August 2010 - Fun Fly

Sunday August 29th turned out to be a very beautiful day. The sun was out, the temperature was great, not too much humidity and best of all WIND! The breeze was a steady 15-16 km. I put up my crossdeck and tied it to the car. As I mingled you could hear the string vibrating, it was very taught and singing in the wind.



Stephanie found this orange octopus in a variety store in the country near Port Dover. When she was letting the string out she found out that it wasn't tied at the end! It flew away and tried to find a home in the water. Luckily there was a man there playing with his dog, he stepped on the line and the kite stayed dry.

The Taylors set up the RV as "Home Base". It also provided some shade and an area for a meeting to discuss the year end kite fly.


Throughout the afternoon, many colorful kites flew. Passersby stopped to chat to ask about our kites. Drew had out his stack, but had to adjust it, so mostly it was on the ground.


Fred had his Rev out, showing what he learned in the Rev workshop put on by Bill and Kerry the day earlier.



As you can see, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the weather was perfect and the kites flew high and proud. There was a modest turnout of about 18 people, but we each had 2 or 3 kites up at one time. I hope the weather will be just as great for our September Fly on the 26th! Hope to see you all out for that one.

2010 Canal Days Kite Festival

The 18th Canal Days Kite Festival was a huge success! We had kiters from all over the area who put on a great show for the crowds. I think there were eight or nine different kite clubs in attendance. The weather was spectacular and the winds were adequate. Most of the day the winds were from the south at 8 to 10 kilometers and hour. The wind started the day from the north east, but shifted at around 11:00. Unfortunately they were not strong enough to get any of the big inflatables on the field, but there were enough other demos and kites in the air to show off our sport.

The Windjammers performed several routines to please the crowds. There were also demos of rev stacks, dual line tricks, a huge cellular homemade double star, a traditional chinese dragon kite, Miss Ohio the kite flying chicken, and Max the Parabear.

The day ended with our appreciation barbeque and awards presentation. As usual, Bob White found an old kite orientated magazine cover for the "special" awards. We also had the prize give aways. Thom Shenken won the grand prize, the hand made Boreal Kite. Ted Shaw won the 50/50 draw ($117) , the other half that we donate to a local charity. There were 18 other "door" prizes that were given away too.

A special "Thankyou" to all the Windriders who helped during the day by keeping the field safe, performing, donating their time by getting and preparing the food for the Barbeque.

I talked with several of the visiting attendees who complimented us on such a great event! It seems that we have one of the best festivals in the area and they look forward to coming each year.

Instead of uploading all my pictures twice, I am linking my picasa album for the festival. It has all the pictures I took and 3 videos. Click the picture below to see it. If anyone wants their web album linked to this blog send me an email and I'll add it.



Here's a link to Carlos Simoes' album http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/578300648PJMxyr

Here's a link to Brendan Burge's album http://gallery.me.com/brendanburge#100269

Doug Isherwood's album http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougish1954/sets/72157624639295450/

Jim Peck's pictures http://ezontheyes.smugmug.com/Kites/PORT-COLBORNE-ONTARIO-CANAL/13177315_y8f4t#956206780_5jZ4G

Gary Maynard (Windjammer) images http://www.flickr.com/photos/windjammer/sets/72157624640442464/

Here's Ted Shaw's album http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/578317298jMJNmA