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 their gallery at
Kitefliers
Kite Gallery.
And Jim Martin puts a bunch up at his Fotki
photo page.
January 2008
| 5 - |
Invigorating! That's the best way to describe a mostly sunny day with temps
around 50 and winds from 2 - 14 mph this early in January. 8 flyers can't be
wrong! This was a great way to start the 2008 flying year. And on such a fine
day, another flyer dabbled on the Dark Side. |
| |
|
| 19 - |
Third Saturday - Waaay too cold and crummy. Hopefully February will be
better. |
| 26 - |
|
February 2008
| 2 - |
Happy Groundhog Day! If you were a groundhog and were at Frank Liske Park
today, we'd be having 6 more weeks of winter. It was sunny. It was in the mid
50's. It was blowing between 3 and 6 mph. There were 9 flyers. When I left at 4
pm, there were still people flying. Good way to start the month. |
| 9 - |
You gotta take it when you can get it! Winds 8 - 16; sky - sunny; temps
about 60 degrees; flyers - 6; Mint Hill Park by the volleyball courts. Only
casualty was Stu's kite (the spine blew up). Great day for quads but the duals
were everywhere. There was a couple guys flying an old Top of the Line over in
the corner but we never talked with them. I hope it's this nice next weekend. |
| 16 - |
Third Saturday - As usual the winds were light and the dual line stunters
ruled. But we made good contact with the Park people and it should be beneficial
for all of us. |
| 23 - |
|
March 2008
| 1 - |
First Saturday -
Refreshing. That's the best word I can think of to describe today. Sunny skies,
very pleasant temps and a good breeze. Although the winds varied between 2 and
12, it made for a pretty good flying day. Duals, singles and quads, 8
WACKOS and several families with kids running around flying their own kites. And
some folks that weren't flying, were sitting on the side of the hill watching.
Folks, we need to start bringing wind farm stuff and single line kites to the
park again. The wind farm gets attention from people driving in and from the
playground. They'll see us flying and come down to visit or perhaps they'll
bring a kite the next time they come. So if you have older single lines that you
don't fly much anymore, bring them to the park and maybe we'll find that one kid
that just needs a kite to play with to get him (or her) started on the same path
we follow.
|
| 8 - |
|
| 15 - |
Third Saturday - This is Lake Park Kite Day from 10 am to 2 pm in
Founders Park. We've been asked back again so bring your single line stuff and
be ready to help the kids of Lake Park fly their kites. If you want to play with
duals or quads bring very short lines - there isn't much room. Or better
yet, save them until the field empties towards the end of the festival. You
could also go back to fly after a WACKOS lunch someplace. This was probably
one of two best Lake Park Kite Days since we've flown. The sky was forbidding
but cleared and warmed up by noon and the winds actually came and stayed this
year. There were a lot of enthusiastic families and several enthusiastic WACKOS.
We flew single, dual and quad line kites the whole time and chowed down later at
La Unica in Indian Trail. Stu summed it up this way, "I
went on Lake Park's home page and they had plenty of pictures of our kites,
including our banners. Gerhard made it on the front page of this one....go to
http://www.lakeparknc.com and the pictures are
on the front page. This was a good festival this year, with decent winds this
time. Thanks to all who came out. It was fun!" If you looked at
their publicity page for this event, they listed, "Demonstrations from WACKOS
kite flying club". Somewhere, there's a photo of smiling WACKOS with their kites
and banners in Founder's Park. Brian put up a few pictures, too. See
Brian's
webshots. |
| 23 - |
Easter Weekend |
| 29 - |
Smithsonian Kite Festival, Washington, DC - http://kitefestival.org/ |
April 2008
| 5 - |
First Saturday -
Shelton
Vineyards Wind & Wine Festival, Dobson, NC. Unfortunately, we got rained
out Saturday and the few times when it wasn't raining the wind was non-existent.
but we had a good indoor display set up and taught a lot of "little folks" how
to fly little kites indoors. We even sold a few kites for Sunday's flying. A
couple of us took advantage of the lack of activity to tour the vineyard and
winery. After enough rain to float an ark, Sunday started with some sun but no
rain and a light, variable wind. It wasn't roaring but it was enough to raise a
252 Flow form, a large Octopus, ghost delta, a Blue Moon 61/49, eddys, deltas, a
roller and a handful of others. There were some dual lines and a Rev plying the
light winds. But the winds were shifting and variable so steady flying was
haphazard. Fortunately, our hosts at Shelton Vineyard were very understanding
and are already talking about the 2009 Shelton Vineyards Wind & Wine Festival.
Thanks to everyone that came to Dobson. We had a great time despite the weather.
Jim Martin put some pictures up to share at his Fotki site - see
Jim
Martin's photo album and then check out these pictures at >>
Brian's
webshots <<.
Crossroads Church
Kites Over Cabarrus - I just heard about this event last weekend from our
"new best friend at Frank Liske Park", Tina Pritchard. This is a first year
event hosted by the church at the park and they would like some help. If you
will be in the area for this first Saturday event at FLP and want to fly demos
or help with the festival, please contact Kara McAbee at Crossroads Church; her
number is at the link above. |
| 12 - |
Flying at Ft Defiance, Fort
Defiance 18th Century Plantation 10-5 or so. This event is in it's 3rd year,
is growing every year and everyone that has gone had a fun but challenging time
with winds and weather. It's a good chance to go to the mountains, explore an
18th Century home site and fly a few kites. By early afternoon, the morning
drizzle cleared out, the clouds were gone and the sun came out. Lots of WACKOS
this year, including Ken & Holly McNeill, Frazer & family from Raleigh and Paul
from Blowing In The Wind. Eddie captured some good shots and put them on his
Web Album;
Brian added more on
webshots |
| 19 - |
Third Saturday Blue Ridge Kite Festival, Salem, VA. The 10th Annual
festival was a good one! Variable winds most of the day allowed for some pretty
good flying. The first pics are on the net at
Ninjak2k Webshots;
Patrick added more at
stackflyer's
webshots and here are some on
Grumpy's flickr page. The Saturday night slide show was a hoot! If anyone has photos, let me know and
I'll put the link here.
Family Fun Kite Festival, Perry Memorial Park, Aiken, SC. Anyone have news or
photos? |
| 26 - |
Day at the Docks, Holden Beach - John was the only one there, since he lives
at Holden, but he did himself proud. Best show they've had in a couple years.
click
>> here << to see some of John's pictures. |
May 2008
| 3 - |
First Saturday at FLP |
| 4 - |
Sunday - Oliver Webster, Superintendent of Recreation, Albemarle
Parks and Recreation has set up a festival for Sunday. He wrote,
The Festival will be from
2
to
5 pm.
It is at the Soccer Complex on the
Stanly
Community College
campus. There are three full size fields, each on its own level. I will be
setting up the kite Workshop and the DJ/commentary on the bottom field which is
next to the bathrooms.
Inland flying is the same everywhere and we had a lot of it
this afternoon. It started out pretty good as a large Manta ray made his
presence known along with a 252 with streamer tail. Several single liners, dual
liners and a couple quad heads were able to get in some good flying but by late
afternoon, the wind totally stopped. It was still a pretty good show for those
that came to watch and there were a few kids kites in the air, too. It was great
to have some music for flying. Thanks, Oliver, for having us over. Please come
and fly with us at Frank Liske Park. Brian missed the Manta
Ray in the air but got these shots. Click this link >>
Brian's Albemarle
Fly 08 << to see his web shots. Jim, however, captured the Manta Ray
in the air. See
Jim's Stanley County album. |
| 10 |
|
| 17 - |
Third Saturday - WACKOS Spring Festival (or whatever) in conjunction with
International Migratory Bird Day, Frank Liske Park.
WOW! That's all I can say. This is what it looked like around 11 a.m. once
the banners went up and most everyone had arrived.
We haven't had a gathering of WACKOS and families this large in several
years. One of our members wrote, "This has to be one of
the best days I have had at the park since I began flying there in 2003. It was
so beautiful, and there was such a good turn out. I wish we could see this type
of weather and turn out more often.". There are a bunch of photos here in
>>
Eddie's Album << and more here in >>
Brian's webshots
<<. And yes, that is a picture of Grumpy, in Eddie's album, flying a
quad and I think I see a hint of a smile on his face. Jim Martin has added a few
at >>
Jim's albums <<.
If you have photos or video in your albums, please let me
know and I'll add the links.
For those of you that made it to the park, a heartfelt thanks for coming to
fly and bringing friends and family. We talked to a lot of people that came to
the park for Migratory Bird Day, made their own sled kites and joined us flying
them. I'm sure many of them will be back to fly with us again.
|
| 24 |
Memorial Day weekend, Monday is Memorial Day. |
| 31 |
|
June 2008
| 7 - |
First Saturday |
| 14-15 |
26th Rogallo Kite Festival, Jockey's Ridge State Park |
| 21 - |
Third Saturday - Pops in the Park. Unfortunately, the weather
didn't cooperate and there wasn't much opportunity to fly. Perhaps the next
time.
|
| 28 - |
|
July 2008
| 5 - |
First Saturday - 4th of July weekend; Saturday is the 5th.
Wouldn't you know it! After a week of windy days, the winds left us
with a still, hot day and humidity like syrup. Smoke from charcoal
grills at the park drifted lazily upwards into the heat. Strips of mylar
on fiberglass rods hung limply to the ground. An occasional teaser
breeze would come under the trees but it disappeared quickly. In early
evening, the air is still calm and the temperatures have subsided. Not a
good flying day in Piedmont Carolina.
However, Grumpy & John had a great flying day at the beach on the
4th. Grumpy wrote, "The 4th started when John and
Pricilla, Susan and I started setting up about 10 o'clock with 8 to 10
mph wind. It increased to 10 to 12 for most of the day and ended around
4 with the wind up to 15 to 18. We had sunshine with the temp
being 86. A perfect day for flying. People coming on the beach would go
to one side and leave us room to set up kites, which is a first for
here. Normally we have to set anchors around and among people. Hope you
had a nice 4th.". Click here
to see "their show" at Holden Beach. Grumpy put more photos in
his Flickr albums.
Click here to go to his album.
|
| 12-13 |
29th Wright Kite Fest, Wright Memorial, Kitty Hawk - Did anyone go? |
| 19 |
Third Saturday - If it isn't too hot, let's get out and welcome Stu
back from France. I don't think he did enough flying while he was gone. |
| 26 |
|
August 2008
| 2 |
First Saturday - Weather guessers say, "Mostly sunny. Hot with
highs in the mid 90s. West winds around 5 mph. 20% chance of
thunderstorms." I don't believe the wind prediction for a minute but
I'll believe the temperature. Humidity is expected to start around 95%
and drop to around 50% or so in the afternoon. Welcome to August in the
Carolinas. I'm going to find a nice
cool place and sip sweet iced tea. |
| 9 |
|
| 16 |
Third Saturday - |
| 23 |
|
| 30,31 |
Through Sept 1 - Mile High Kite Fly, Beech Mtn, NC. From the Chamber
of Commerce page: August 31, 2008. A September (Labor Day weekend)
favorite that offers kite enthusiasts the rare chance to fly a kite at a
mile above sea level. Richmond Air Force, Wings Across Carolina Kiting
and Okra Society Kiting Clubs will be showing their stuff as well. We
offer kite building and decorating clinics so be sure to bring your
supplies. Sunday was one of the best days we've had at the Mile
High Kite Fly. Sunny and warm with decent flying even though the winds
were up and down. Ultra-lights and easy flying single line kites were
the order of the day although we did get a chance to get Jim's big Manta
Ray in the air for a few minutes. A bunch of tired kite flyers ate their
fill at the picnic Sunday night. A great finish to a great day!
Eddie's placed some photo's
>> here<< and Brian has some photos
>> here
<<. If anyone else has some photos, let me know and I'll post
a link here.
Monday morning, Beech Mountain was solidly in the clouds. |
September 2008
| 6 |
First Saturday - Wunnerful, wunnerful! Nice day: Hanna sent a few
breezes our way, the skies were mostly clear and warm and we flew most
of the afternoon. There weren't a lot of photos taken because we
were too busy flying. But check out a few at Brian's weblog
here. |
| 13 |
|
| 20 |
Third Saturday - Nice. Sunny. Warm. Enough breeze to keep
ultralights aloft with a little work. Early was better as the winds were
up to about 8 mph but slowed down by mid-afternoon. It was a tough day
for big foils and big deltas, however. For the short time some of the
stuff was in the air, it was worth it. |
| 23-27 |
AKA Convention, Gettysburg, Pa. See the
AKA web site. |
| 27 |
WACKOS At-home Fun Fly. For anyone not going to Gettysburg, let's
"convene" at Frank Liske Park for a local fun fly. |
| 28 |
If you can, join Mike & Judy at the Hampton Inn in Dobson (I-77,
Exit 93) for a little afternoon flying near the Shelton Vineyards. About
two hours from Charlotte. There's a Dairy Queen at the exit, too. |
October 2008
| 4 |
First Saturday |
| 11 |
|
| 18 |
Third Saturday |
| 25 |
|
November 2008
| 1,2 |
Cape Fear Kite Festival
Click the link at left to go to the festival web site. It's being
updated but that's the best place to get the latest info. As in years
past, the festival was held in front of the
Shell Island Resort.
Great festival. Winds were light early Saturday but picked up for a
pretty decent day. Sunday, however, was great!
Click here to see some
video from a local news station. Jim & Laura put a big album on
kitefliers.com, click
HERE.
Then there's
Roger's
Stringy Stuff and more put up by Barry and Karen at
WhataKite.
Not to be outdone, Jim Martin filled his fotki page,
click HERE and Grumpy uploaded to his
flickr page. Check out Dave Gomberg's update page,
Gomberg Kites
Weekly Update. And, there are pictures on the
Cape Fear Kite
Festival Gallery page, too. |
| 8 |
|
| 15 |
Third Saturday |
| 22 |
|
| 27-29 |
Thanksgiving on the Dunes in Nags Head, NC. Contact Scott Koenig,
melnsct at aol dot com for details. |
December 2008
| 6 |
First Saturday - 2nd last club fly of 2008. Take a break from the
shopping and come out and have some fun! |
| 13 |
|
| 20 |
Third Saturday - Let's try and get out before everyone scatters for
the holidays. |
| 27 |
|
|
