Flying on Long Island...

OK... day 2. I gotta say, I am totally exhausted. Something about walking around in the sand in the rain all day, I guess. Well, not rain all day, but as the forecast read, it rained 60% of the time. Didn't care, I was there to fly, and even at times when my kite was the only one in the air. But a really good time... it was good to see these faces that I only see once a year, and all the friendly residents of Long Beach Island. They're something else, so welcoming and friendly, just like kite folks.

  

When I woke up, this is what I saw out of my window... these were taken from my balcony. Yeah, I guess I got up late...

This is turning into a 'real' kite festival. Even with the grey weather, the turn-out was very impressive. This is only the second year that this festival has been held.

These guys had an actual real-deal Buffalo Cody. First time I've seen one of those in person !

 

Wow, just Wow. I've seen this stack before, it just doesn't get old.

  

So, what could top a stack of Rainbow Revs ? How about a Jimi stack. I got to examine these up close... the intricate sewing was very impressive.

Of course, every 'real' kite festival needs a Bol race. I think I need to look into these for my kids, it looks like a good way to tire them out !

Yeah, those again. Did I mention I really like these ?   8)

 

Something different, Dual Line and Quad line mega-fly !

Yup, some dual lines, too. I couldn't identify this kite yesterday, I suspected that it was something kinda rare, but it was confirmed today that these are 'Machines'. Not something you see everyday... and not one, but two !

 

 

 

 

Nice of you to share a glimpse of a "decent" kite festival. The two last festivals I've been to consisted of a not very large number of SLKs with few extraordinary ones. Only the second festival had a couple of other dual line kites, but the few pilots did not seem to be acquainted with their DLKs. Naah..., I sound like whiner - kite festivals are very nice places to be in even though they are not super mega spectacular events. Once again nice to have the opportunity to read this report.

21 hours ago, Exult said:

Nice of you to share a glimpse of a "decent" kite festival. The two last festivals I've been to consisted of a not very large number of SLKs with few extraordinary ones. Only the second festival had a couple of other dual line kites, but the few pilots did not seem to be acquainted with their DLKs. Naah..., I sound like whiner - kite festivals are very nice places to be in even though they are not super mega spectacular events. Once again nice to have the opportunity to read this report.

This festival would've been even bigger if the weather had cooperated. Most of the shots of the dual and quad line flying were in between the raindrops, and if I had looked back to the North, where the big SLKs were flying in the morning, there were only a handful still flying. The sport kite crew was a heartier bunch, and the skill level was over the top. They all still make me feel like the newbie, but in reality, I am. Most of these faces are the same ones that I remember when I walked onto my first kite festival field over 10 years ago. I only see these people once or twice a year, but it is certainly a pleasure to see them all again. 

Sunday was to be my last day there, as I had to work on Monday. I woke up to a driving rain, 40mph winds, so there was no reason to hang around. I was still cold & tired from the day before, so I packed up and headed home with the seat heater going full blast to sooth my aches & pains. 

Yup, welcome back to New York. It was nice to have a vacation from this, no matter how short. It's amazing how far away you can get from this with only a few hours of driving !

the gray dual-lined kites are being flown by Ron Graziano,... you will never see a finer skilled flyer in the united states!  His partner is also impressive.

I believe the kites are Ron's own design too and he so flies the stitching out of 'em, this is LBI is is in his home town or close enough to ride a bike to anyway.

-plm

PS: sunday was booking huge winds all day and rain until about 2:30 pm,.. so windy it wasn't even fun, .... plus my lines were run over and destroyed by some safety marshal in a sand buggy passing by. Kite and handles were recovered and survived the ordeal.  I crushed two magic sticks into a mushroomed shape between the still solid ends sticking into the fittings.  (Broke a 3 wrapped down-spar too).

PPS:  For the night-fly Sunday night I was on a Shook 135% mesh masterpiece with 4 wrap outers, a green race center and green race (travel frame) down-spars using 170# Skybond 120' and 13 inch handles. You couldn't sit down and could barely stand up to fly but it was attended by a couple of thousand happy spectators wishing they were one of us!

Results:  Fletch won MMB against six others using a Reflex,... Lolly was so happy, beating Dave Ashworth, both Willoughby family members, Carl and Laura Berg plus myself flying my wet Zen on 120s.

Stave Santos won the Indoor competition, I would have come in 3rd but all my points were stripped away due to a couple of safety violations.  I flew deeply into the crowd (overhead only) first and actually landed on some guy's big toe sitting in the 1st row with his legs crossed (then turned to the judges and proudly announced that they "didn't see that!")

 

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 11:00 PM, RobB said:

OK... day 2. I gotta say, I am totally exhausted. Something about walking around in the sand in the rain all day, I guess. Well, not rain all day, but as the forecast read, it rained 60% of the time. Didn't care, I was there to fly, and even at times when my kite was the only one in the air. But a really good time... it was good to see these faces that I only see once a year, and all the friendly residents of Long Beach Island. They're something else, so welcoming and friendly, just like kite folks.

  

When I woke up, this is what I saw out of my window... these were taken from my balcony. Yeah, I guess I got up late...

This is turning into a 'real' kite festival. Even with the grey weather, the turn-out was very impressive. This is only the second year that this festival has been held.

These guys had an actual real-deal Buffalo Cody. First time I've seen one of those in person !

 

Wow, just Wow. I've seen this stack before, it just doesn't get old.

  

So, what could top a stack of Rainbow Revs ? How about a Jimi stack. I got to examine these up close... the intricate sewing was very impressive.

Of course, every 'real' kite festival needs a Bol race. I think I need to look into these for my kids, it looks like a good way to tire them out !

Yeah, those again. Did I mention I really like these ?   😎

 

Something different, Dual Line and Quad line mega-fly !

Yup, some dual lines, too. I couldn't identify this kite yesterday, I suspected that it was something kinda rare, but it was confirmed today that these are 'Machines'. Not something you see everyday... and not one, but two !

 

 

 

 

Hello Rob...I have heard great things about you.  I hear you are on Long Island.  Will there be any other kite festivals on Long Island in the near future?  I live in Huntington Station.