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Wildwood, 2015...


RobB

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Just got back from the 30th Wildwood Kite Festival. Tired... still have sand everywhere. People make fun of the rocky beach that I fly on, but I'll take it anyday over that fine powdery sand down the Jersey Shore !

The turn-out was kinda light, especially the first two days. Maybe most spent their time doing something else since the wind wasn't that good. Gusty & swirly off shore the first day, a little bit lower the next day with many lulls that brought most kites to the ground. I didn't fly on the third day, of course, the day with the best wind. It's tough when there's great flying to be had, but family & friends want to do other things. There were 12 of us, but I'm the only one with kites.

Anyway, I did get some pictures...

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My double DC looked nice next to this monster. The wind was so poor on the first day, that the DC actually crashed twice. I have never seen this kite crash before, and I've been flying it for a long time. Luckily, still in one piece !

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So, with all the room in the world, the guy with the big red lifter parks it right over our heads. You'd think he would've moved it or shortened his line after the first time it crashed on our spot, but the next time it crashed, it hit me in the head ! Luckily, it didn't rip my head off (it's a big kite), only sent my Tilly 1/4 mile down the beach. The next time it crashed on our spot, it scooped all our stuff up (chairs, kite bags, my camera) and threw it into the wind. I have no idea how these 'experienced experts' could be so irresponsible...

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I watched some Rev fliers for a while, enjoying their Meshes & Full Vents. Really missed my Full Vent with those high gusty winds. I did fly the Alien a little, but forgot to take a picture of it...

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We were able to enjoy some dual line kites, and even the Zen the next day. Winds totally died out at times, but we had a good time with the XL when the wind came back.

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The Ghost Deltas made the most of the lighter winds. This guy had every color in size large. Awesome, I have to get some more of these... they look so cool as a group.

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I took some more time to watch the Rev fliers. I could watch them all day...

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Finally, some good wind on the third day ! Around 10mph off the water... Everything was flying nicely. I think there were more kites a few years ago, but this was still a pretty impressive display !

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Just a nice bunch of kites on a perfect day !

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Some cool ground displays all over the place, too...

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Looking downwind at some of the kites...

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I got up on the boardwalk to try to get them all in. I don't have a lens that goes wide enough !

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I really liked this Gomberg lifter & tail. The guy said he was using 1200# line. Looked like rope to me...

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My son was enjoying the kites, too.

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Glad you guys liked them... If you were there, and I missed you, I'm sorry 'bout that. I met a few people, but didn't have enough time to get around to say hi to everyone.

@ Dave... the DDC is the Barbara Meyers version from Premier. Really good, stable, and wide wind range, big bang for the buck ! This is what it looks like closer up...

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  • 1 month later...

Just getting back into flying, I came across this post. It might have been the first Wildwood event because it was about 30 years ago that I shot a video for a production company. I never saw the final cut and don't remember the name of the production company but I hope the video still exists somewhere.

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