Region 11 Report, May 2004

I WON A KITE!! My name was pulled for last drawing of NKM events and actually I won a Gibian kite. You could too, next year. Just register with National Kite Month and go fly a kite!

Spring hit Region 11 early this year, Man what a beautiful season we’re having...events happening every weekend, great weather good winds..well most of the time!! Coming up this month is the Marina festival on the 8th and San Ramon wind fest on May 30 and 31 .San Ramon has become the event of the season not to missed with special guests like team Too Much Fun, team Centrifugal force and Avispados AND new this year we will have fresh from Berck Team Airzone! Also new to San Ramon will be Multiple kite flier Carl Bragiel from Oregon. Penny Lingenfelter and her whimsical costumes and John Barresi and his kites and camera are returning as well. These people and the usual cast of local characters will fly for the huge crowds that gather on the edge and watch.....and don’t forget the 3 smoked turkeys!

Congratulations to Team Airzone, Darrin Skinner, Aaron Champie, Ulysses Villanueva and Wayne Fu on their trip to France to compete in the championships in Berck.They competed against 14 teams and came out 10th. Not bad for a brand new team, and I hear they had a ball!!

July looks like a fun month as well with the New Point Arena Lighthouse festival on the 4^th of July and the always great Berkeley Kite Festival .... Mark your calendars though Berkeley has a new date...usually being on the last full weekend of July, this year it will be on July 31 and August 1. Organizer Tom McAlister, competing with another huge regional festival (The Gilroy Garlic festival), decided to try a different weekend. The Bay Area Sport Kite League will again host the competitions at this year’s Berkeley festival.

Hey did anyone see me on TV? A local tv show, "Evening Magazine" did a story on BASKLs last indoor event . The producer wanted to highlight someone going through the process of getting ready ,practicing and then competing...somehow I was chosen..... too funny as it turned out to be The Brian Show even though my kite lines got all caught up on the little mic they had on me! The show turned out good and did show viewers a different type of kiteflying.

I just have to give a mention to Gone With The Wind Kites Online owners Steve and Chris. Not only do they offer thousands of great kite products at the AKA 10%, they are also offering AKA MEMBERSHIPS at the 10 % discount Chris tells me that so far this year they have sold around 32 years of memberships!. THANKS you two! By the way the GWTW forum is one of the most active kite forums going! Check em out at http://gwtw-kites.com.

See California kite calendar at http://kitefart.com