John Barresi

Team TKS... Has a nice ring to it! A little similar to Team TKO, something to consider if you're ever involved in the same event... You might mention that to her, but I look forward to working with you guys in any case!

Beats llama poo... Which is even funnier than bull poo.

I'm walking a little like a cowboy today... Definitely sore and tight. You know, it's funny... As I was nursing my wounds I realized that I could do an article on the dynamics and techniques of light wind flying for both dual line and quad line in an upcoming issue of Kitelife! I don't remember seeing anything like that done in recent years, and it would probably find an eager audience.

Hear, hear! I had an absolute blast yesterday... Despite running into that park bench at full speed! For those that weren't there... Winds were pretty light a good part of the day, so I must have thirty or so 360's over the course of the fun fly... Coming around on one of them, I wasn't looking where I was going and ran full speed and smack dab into a picnic table! Yuk yuk... I'm okay, but real sore today... O-U-C-H! I heartily recommend looking where you're going when you do 360s... LOL!

Fair enough Baskey... We here in the USA are starving for photos and reporting from Eurpean events, and welcome any and all contributions to Kitelife! Spread the word.

Nice! We're in business then... I'm amazed they even provide spices and such!

You have a french press Moon?

There are indeed good festivals in Italy... They have their own S.T.A.C.K. organization to boot! Do a web search.

Well, that apparently depends on Moon? lol

Very good suggestion oculus... There are quite a few in our archives, but I'll see if we can't get some more going.

That would be awesome Moon... I can always use good java! Something with a rich, nutty chocolate-hinted hue would be lovely.

Here's a copy of the email just sent out to our mailing list: Greetings Kitelife readers! I'd like to take this moment to appeal to your love of kiting media... And ask for your help. The way things are set up now, we share a server with other users, limiting us to a certain amount of space and bandwidth... For only about 80% more than we're paying now, we can increase our space and bandwidth by over 900% and put us into a position where there is no limit to the resources and downloads we can provide to our readership! We're sitting on 15 new videos, which we'll be looking to upload once there are enough subscribers to support moving to a dedicated server... The amount of bandwidth used by visitors to our video section is staggering, and would indicate that they are greatly valued! On the "coming soon" list: • 1990 AKA Grand Nationals - Masters Individual Ballet finals (top 4) • 1991 Great Lakes SKC - Masters Team Ballet (all teams) • 1993 Hawaii Challenge - The "Big Picture" flies for the first time • 1993 Paradise Cup - Scott Aughenbaugh's Ballet • 1993 World Cup - Team High Performance championship ballet • 1994 Hawaii Challenge - Team High Performance team ballet And more... Much, much more. Beginning early next year, we'll also begin publishing every issue of Kitelines Magazine ever printed... Some of you may recall this magazine which spun off of the AKA's original newsletter "KiteTales" in the 1970s. We've made arrangements with the owner of this historical publication to make the entire archive available via the world wide web, complete with every kite plan, kite review, article and interview in original format. We would also like to put Ray Bethell's promo ballet back into our video archives, but could not support the popularity it found on the world wide web... It exhausted most of our monthly bandwidth resources only a week into September, having been viewed over 8,000 times in a mere 5 days! Other plans for Kitelife include compiling all possible sport kite competition results since the late 80s into one place, and profiling legendary past competitors into a sort of hall of fame... No one organization has ever taken responsibility for preserving the history of our sport, and we would like to step up to put this dream into motion. In addition, we're looking at doing daily updates from four incredible events every year: • Kite Trade Association Convention • Wildwood International Kite Festival • Washington State International Kite Festival • AKA Grand Nationals and Convention Consider for a moment, how would you feel if this valuable resource was suddenly no longer available? This sentiment represents how important Kitelife actually is to those who browse our pages, although many take it for granted and don't realize the expenses that go into maintaining Kitelife. While we're in no danger of collapse (never!), and will continue to provide our services for free, we've hit our "digital ceiling" for the time being... And need YOUR help! We would love to see roughly 50 new subscribers or more by the beginning of next year in order to make this happen, and encourage you to weigh the sheer volume of kiting material we provide... Our love of all things kiting... And compare it to any other resource currently available. We believe you'll find us to already be among the most balanced and sizable archives strictly devoted to kiting. My own history in kiting began in 1990 at the age of 15, as a sport kite competitor... Since then I've seen many changes for better and worse, have experienced and taken part in quite a number of facets of kiting, growing to love every aspect of our pastime and the people who are a part of the global community... I could not begin the to express the deep feeling I have for kiting as a whole, the affect it can bring to humanity, or sufficiently impress upon you my dedication to being an ongoing contributor to our history and growth. We need your help as an individual, don't leave it up to everyone else... It begins with you. We're talking about $2.95 a month, or 10 cents a day... To help bring this dream to fruition, it would take less than you spend on a single day's lunch. Heart to heart, can you feel what drives Kitelife? Please help us make it happen - http://www.kitelife.com/subscribe We look forward to bringing you our traditional daily updates from the AKA Convention in Seaside, and releasing our new issue (#38) on October 1st... See you on the field!

Since it happens in just 4 weeks and pre-registration ended 7/1, I imagine they've already drawn winners.

I think you might find this kite to be an answer to some of your light wind concerns, it is a nice mid-size kite, and will grow with you.

Hey oculus... Check this out! http://kitelife.com/forum/index.php?showto...st=0entry1487

Since I have some errands which may keep me busy tomorrow, we've drawn the recipient for our September 15th prize this afternoon. And the winner is... *drum roll* KL Subscriber #75 - Amy McAuley! (oculus on the forum) Prize: Jack in the Box Light - Courtesy of GWTW Kites! Our hearty congratulations Amy, this actually works out quite well since we'll be seeing you at the upcoming fun fly in Vancouver on 9/19! See your prize here - http://www.kitelife.com/prizes/jack-in-the-box37/ Happy flying!

Well said, all around!

Any idea if there's a coffee maker in the room Theresa? If so, I might bring grinds and such out... That would save me a buck or two.

Matter of fact, we're giving away the Phoenix Supreme in our October drawing! This month's drawing is coming up soon... Ya'll ready?

Sorry to hear it dear, my best energies go out to them.

Agreed... Experienced fliers aside, I have to think back on an incident that happened in the early 90's with Dean Jordan where he was manlifting (tethered between kite and telephone pole)... His helmet slipped over his eyes, the kites went out of control, and he went plummeting at the ground so hard that his pelvis shattered in a number of places and cost him thousands of dollars to recover from. I think there's a time and place for it, but should always be conducted hand in hand with safety education and the assurance (waiver) that all participants are taking sole responsibility. With regard to kids, or those under the age of majority... I think until there is a designated place (like skateboard parks, ski parks, etc for their respective sports) where fliers can do this kind of thing - that 18 or over might be the recommended rule of thumb simply due to the legal aspects, and public perception... Do we look at the day's fun, or kiting's long term preservation? Not that I think you would Mike, but be sure not to take these comments on a personal note... Simply as other opinions, to which you should feel free to reply as even-handedly.

Okie dokie, my lodging offer is off the market... Ted Goodman and Rob Autrey (Fireball) will be sharing my pad for AKA Convention.

I do love it... I woke up this morning and found that someone had hacked the whole forum, so I went into the RAW database and reset my password as well... I also found the code they inserted to put their "tag" across the top of the forum. Now I feel like I'm in control... I have learned so much more (yes, more) about maintaining a web site in the last couple weeks!

FYI - aside from the general categories in the Kite Classifieds where regular fliers can post kites they have for sale, there is also the "Store Specials" area where stores or similar retail (garage store) businesses can post their stock for sale... One item per ad please.