Lincoln City 2005 Summer Kite Festival

[godric]

Just got back from a quick run to the coast for the last day of the Worlds and the first day of the Festival in Lincoln City. The weatherman was, as is so often the case in Oregon, clueless -- predicting showers on Saturday morning, but the day was glorious. None of the previous day's dramatic winds (on Friday afternoon we had right around 20 MPH with gusts to 25+ on the beach in front of the Sea Horse Motel. I finally got tired of getting dragged off the beach, so I put away the other kites and broke out the Micron, which is always good for a laugh-out-loud adrenaline rush, especially in the higher gusts), but we had a solid 10 MPH through the noon hour at D River, then it eased back to about 7 MPH in the afternoon. The wind started out NNW, then gradually shifted to NW or maybe even WNW in the course of the morning, to the point where our rotary box kite began to drift toward the demo area and Al Washington just about KO'ed it, or we him, whichever. We pulled up -- ahem -- stakes and headed north across the river where there was more room, at least until the tide came in and squeezed everybody up onto the dry sand. The nice thing about our vantage point was that we could play to our heart's content, but still see everything going on over at the main beach, directly downwind from us.

There were some beautiful single-line kites -- Deb Lenzen had a multi-panel kite honoring American Indian tribes from whom she has learned through the years (no Cherokee panel, unfortunately ), and there was a brilliantly-colored stack of hexagonal kites with tails (not Roks, as far as I could tell -- they seemed to lack the Rok's typical bowed configuration, and sported tails). The sun coming through those panels was like stained glass windows! We saw several of Ramlal Tien's (sp?) Sentinels and birds, all of which were notable for their utter stillness in the air, as though they were attached up there instead of flying. The other one I was hoping to see from closer up, but didn't get to in time, was a massive piece that looked like several interlocking rings. Did anybody get the info on that one? It was also perfectly still in the sky, but didn't give off quite the same vibe as the others -- the Sentinels looked sort of like UFO's, to be sure, but this one looked like it could be the mother ship, impressive both for its shape and design, on the one hand, and by its sheer hulking size, on the other.

While we were playing with our stunt kites and admiring the view through the big kite arches on our side of the D River, one of the teams from the Worlds (I believe it was Team Atemoc, but couldn't swear to it) was playing a little further upwind. They wandered through on their way to the main festival area, just a bunch of guys with kites, no big deal. I like it that the "royalty" of this sport mostly seem to have the attitude that they're just playin' with their toy kites like the rest of us ...

Just as we were leaving, Mark Lummas was doing a demo in front of the parking lot. Fabulous ballet number, done to "All That Jazz," but the thing that riveted my attention was after he had landed the kite: the announcer asked him to demonstrate some of the kite's capabilities for the crowd. Unrehearsed, with requests coming over the sound system, Mark started an impromptu ballet routine to the music that was running under the announcer's voice, incorporating the requested moves into the dance in the sky that he was making up in his head as he went along. Very, very cool stuff!

[Penny Lingenfelter]

Godric you were that close and didn't say hello?

That's ok... I heard it through the grape vine I wasn't going to be there... because.... and listen to this. I forgot to post it in kitelife forum.

BB

Penny

[godric]

Aw, y'know, you were in a crowd ... One of these days, though, I'll take you up on that public offer of an introduction to the world of quad-liners!

I did get a chance to say hello to Al Washington, as well as to admire the energy and excitement that his grandson brings to flying.

Good winds --

-- Paul