And then the winds came…
After a couple of the wonderful pastries and some coffee over at the local favorite Cottage Bakery, I headed over to field amidst an intermittant fine sprinkle and an overcast sky… While it wasn’t raining, it was a bit chilly and a touch wet with strong winds right off the bat around 15mph.
Since they were holding the “Paint Me Patriotic” event all day today, clubs and individuals donned displayed and flew red, white and blue creations of all kinds… Coloful despite the icky conditions.
To make sure I didn’t miss a beat due to dead batteries, I took a quick walk past the many vendors on the back to the Super 8 to take some out of the recharger… Below you’ll find pictures of the “gate” you go under to get to the beach, bothing going and coming back (in that order).
Feeling recharged (yuk yuk), I made my way back to the beach where they had up put a few Sutton Flowforms and other sky debris.
On the other side of the field, a kids kite sprint and reel out contest was being held… For those that are interested, a Conyne shot way out ahead and won in the stiff breeze. We also saw a kitemaking workshop done for the kids, and their kites aloft throughout the day.
Also assembling further down the field was todays fighter events, the balloon pop and skills contest… Fliers such as Sharon Champie, Richard Hurd, Charlie McClary and others threw tried their best to fly their kites (equipped with a needle in the nose) towards a balloon in an attempt to pop it… Which proved hard enough that no one accomplished this.
Ray Bethell took the field flying his three dual line kites independantly, thrilling the small audience with his performance… Later that afternoon he joined 12 other fliers in the Senior Ballet where anyone 50 or more years of age flew routines to various pieces, featuring dual line, quad line, multiple kite and team styles all judged together.
Also a prominent sight was the flying sculpture by Jean-Marie and Marthe Simmonet from France, who are absolutely charming!
The crowds were a bit more in force a little later in the afternoon, and taking full advantage of the great food and gifts available between the street and field.
Between 4pm and 8pm the evening closed with an indoor fly at the local high school gymnasium, alternating between open flying and demonstrations by single line, dual line and quad line fliers… Encouraged by a pretty fair turnout, I even jumped in for a minute to haul a Rev EXP through the room and work up a sweat.
Again, I must apologize for the delay in getting yesterday’s update on line… Not much you can do when none of the internet connections work at 11pm on a Sunday night in a small town!
Now it’s off to bed, and get rested for some demos tomorrow… Jerry Hershey is arriving later tonight, so Team TKO will have the full team here and they can fly their 3 man routine!
I am getting tons of other photos, and a bit of video to compile for our subscribers section… So you look forward to the full report in our next issue, and we’ll advise subscribers when the video is available for viewing in our members area.
Thanks for reading!
John Barresi
