Here we are for yet another glorious day of kite flying! Comprehensive kite making competition began today, with some truly amazing entries judged in sixteen categories and three skill levels… Weather was a little chilly early on, but as the day went on the sun came out and enticed people to come on out with it to enjoy these creations!
Ray Bethell also helped open up the morning with a ballet demonstrations flying his trademark three kites, and continued to entertain passerby on the seaward side for most of the day.
Jean-Marie and Marthe Simmonet were out again with even more of their distinct sky sculpures, including a ribboned monster in white, light green and blue (pictured below, a white one which reminded me of cutting out angels in paper, and a good sized play sail.
Team TKO had another demo slot today, and with their 3rd member Jerry Hershey ariving last night, they were ready to go! We opened up with an multi-kite routine from Troy Gunn, kite ballet by Jerry Hershey and Chris Shultz flying his classic masters routine flown to Minnie the Moocher with yellow, orange and red Mirages.
David Gomberg brought out some of his inflatables, as did a few other fliers… They really had quite a variety going with the Trilobytes, a Lobster, Teddy Bear and Spaceship.
Also up and going were the two Bols (or Crowns) spinning in opposite directions, framing kites against the sky like big picture windows!
There were the dedicated collection of Suttons we’ve seen all week joining inflatables and sculptures comfortably in the 8-12mph winds, casting some very unusual shadows across the beach!
Taking full advantage of the stable breezes, NAFKA’s 5th annual Conrad Cup Buka Fighter Kite Challenge continued with a flying workshop by Steve Bateman in the morning and Novice competition following it.
As I mentioned, the weather got a lot nicer as the day went on… If it’s anything like this tomorrow, we’re in for some great crowds and even more kites over Friday and Saturday.
Team TKO settled in down the beach around 3pm, practicing their routines and drawing a bit of a crowd. With their usual 3rd member in play, I finally got a chance to get some pictures of them… Although I was allowed to play with 4 man flying for a while.
The crowd was still strong as we were leaving, with Mark Reed from Prism and Lolly Hadzicki from Revolutions still giving lessons and demonstrating their unique brands of kites on the dedicated fields they had been on all day!
Although we didn’t attend, the indoor flying started at the high school again from 4pm to 8pm… Instead we went to the AOK barbeque, potluck and raffle where the invited guests were honored and fed well thanks much in part to grill master Carl and Lisa Bragiel.
At about 11:30pm, I’m pretty beat and in need of rest for two and a half more days of flying and reporting… Looks like we’ll be flying some more four man practice tomorrow in preparation for a September trip to Teipei Taiwan for their international festival.
Good night good friends,
John Barresi
