Here I sit, with really only one thing on my mind, much like it has been for weeks. No, it’s not a new Rev. It’s likely the biggest Rev spectacular ever conceived and it will be launched at the Washington State International Kite Festival, or as we affectionately refer to it, WSIKF! I’ve gone on about this at great length the Revisions from 2 issues ago so as a starting point, I’d highly suggest you refer back to that article for a refresher…
https://kitelife.com/magazine/issue71/revisions71/content.php
Pretty much all you will need to know is well covered in that article, or the others linked in there. But, a few other things that may not have occurred to you so far…
1] Patience. You will find you may need a lot of this at times. If you have participated in megaflys before, you’ll be familiar with the idea but, multiply that a few times over. Let’s be realistic here, we’re going to be dealing with anywhere between 70 and 100 flyers by the time we get to the weekend, and with that will come all levels of flyers. And, we want them all, this is the idea, to gather as many rev pilots as possible and to shoot for the ultimate megafly. And it will be! Having experienced more than a small handful of megaflys over the past 4 years, I’ll tell ya right now, the key is to be able to remain calm cool and collected for all of it. And, focused. Keep a smile on your face! Don’t get wound up because some inexperienced flyer has just taken you out. Repeat this to yourself a much as needed : “I was once an inexperienced flyer too!” I remember back to Berck when John and I were out there on the beach, getting the basics of team flying under our belt, with the guidance of Stephen Hoath, the rest of the Flying Squad, FLIC, Team 4 Fun, Crazy Drivers, etc that were there. Without that help and direction, I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here writing this article . It was their patience and willingness to teach and help others and that’s something John and I (and all of iQuad) have always remembered. Help those around you who need it. Laugh when things go sideways. Smile when someone asks you for some help. Watch out for people having trouble, and help them out when you can. It’s through actions like the above that have gotten us to the point where we can attempt 100 flyers at the same time.
2] Relax. Of course, I run the risk of jinxing the entire happening with just this one phrase, however, I’ll take my chances because it’s an important one. Nobody is going to die here. It’s not a test. It’s not a quiz, there will be no exam afterwards! This entire undertaking has one goal in mind. Fun. Enjoy yourself. Meet new people. Reacquaint with friends you have not flown with in a while. Something untoward just happened? Laugh it off and refer to #1 above. Patience and a smile will go a long way on the beach. But, also, I highly recommend you take in the rest of the Kite Festival as well. WSIKF is a long running, all week affair with lots to do and see every single day. Don’t simply relegate yourself to the quad end of the beach, walk up the boardwalk and take in other sights as well because honestly, it’s one of the best displays of ALL KINDS OF KITES that you will ever find in North America. Also of note, the beer tent is at the other end of the boardwalk as well… Just say’en’…
3] Be prepared for nearly anything. Weather at WSIKF can be a mixed bag. Last year was the picture of perfect conditions without a single rainy day to be seen. The year before that (which I cunningly missed by being at Portsmouth and Bristol with the iQuad delinquents!) it rained much of the week. So, be prepared for weather to occur! Rain gear is well advised to be somewhere handy. Comfortable shoes! It’s a pretty fine sand at Long Beach and with any luck, you’ll be standing for quite some time. Stylish won’t cut it, comfortable will get you through the day! Sunscreen? Did I fail to mention sunscreen? Well, I’ll fix that now. Bring lots of sunscreen! And use it a lot. Big hats! Sunglasses! Drinks! All of these things should be somewhat close at hand. It’s unknown at this point whether or not there will be any concession stands down on our end of the beach.
Keep those three things in mind and it could quite possibly the most fun Rev party ever. Alas, I won’t get in until Wednesday Evening, so be sure to have fun in my absence.
But beyond WSIKF, there has been some other things going on the Rev world too! Specifically some nice new products have recently surfaced. Bazzer Poulter did a great Revolution pin. These are available now if you happen to run into iQuad somewhere and Bazzer assures me that they will be on his site very soon as well. Check in on www.gluedtotheblue.com in a week or so!
But wait, there’s more! Carolyn Leshock was recently asked by Revolution to do up some new shirts to be sold and wow, they came out great! Those you can see directly on the Revolution web site and can be ordered through Lolly!
http://www.revkites.com/main/shirts
And speaking of Revolution, when I met up with Ben in Brookings the other week, he handed me a super secret set of new rods…Extra strong yet still really light and with a great snap to them. Unfortunately I have not yet made it out to a field with them in a kite, however I likely will this weekend and I’ll write more about them in the next issue. But what I can say is they are green… and contain Kevlar!
And John has been very busy as well…. Over the last few months, him and Takako have compiled a big collection of tutorial videos, covering nearly any aspect of Rev flying that might occur to you. They have been talked about in the forum quite a bit however, if you haven’t been over to the site to see what’s available.
And as for me, in mere weeks I’ll be packing for WSIKF. For most events I end up at these days, I take no kites. It’s extra baggage that I likely won’t get any time to fly anyways so, they sit about the house in a couple of piles. However, I’ll certainly bring some fun ones to WSIKF but I’ll bring some even better ones when I head to Bintulu in Malaysia in early October. South Asian rev pilots, I hope to see a lot of you while I’m there!
Best winds,
David Hathaway