to get up 400 or 500 feet to get in clean wind,” Eisenman said. “At that point, you can’t see the kite.”

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena resident Robert Eisenman keeps an eye on bald eagle and killer whale kites at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

He ordered seven more kites a week ago.

“One’s Buzz Lightyear,” Eisenman said. “It’s pretty cool.”

He tries to have a theme for each day’s flying session, which could last from noon until dark.

Tuesday’s blue sky became an ocean as a killer whale — as long as a man is tall — and a wide-eyed, rainbow-hued octopus swam in its heights, a bald eagle swooping between them.

He can’t figure out why more people don’t spend their time soaring the Alpena skies.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena resident Robert Eisenman keeps an eye on bald eagle and killer whale kites at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

“I’m the only one I ever see flying kites,” Eisenman said.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

News Photo by Julie Riddle An eagle takes flights at the hands of kiter Robert Eisenman at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A bald eagle kite peering over his shoulder, Robert Eisenman, of Alpena, flies kites at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A bald eagle kite peering over his shoulder, Robert Eisenman, of Alpena, flies kites at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A bald eagle kite peering over his shoulder, Robert Eisenman, of Alpena, flies kites at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Robert Eisenman, of Alpena, frees a colorful octopus into the sky at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor on Tuesday.