Kites Over Grinnell, Sat.

Date: 5/9/09 (12th day in a row)
Place: Kites Over Grinnell, Grinnell, IA
Kites: Skyfox on 85', Wren on 16', Skate
Wind: 15-25 (gusts to 30) mph, NW
Weather: Mostly sunny, 55-64º

I got up at 5:30 a.m. to drive up to Grinnell, IA for a two-day kite festival. It was a bit colder than this last week, but sunny and a great day to fly kites. The wind was stronger than I like, but that was good for the mega-kites (octopi and such) that were in the air. I was told that the strong wind was not good for the hot air balloon that they tried to launch early in the day. I guess it pulled several cars along and damaged one vehicle when it was pulled over the big fan they use to inflate the balloon.

I flew my little Skyfox kite for a while - it does fine in the strong wind and one must fly a kite at a kite festival! I had to have help launching it a couple times. This older-style kite mostly does not self-launch, other than one time where I got lucky. A broken bridle caused me to stop flying the 'fox. I think it was just the many years of use and time and then the strong wind and maybe a gust that broke it. I do still have the instructions for making a new one, a task for a rainy day.

Ryan from Kansas City was very generous and let me fly his Wren inside for quite a while. It was very fun and I noticably got better as I also got tired (and sweaty) from walking fast backwards to fly it. It is easier to fly inside than my Prism 3d. After flying the Wren a while and talking to several people, I may change my mind about purchasing one and get some other kite for inside instead of a Wren.

Also inside were some exhibits of Kite Areial Photography (KAP) by Craig Wilson and a display of kite memerabilia. There were some other inside kites, mostly Craig Wilson's. I'll add some photos and maybe a video later when I have my camera stuff ready.

Paul Krekel let me borrow his single-string Skate kite to fly for a while inside on the other side of the gym from where a demo was happening. It was a lot of fun and I will eventually purchase a Skate. It is a very graceful glider.

In the evening there was an indoor kite competition. There weren't too many competors and there was a variety including a single line butterfly kite, several dual-line kites including a 2-stack, and a quad-line Revolution kite.

By the time the dusk "lighted kite" fly was to happen, the wind had died down to nothing. So that event didn't happen.