Grandpa

Is that with or without the beer goggles.........?

I prefer the bright, not in every kite bag, colors... greens and purples and pinks and... good contrast against the blue sky and jump out bright on cloudy days. But, why limit your customers choices?

Must stop thinking... The weatherman says the winds are calm. It seems to me that if they're calm, they're not really winds, Right? :confused!:

Rest between the clouds... and leave some wind for me!

No hotels and no Airstream... must be unbearable for you!... LOL A dry place to stay... behind a pub... an arm load of kites... three weeks... near a beach... behind a pub... kites... pub... beer or ale goggles... I fail to see the down side... Have a wonderful time, Chris and tug one for me.

As I recall, we call a caravan a camp trailer...? :confused!: Is that near Christchurch Harbor... I looked at Google... how is it that you have miles of beach without hotels everywhere?

I'm thinking John and I can meet at PDX and save the shipping So where are you off to... someplace fun I hope.

Is that in a good way? j/k In Idaho the wind seems to be 3 mph or 30 mph from the south... so either Utah blows or Montana sucks

They moved the starting date of school, 8/27, without asking me if I had plans and made a rule that no one takes time off the week before and the first day (they read first day as first week)... I'm pushing it by leaving on the 30th. Maybe we'll cross lines at PDX! I'm keeping Ocean Shores on my calendar, but don't tell any body... Shhhhh... Grandma just told me that we are going to Bear Lake Sunday... Brightest blue I have every seen in water... google it Sunday and I'll wave to you from the beach...

I have had a summer from h*ll... work, work and more work... job security??!! I finally got to fly my B-series two weeks ago... for about an hour, bummer on the time limit. Super sweet! Grandma and I are flying out to Otter Rock on 8/30 and returning on 9/5. Our arms will be tired from the flying... But if you're in the neighborhood, I'd love to fly with my Kitelife and iQuad buds. We are staying at the Inn at Otter Crest... PM or email for my cell number... I know it's close to WSIKF, but I can't take the week before or the week of school starting.

Learn well you have young Skitch.....

Keep your guard up guys... hate for you to be mistaken for gnomes and kidnapped...

Now THAT sounds like something fun to try at Long Beach or Ocean Shores on a very slow, windy, mid-week day when noone is on the beach.....that could be a blast.....and you could race!!! Now I've got to go and buy a snow saucer and watch Chrismas Vacation again so I can see how to make it go REALLY fast. Thanks Grandpa. P You just need some nylon straps attached to the saucer... kneel on the saucer, pull the straps over your thighs and Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Yes life is wonderful and it beats the alternative Another quick Wizard story... That same time of talking with the Wizard, he had a shark kite with some really bad scorch marks and big burn holes hanging on the wall. He shows that kite to warn folks about flying near power lines... good idea, I always like visual aides. September of last year I noticed the shark was gone. It seems at the local grade school there are power lines just above the metal swing sets. The town fathers said it was not in the budget to move the power lines. Some poor soul flew his kite into the power transformer burning it beyond repair and as long as the transformer had to be replaced they might as well move the power lines. Funny how we find the money to do some things. Never found out what happened to the shark

Hey Penny... Makes me wonder where we went wrong teaching these youngsters some manners

I met a guy in Seaside called the Wizard. He had long white hair and a long white beard. His clothes were made of kite sail ripstop in all the great colors. He rode the beach on a trike with kites tied to the handle bars and blew huge bubbles for the kids. We saw him there for years and then he was gone. A few years ago we went to Pinky's Kite Factory in Cannon Beach and I asked the old guy if he knew what happened to the Wizard. He told me the Wizard was gone. I asked what happened, wishing he went while doing what he loved, entertaining all on the beach. The old man stepped out from behind the counter... he was wearing kite sail shorts over his jeans... and said his wife made him get a job We drank coffee and listened to his stories. My favorite was about his traveling north up the coast of Oregon. He would take a snow saucer and a kite and ride the shuttle bus south to the end of the line. He took his stuff to the beach, setup his kite and got on his saucer and "fly" back to Cannon Beach... he got home before the bus got back If you don't have snow saucers in the UK, I can send you one I guess there's no difference between wind currents and water currents when you're a master!

Thanks Ant... New tactic, maybe I'll send junk mail to those folks that don't sign my petition

By the way... I promise not to sign anyone up for junk mail or telemarketers

Thanks Chris... If you enter Sandy Downs, ID in google maps you will see the area east of the main race track. That spot is all sage brush and trash with a big sand dune in the middle. One of the construction companies has volunteered to clean it up for us. Just west of the main track, in the green area, we had about 1,000 people flying and watching last month. The line laundry was in the infield and two of us were flying our Revs on the track... the only place with some elbow room. If you decide to visit, give me a holler, and get travel directions from google! I like the 3,462 mile swim across the Atlantic. Bill

Every open area in Idaho Falls has been taken by soccer players. The weather has been bad... Heavy (for Idaho) rain, cold and wind advisories (35 plus mph) hardly good kite weather. The Snake River Kiters decided to BBQ and fly tonight. The rain stopped... the ground dried up... the sun came out... the jackets came off... the field filled with soccer players and the wind died down to less than nothing. Back in February we reserved the field for April 26th and the soccer players still took over... tripping on our lines and walking on our kites! Then on April 28th about 1,000 people of all ages showed up to tug lines at our Family Fun Fly. Now I'm asking for signatures on a petition to set aside some land, that no one else wants, for kite flying, model airplanes, rockets, etc. but not at the same time. Hmmm... maybe we could have a new event... shooting down kites with rockets or ripping wings off RC airplanes with fighter kites or... this needs more thought Back on topic... "Sign" the petition with name and town and I will add them to the paper signatures and take them to the Mayor to show public interest. Don't not sign because you are out of state or country... People who fly kites stay in motels, go out to eat, and shop at malls, the kind of stuff mayors like to hear. Don't think I'm against soccer just because here it is not a family sport. Parents drop the kids and go shopping or eating or... Thanks all

Hey Sky... I went through the same thing... 45 minutes of twisting and turning and cussing my first time out. Then I spent 10 minutes crashing and then 10 minutes winding the lines and packing up my stuff while thinking what a great way to spent $300.00!!! The next time out I staked the handles, walked out the lines... then I took one pair in each hand and pulled them tight, then spread my arms as far apart as possible before connecting them to the bridle. Then I went back to the handles and spread them apart from that end and all of the twists and tangles became two or three twists that could be fixed by turning the handles over a time or two!! I still crashed A LOT but my setup took 5 minutes instead of 45... so I had more time to crash. Be sure to check the line length... all must be equal... mine were off by more than two inches. When you finally get tired and want to pack it in... larkshead the right pair together and the left pair together. I put my first finger between the two pairs and wind in a figure 8 to the handles and larkshead the pairs together again. The key seems to be the line stretching and arm spreading to remove the false tangles and the careful winding at the end of the day.

I had fun watching... I know you guys had far more fun living it... So, is flying on the east coast backwards from flying on the west coast?

Hey John... Stop having birthdays before it's too late... you're starting to catch up to me That BIG BLUE BARRESI got here The gold and silver autographs are great... and I signed all you guys up for junk mail Thanks again and have a great day!!!

Good shots Ant... Is Steve flying two revs??

My son-in-law has the Addiction and he is addicted... Not sure how he did it but he broke both 90# lines in the middle, at the same time. His kite lived to tell about it.