Canal Days 2008 .... WOW! What a Show!

The 16th annual Canal Days 2008 was a HUGE success! We had great weather, it was sunny, HOT, and there was wind, well sort of. At the start of the day, the winds were coming from the north. That meant that is was very fussy, coming through the trees that are in the car show section of the park. None the less, there was wind. As things were gearing up, kiters arrived from all over. There were kiters from the kite clubs in southern Ontario, Toronto Kite Fliers, Kitchener Waterloo Wind Climbers, Royal City Fun Flyers, South Coast Kite Conspiracy and the Renegade Strings Kite Club. There were kiters from the US, Great Lakes Kitefliers Society, Ohio Society for the Elevation of Kites and New York Kite Enthusiasts. The Windjammers from Michigan were the special guests, and boy did they put on a show!

As the day progressed, we were entertained several times with their skills and beauty of the dynakites, looping and chasing each other. Watching them as a team, not just their kites, was was a spectacle in itself. It proved just how skilled and talented they are. Here's a video of them.

The day moved on and kites of all shaped were brought out, flown and then put away so that another one could come out and play. There was even "line laundry" of all shapes and sizes.

I counted at least 2 of Tyrone's kites that fell victim to the nasty north wind. Even the tail of my Crossdeck ended in a wet ending to flight. Luckily, all the kites and tails that went for a swim were recovered safely.

With the wind from the north, Gary thought he would try to get an Octopuss in the air. Here's a video of that.

Pizza arrived for the hungry at around 12:30, and it was gone before you knew it.

After lunch, we had the annual "Running of the Bowls" which was won by a member of NYKE.

We also had a "surprise" fly over by a WWII British Spitfire. He circled the flying field twice and then took off over the lake. I could just imagine what a great view he had from up there.

Mayor Vance Badaway dropped in to thank everyone who came out and for helping make Canal Days such a success! We also had the official Town Crier welcome all who attended. At this point we were ready for the Grand Ascension. I'm sure the spectators were in awe with how many kites we can fly at one time in that field!

Here's a video of that!

When you fly all day, sometimes your legs get tired, here's what you do!

There was a themed part of the afternoon, "The Aquarium in the Sky". We have to thank Mother Nature for turning the wind around so it was coming off the lake. This provided the perfect conditions for all the giant inflatable kites to take to the air.

Yes, that's THREE octopi in a row! There were 3 fish, a seal and a scuba diver also. There were so many fish in the air, I thought "who turned the world upsidedown?". It was amazing!

With all that happening, Phillip Jones was assembling his award winning circlular kite than won the grand prize at the Smithsonian Kite Festival. It's based on a design by Alexander Graham Bell, and had a picture of Mao Tse Tung in the middle. The theme of that was to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

With the wind at 18 to 20 kms, not only was it difficult to assemble, but difficult to keep from snapping apart. There was an issue with some inferior cable ties not staying together. With 2 attempts to get it flying, we got substitute ties from Bob White (that man has everything in his motorhome). Phillip decided to attempt a flight without the mural of Mao.
Look at Phillip holding on! With a successful flight without the chairman, Phillip decided it would be a shame not to try it as the kite was intended to be flown. We quickly added the centre panel and put it up again! Here's the view Phillip had with his kite in the air.

With a big smile on Phillip's face, Bob took over for a short time. I also got the chance to hang on, that was a great opportunity and a real struggle with the force of the pull.

That pretty much wrapped up the flying portion of the day, now time to pack up and eat.

After the barbeque, it was time for the awards. Bob made up a plaque commemorating the work of the Aerial Experiment Association headed by Alexander Graham Bell. 2008 is the centenary of the AEA and it's work that aided in the history of Canadian aviation and the flight of the Silver Dart. The plaques were prizes given to deserving individuals for things that Bob made up as he went along. Dr. Jones got one for the best "Alexander Bell Kite" and the Windjammers each got one for the most entertaining flyers (Thanks guys for such a great show!). Several other kiters received plaques for such things as "Best Feathered Flyer", "Best Kite Trailer", "Best Night Kite Train", "Best Self Likeness Pole Display", "The Winner of the Running of the Bowls", "Going Above the Call of Duty for Helping Out", and "Hosting the Most Visiting Kiters in One Backyard".

We also had the organizer of the car club stop by to thank us for putting on a great show. He wanted to do this because we share the park with the cars, and they appreciated the cooperation between the 2 events. Having a classic car myself, I know there is only so much you can look at other cars during a show. Having the kites there gave them something else to do that look at than Joe's Chevy SS or Pete's new Charger.

There were also plenty of door prizes handed out. The grand prize went to Ted Shaw...again! It was a beautiful Boreal Kite, the first of it's kind. Gary Mark of Blue Sky Kites provided most of the other prizes. There were lots of happy winners, especially one of the Windjammers. His family of four did a clean sweep!

I'm sorry I don't have every one's names that won something, but I'll update this when I get them. Everything was wrapped up by about 7:30, we were stuffed with food, we were tired, we had a fabulous day of sunshine, we fly every kind of kite imaginable, but most of all, we put on one hell of a show! Seeing all the kites in the air, seeing familiar faces of those you see once or twice a year, having great weather for the day makes an event like this a truely memorable time. I can't wait for next time and I hope it can be just as wonderful as this one was! Again thanks to Rowan Shirkie for sending me some pictures that I used, his style is unique and it's appreciated. Thanks to all the kiters who travelled from far and wide to entertain the good people who watched. Thanks to all who helped with the various tasks throughout the day and evening. Thanks to Fred, Paul, Greg and his son for barbecueing. Thanks to Nancy, Mary, Donna, Peggy and Stephanie for the duties they did before, during and after the event. Last, but not least, Thanks to Bob White and Vaino Raun for the core organization of the time leading up to the day, as well as during the event itself. The show could not go on without all of your help. I hope I didn't forget anyone, if I did let me know and I'll add you in.

See you all either in September or next year at Canal Days!

July 2008 - A very Windy Day

Sunday July 27th was a very bright, sunny and very windy day. The wind were steady @25 kms but there were gusts as high as 40 kms. About 20 kiters were in attendance, and flew mostly para foils. You can't break spars if there aren't any!

There was a short meeting to finalize the details of the big event, Canal Days!

The most exciting part of the day was a daring kite rescue. Russell was getting ready to fly a 2 line foil went a gust of wind ripped the staked kite into the air! The kite flew toward the lagoon and landed just past the lily pads. Luckily, the 2 strings got caught in a poplar tree. Well, now we had to figure out how to get at the lines. Paul had a banner pole that might reach and Bob thought he could throw a stake on a line over the strings to pull it in. Paul's banner pole also ended up in the pond, but was safely recovered. Bob had 3 tries at throwing the stake over the lines...SUCCESS! Now gently pull so as not to pull the line out of the tree. As soon as Bob grabbed the lines, I took them and pulled the ends out of the tree. Bob started pulling in the kite. I gave the ends to Russell and he started winding them onto the winder. Bob eventually retrieved the kite and it was reunited with the Russell. A safe recovery for both the lines and the kite!

Thanks to Rowan Shirkie for the kite rescue pictures. Well, another day of flying came to an end. This coming weekend is the Canal Days Kite Festival and I hope to see everyone out. There is an expanded flying field and special guest flyers the Windjammers from Michigan. We will also have "Niagara Windrider" coffee mugs for sale, a 50/50 draw with the proceeds going to a local charity, door prizes and special kite related prizes. At the end of the day, as always, the Barbecue for all the kiters who come out. The next regular kite fly will be on August 31. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this fly due to the fact that I will be helping my daughter move into campus life at Laurentian University. If anyone can take pictures for me and write up a bit about the day, I will post it for all to read.

May 2008 - Finally a Warm Sunny Day to Fly

Our May monthly kite fly turned out to be a gorgeous 20C sunny day with wind speeds of 10 to 14kms per hour. This was good enough for the 20 or so kiters to come out and enjoy the first signs of summer! I arrived at 1:00pm and there were several kites flying proudly in the blue sky (not a cloud in sight). I quickly assembled Pink Floyd and soon he was dancing with his friends.

As I started to put together my Crossdeck for its second flight of the year, Jim Westhouse pulled in beside my car. His transportation is very unique and I'm sure that he laughs every time he passes the gas pumps, especially at the prices these days. Jim has a solar rechargeable tricycle that he designed and built himself after he suffered a back injury. The Bike attracted just as much if not more attention than the kites! You can read his stories and see his pictures at http://www.jamesofontario.com/.

There were lots of kites of all shapes and sizes flying throughout the afternoon.

There were even strange creatures on the ground!

Young and old enjoyed the afternoon relaxing and watching the kites in the sky.



Here is a video of Tyrone flying a stunt kite. A NWKA newsletter first!


Halfway through the afternoon we held our "door" prize draw and here's what some members won: Bob Luft won a Diamond Eddy (seen in a picture above), Nancy Luft picked a sand anchor, I won a Canada Flag windsock, Russel Wade received a sand anchor and Paul Kort won a small sand anchor. Congratulations to the winners. More prizes next month for those who come out to fly which will be on June 29th at Lakeview Park. See you all in a month!

April 2008 Club Fly

Well, mother nature co-operated for the first fly of the 2008 season. The sun was out and the breeze was from the south west at 8-12 kms/hr. About 20 enthusiastic kiters came out to start the year of flying.

Tyrone tried out some newly acquired kites, one a $12, 2 line stunt kite from Walmart. He also had a try with a Revolution 4 line kite, and did well considering it was his first time. I gave him a 5 minute lesson and after another couple of tries, I saw him do some 360's.


I had a chance to try out the Crossdeck I made during the winter, and it looked great in the sky!
Vaino had a cool lil' devil line laundry hanging from his Sutton.

Paul tried to get Nemo up on his power sled, but even with the help of the grand master Bob White, there wasn't enough wind to get him in the air.

There were lots of different kites and characters in the air throughout the day, but none cuter than Bob's crazy kitty! This year we are starting something new, a 'door' prize draw for those in attendance. I'm not sure of who won what, but there were sand anchors, kite tails, and other prizes that I didn't see (4 or 5 in all). By the end of the day, everybody got caught up on the winter activities, new kite purchases, and getting reacquainted with good friends.

The next monthly fly will be on May 25th...hope to see more out next month!

March 2008 Kite Workshop

After 5 long months of winter that looked like it would never end, the 2008 kiting season opened with our annual kite making workshop. 24 eager kiters from 5 different clubs attended this year. Kiters mingled and caught up with the latest news while we had some coffee and donuts to help us through the morning. Bob White started things off with a very short "annual" meeting that saw no changes in the structure of the club. I guess everyone was in favour of getting the workshop underway.

The kite project was a "Big" Buka, a chinese design. Bob Luft headed up the design and tested all the steps for the workshop. Bob Luft started explaining the first steps and the 24 enthusiastic kites started cutting and sewing.


Judging from the picture of Vaino, you have to hold your tongue a certain way to get the sewing machine to cooperate. (Pete taught him this)

Some how we convinced Shephanie to prepare her famous "roast beast feast" again this year, and again, it was very delicious.

Well, there's always one in every crowd that just has to be the one to try to get on the teachers good side!

As the day progressed, the finishing touches were put on the kites, the spars were handed out and by around 3:00 pm everyone had a "big buka" to add to the ol' kite collection.

I'm sure you will see these kites with a bit more decoration the next time!

Thanks everyone who came out this year, Bob Luft for organizing, Bob White for getting the supplies, Stephanie for the great lunch, Paul and Mary Kort for getting the desserts, Fred and Donna for getting the drinks, Vaino Raun for getting the coffee.

Also a special welcome to our newest members...Rowan Sharkie, Maggie and Jason (Kate Racey's sister and brother-in-law) and Thom Shanken. We are looking forward to sharing the sky with you all this summer and getting to know you.

Hopefully the sun will stay out and help warm us up before the end of the month when we can try out our new kites. The April fly will take place at the usual Lakeview Park on the 27th. See you all at the end of the month.

Halloween Fly 2007

About 20 kiters, some strange, some normal came out to our annual October Halloween Fly. It was a crisp fall day that delivered all types of weather. It was definitely a winter coat and gloves day. Yes, we had wind, but it was from the northwest at the start and then shifted to coming from the north. This meant that we had finicky swirly winds. We also saw some sun and some rain. Luckily there was no s!*#.

The Korts set up a Coleman stove and we had HOT cider! Chris White (aka Sumo) brought some delicious baked goods. Some kiters were content to chat and catch up with friends rather than chancing getting out their kites only to reel them in if the skies opened up.

Some of the notable characters that came out to brave the weather were Thor, the Sumo wrestler, a country bumpkin, a bride, a scarecrow, a monk, a fireman and 2 princesses.

Yes, there were actually some kites in the air!


Some of the prizes that were awarded were for the cutest kiters...awarded to the Marks! I'm sure some of the female kiters would like to see Gary in next years Fireman Calender!, but the twins outshine him as princesses.

Terri & Tyrone unfortunately had to leave early, but I'm told they had made halloween based kites, and therfore won in this category.

BUT.....The grand prize goes to Fred Taylor as the 'crossdressing bride' and receives the CREEPIEST Halloween Costume award!

Well, that's about it for 2007. Now that weather is in a downslide, we can clear out the trunks and the minivans and store the kites in a nice warm place and wait for next season. We had a great summer for flying with the lack of rain, the great winds, and good friends! The directors are planning for next year and with the 30th anniversary of Canal Days, a bigger and expanded celebration for 2008. We hope to have a kite workshop in the spring to kick off the 2008 season, but we don't have a project yet.

Have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year!

September - Niagara International KiteFest

Our regular September Sunday fly was overtaken by the Niagara International Kite Festival.

This 4 day event attracted hundreds of spectators and some very notable international kite makers/fliers. Thursday and Friday events were held at Terrapin Point on Goat Island on the US side of the Falls. Both days were dedicated to try to fly a kite across the river. Thursday the winds were very light and came straight up the gorge. As far as I saw, there were no attempts made because the light winds. It was also very damp due to light rain and mist from the falls. Any kite that flew on Thursday became waterlogged within minutes.

Friday was a bit of a different story. The start of the day was damp as well, but the sun came out to play. The winds were directly towards the American side from Canada. If there was to be a crossing, Friday was the day to try. A team from the University of Buffalo was trying to launch a Delta from the Canadian side. The Delta had a specially rigged bridal that consisted of 2 flying lines. One was the main line and the other was rigged to the two wing tips. The theory was to get the kite over the American side and then by pulling the second line it would drop, similar to the brake lines of a quad line kite. The ingenuity and tenacity of the fliers on the Canadian side was overcome by the lack of wind. The big hill, trees and large hotels were blocking most of the wind! You can see the kite in the middle of this picture. This was the best try of the day.

Each of these days attracted the international fliers, and they entertained the sightseers with their unique kites and flying skills. One flier was a remote controlled clown flying a 2 line light wind kite. Some of the international kiters were Jose Sainz, Vania Beaubien, Christian Hoberg, Team iQuad, Iqbal Husain (kite train), Makoto Ohye (Japanese Kites) and many more.

Saturday and Sunday the venue changed to Reservoir Park near Lewiston. This is a HUGE open field great for flying! It has the I190 on the left side and Hwy 265 on the right and 5 minutes from the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge. There were cars slowing down and pulling over to see the large kites in the sky. I was only there on the Sunday, but I was told it was the better of the two days because of the wind. All I can say is that I have never witnessed anything like this before. At one point there were 7 giant Octopi in the air as well as a gecco, a crab, several fish, a cat, Ernie and the Count from Sesame Street as well as any other kite imaginable in the main flying field. Crowds were awed by demos by team iQuad, the Wind Jammers, The Sky Jesters, Ray Bethell from BC who is ~80 years young and flies 3 dual line kites at the same time! and too many more to mention. I found this website with detailed information http://www.steadywinds.com/

This event was truly an international event and I was thrilled to be involved. Thanks to Meg Albers who put this together and all who attended. Ted Shaw has posted his pictures and a few videos at http://community.webshots.com/user/dancer2e

Thank you to Terri who sent an update from the fly at Lakeview Park, here is what she wrote:

Hi Jim, just a note to let you know 6 flyers showed up in Port to fly. Tyrone and myself, Bob and Nancy and two older ladies, not sure of their names, Peggy may be one ( I know Nancy knows them) Tyrone played with his new res and Bob flew a number of different kites until the wind finally gave up on us. We all left about 3pm.
Terri

The next monthly fly will be on October 28 at Lakeview Park. This is our traditional Halloween Fly and it is rumoured that there will be HOT apple cider and snacks available. Bring out your scariest kites and costumes!