2007 WACKOS Flying Schedule
The First and Third Saturday of the month at Frank Liske Park
(Other activities, and where they'll be are also shown)

For other events around the country, click here to visit the AKA  web site and select "Event Calendar.

Sometimes, I don't get all the good pictures. But Jim & Laura post theirs for everyone to enjoy. Check out the  gallery at Kitefliers Kite Gallery. 
And Jim Martin puts a bunch up at his Fotki photo page.

The dates in bold are the first and third Saturday.
 
January 2007
Monday the 1st -  Anybody want to fly on New Year's Day?  Since FLP is probably closed, let's try Mint Hill Park in the morning.
6 - First Saturday
13 - The 10th Annual Treasure Island Kite Festival is over and it was a great success. The weather was wonderful - high 70s, clear skies, moderate & variable winds about 3 - 12 mph and a sky full of kites. There were about 50 - 60 flyers from Cape Cod and all down the East Coast, mass ascensions, kite making, a kite store, dual & quad demos and free lessons, a short mini competition to show spectators what that was about, candy and animal drops, a hot tricks shootout, kites everywhere and night flys for those that couldn't sleep. Kite flyers were spread along more than 200 yards of beach with two 200' fields for demos. There was a constant stream of spectators and/or tourists, all of them curious, most of them families and many of them with new kites they bought and flew at the festival. There were reps from Premier & Revolution flying demo kites. The Rib Fest Saturday night was plentiful and the auction afterwards was quite spirited. It was great to see old friends and make some new ones.

Gary sent me some links to photo pages from the festival. Check them out:  Gary's photo'sJudy's photosJay & Sherri's photos and  Rick's photos . Enjoy

20 - Third Saturday - Not a bad day today. Winds were decent, though variable - something new, huh? Sunny but a little cool. There were a lot of dual flyers today, Welcome James!, and a couple single lines in the air. Even saw a Deca UL in the lighter winds. If you weren't there, you missed meeting two new WACKOS of the canine persuasion. Dory brought Tucker and Sophie up for a look around. They seemed to enjoy watching the kites but weren't ready to fly anything yet. Maybe this Spring.
27 - Nothing scheduled .. yet. The weather's looking pretty good, though.

February 2007
3 - Cold. Flying with gloves was a new experience for some.
17 - Way too cold to fly. But the lunch at La Unica was pretty good.
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March 2007
3 - First Saturday - Uhhh........It was Windy.  (Helen Hunt quote from the movie Twister). There was around 11 of us flying a mix of duals and singles. Jim Martin was trying out a KAP Rig and taking some pictures. The breakage total for the day was two kites. My Blue Angels single line has probably had it, and Susie learned that when you set a stunter down and walk away in high winds you should pull out the standoffs and detension the sail. Her kite has one broken lower  spreader after tumbling around on the ground in a self imposed tip wrap. No quads or vented revs but we coulda used em! It was 13-18mph almost all day. There were reports of gusts as high as 35 1/2 mph.
 
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17 - Third Saturday - Uhhh........It was Windy. Again! And cold, too. The wind chill had to be in the 30's even with the sun shining. There weren't many of us but we were obviously the hardiest on this cold day. It was a good day for some fast dual line flying and my Rev II loved it. I think the dark side sunk it's claws deeper into Eddie after he flew the Rev II for a few minutes. Fortunately, he realized it might be too windy for his Blast.
24 - Lake Park Kite Day, Founders Park - It was a beautiful Spring day in NC, but unfortunately, it was another low to no wind Kite Day in Lake Park. It didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the kids flying their plastic kites but it was real difficult to fly anything very large. It also didn't seem as thought there were as many people as in years past and the festival was over a little earlier, too..
31 -  Smithsonian Kite Festival, Washington, DC - http://kitefestival.org/
April 2007
1 - Sunday, This event has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. We'll see about getting down there later this year.
7,8 - Easter weekend
14 - Flying at Ft Defiance, Fort Defiance 18th Century Plantation
21 - Blue Ridge Kite Festival,  Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce
28 - Day at the Docks, Holden Beach - This was a much better festival (for us) than the last couple of years. We had some 'sideways' on-shore breezes, strong at times, and we managed to put on a small but decent "show". Sunday was pretty nice, too, but the winds didn't cooperate as much. We put up a few things but the beach was pretty short for big stuff and long lines. Most of us flew duals and quads.

Hector and Grumpy have some pictures - (Grumpy put some pictures up in his online Photo album - click here to see the album.) I'm still waiting to on Hector to get copies to me to post a page here. If you have some photos of the festival, let me know where they are on the web or get them to me and I'll add them, too.

May 2007
5 - First Saturday

11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Midwood Park, Charlotte, demos for Remax Realty. Unfortunately, this event was rained out.

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19 - Oldies but Goodies Kite Day at FLP. Let's see - we had sunny skies, temps in the mid-70's, mild but flyable winds -what else did we need?

Grumpy was the first at the park and had the best winds until he had to leave for work. Jim had the oldest (and oddest) kite and another kite he carried the  farthest to get here. Stu flew the most - how unusual is that? Brian traveled the farthest to get to the park; Susie traveled the shortest. Eddie brought the most stuff and flew the biggest kite. Keith brought the youngest flyer (Kyle) and had the most Ultra's. Marty brought the most quad kites. Kyle flew an MEFM for the first time - what a kite to start on!

We missed the rest of you.

21 Riverview Elementary School, Fort Mill, SC - We were asked to put on a small kite show for some 1st to 5th graders that were tops in their reading program for the school year. There were about 40 kids and a couple teachers. We did our best with a lack of wind but managed to keep the kids entertained for a short time. Thanks to Susan, Grumpy and Laura for taking the time to entertain the kids.

I received this note from one of the organizers at the school,

I can tell you from what I heard about your visit was that everyone was thrilled.
The kids had lots of questions and enjoyed your demonstration very much. I am sure that
the rest of the school would have loved to have seen it too. 
I absolutely apologize, first for my absence, for the lack of wind and field
conditions.  What are the odds of all of that!?  We so appreciate the time
you all took to come down here to share your passion with our kids.  

I will certainly look to the sky when we play our soccer games at Frank Liske
park.  Thank you again on behalf of The Riverview PTO, the Media specialist
and the kids.
26 Saturday before Memorial Day.
June 2007
2 First Saturday - Cloudy skies made for cooler temperatures and parts of TS Barry came by to add a little wind to the day. The best flying today was done with ultra-lights. We got in some pretty good flying
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16 Third Saturday - Once again, cloudy skies kept the temperatures down until late in the afternoon when the clouds parted and gave us some sunshine. The winds were decent, anywhere from 2 or 3 up to about 8 - nothing steady but I kept a Rev stack flying most of the time I was there.
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July 2007
7 First Saturday
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21 Third Saturday - We got out and flew something! Slightly cooler temperatures, half the predicted winds but better than nothing and lots of people! There was a big crowd of flyers including two grandsons and a new family whose kids had a ball flying their plastic eddys. There were lots of dual lines and a couple progressive Rev stacks in the intermittent winds. It sure was nice to see some new faces and old friends again. Flying with friends sure beats flying alone. A good day.
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August 2007
4 First Saturday - Hot! Hot! Hot!
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18 Third Saturday - Hot! Hot! Hot!
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September 2007
1 Mile High Kite Fly, Beech Mountain, NC

Once again, another good time. After a hard rain and heavy clouds on the field Friday night and Saturday morning, we had variable winds but mostly clear skies and warm temps Sunday . There was good representation by both the WACKOS and RAF; the crowd was slightly smaller but no less enthusiastic. And we all got a visit to the Land of Oz before we left.

Ruth & Keith from our Atlanta chapter (they are in fact our complete Atlanta chapter) came for the first time and we look forward to seeing them in Wrightsville Beach in November.

Eddie put up some great pictures from the Mile High Kite Fly. Click here >> Eddie's Beech Mtn photo page . Enjoy them and thank Eddie for posting them so quickly. And Ken McNeill snuck in a few, too. See his album at Ken's FLICKR album.. Note the photo with 4 Ichiban's in the air! Doug Charleville  captured more at ndcmpc webshots .If anyone else has any photos posted or wants to put some here, send a note to OkraEater.

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15  Third Saturday - A nice day overall. Temps weren't high (for a change) and neither were the winds but there was enough to keep 10 flyers flying' - single, dual and quad lines. New flyers and new kites; old flying friends and well-flown kites made a day of it. It's been a long time since we had a flying-friendly day like this. I sure hope this means the start of a great Fall season.

David, you been to see the WACKOS twice now - you're getting hooked. Come back to the park Oct 6th and bring your kite!

There's two more weekends this month. Let's get together again if we can.

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October 2007
6 First Saturday
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20 Third Saturday
27,28 20th Annual Carolina Kite Festival, Atlantic Beach, NC. See http://kitesunlimitednc.com/kitefest.html
November 2007
3,4 Cape Fear Kite Festival

Despite the shifting winds, swirling sands and uncooperative tides, there was a whole lotta flyin' going on! A dozen big Octopi, Rev's everywhere, a body-slamming Manta Ray, flyers from the East and West USA , Canada, a banquet and spirited auction and a shrimp boil. There wasn't anything wrong with this weekend.

Check these links for some pictures.

Grumpy's Festival gallery

Jim Martin's Festival album

Kelly Mayhew's Webshots

Kitefliers.com Festival gallery

Eddie  Sprouse's Picasa album

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17 Third Saturday -   It was supposed to be sunny but cooler and it was. It was nice while the Sun was out but got cooler, almost cold, when the clouds hid the sun - ask Beverly & McKenzie. But there was enough wind for decent flying - ask Gerhard, Ed, Eddie, Brian, Stu and Marty. It was a short flying day but it was a decent day.
24 Thanksgiving weekend - will anyone be around? Frank Liske Park will probably be closed Thanksgiving Day but Mint Hill should be available. If you want to fly sometime this weekend, send a note around and see if anyone will join you.  Work off some of that stuffing!
December 2007
1 First Saturday - 2nd last club fly of 2007. Take a break from the shopping and come out and have some fun!
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15 Third Saturday - Let's try and get out before everyone scatters for the holidays.
22 3 more days to Christmas. I hope Santa brings you lots of kites and wind toys!
29 Y'all have a happy and safe New Year! Remember that next Saturday is the first flying day of 2008!