The first events of the morning were sport kite competitions. I caught one of the teams doing a demonstration for the crowd before competition started.
The next order of business was the cody fly... a mass ascension of nothing but cody kites. Everyone who came out onto the field and flew a cody kite got a cloisonne pin.
Like a formation of bombers
A big cody ready for launch
Up and away
Several miniature codys were flown
A flight of codys (just follow the line up to mine)
The next event was the Teddy Bear Drop for children nine and under. Fifteen names were drawn from all the kids that registered, and those kids got to go out on the field and catch a parachuting bear.
After lunch they held the parade of colors. Anyone with a banner could participate. The parade started on the boardwalk, and from there the 'flagbearers' walked down from the dunes to the main field.
For us the last event of the day was the mass ascension for flat & bowed kites.
Mike on the left, me on the right & Rhonda below
Rhonda's Brasington kite flying next to a kite made & flown by
Loik Lamalle from France
Something musical
Beautiful graphics
The two 'asteroid' kites belong to Basser Poulter.
The organza tails flow like flames.
Before leaving the beach for the day I took the time to photograph some of the new creatures in the air.
A centipede
A caterpillar
A squid
My last stop for the day was to visit with Ray Bethell.
Ray's the good looking guy on the left
These banners were made for last year's tribute to
Ray at WSIKF
I met Ray when he came to Hawaii in the mid to late 80s to participate in the Hawaii Challenge Kite Festival. Ray has been flying kites for a long time. But Ray isn't satisfied with flying one kite at a time; he flies three kites at one time. Most people have trouble rubbing their head and patting their stomachs at the same time, but Ray (whom, by the way, is 87 years young) flies a two-line kite with one hand, a second kite with his other hand and a third kite with his hips... and he choreographs their movements with music. We didn't get to see him fly three-at-a-time this year due to a foot injury and a hip that's going bad. But you can still see his amazing kite flying skills on video.
This is Ray Bethell doing what he does best!
