Here in region 11 the kite season is well underway!
With the Bay Area Sport Kite League having completed 4 events already! The most notable was California’s first INDOOR event! Baskl feeling the need to offer a indoor event put together a great day! Twenty some fliers came and practiced for the two hours prior to the event and then competed. There were some very good performances considering it was the first time many of the fliers tried flying indoors! Congrats to Ron Despoajdo for his first place win and Aaron Champie for his second place! Watch for another event of this type !
The on off on again MERCED kite festival was a valiant last minute effort of organization that turned out to be quite fun.....and would have been great if there had only been a little WIND! The town really turns out for this event and Im glad they decided to do it again!
I registered a kite month event for early April and thought Id get a couple other kilters to show up and help decorate the skies over Berkeley. WOW did we decorate! We had several dozen big kites flying proudly for most of the day, an incredible site for sure! THEN the wind shifted and send everything in a downward tangle! Dan Whitney’s big teddy came down in the road with its honey pot stuck high in a tree! Teddy was ok as was everything and we all had a good laugh and great day!
During Kite month I had a rare opportunity to climb all over a lighthouse! The Lighthouse is at Point Arena, California, a 3 ½ hour drive up the spectacular north coast. I was contacted to By the manager to help organize a kite festival on the site, Of course I had to go check into this offer! I found one of the most spectacular sites to fly a kite iv ever seen! Deb Lenzen from North Dakota enjoyed the weekend there with me and between the two of us we had kites all over the grounds, AND I got to fly my octopus from the top of the lighthouse , this was a little challenging, not because of the 144 steps to the top but the winds swirling around the structure from all directions. A long launch proved to be the way and my sea creature flew happily all afternoon! A media weekend with kites large and small is planned for possibly a September date with a full blown festival on the calendar for 2004! Watch for this one you wont want to miss it!
San Ramon wind Fest on may 25/26 is coming up fast and may be the last as we know it with building plans confirmed for the last open space behind the flying fields.. Maybe next year we will fly INDOORS!!
Returning for a second year is the Squaw Valley High Camp kite fest..June 28th and 29th is the date for this memorable fly. The views from 8200 feet are just one of the reasons to check out this event , the ride up and playing with the thermals at the top are others!
The Berkeley Kite Fest held on the end of July. The weekend of the 25th 26th .Come witness the the west coacts largest Kite Festival and BIG kite spectacle. This years festival will prove to be yet another one for the record books!! Be there!
Brian