We turned up Early to discover the arena was too small to even lay out our shortest team lines. We should have said no there and then but we did try to put on a display for them We managed to keep the kites within the arena most of the afternoon but it was tricky. Later the rain took hold and the event was cancelled. To be honest we were grateful it was over.
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May 17th-21st Brean Training Holiday We flew Stardust foils in 25 mph wind. The kites were doing about 80mph and were a complete blur. The kites were passing within 20cms of each other 150ft away. The wind is like butter on Brean beach when it comes off the sea. We could easily hold the kites vertically in line at the edge of the window. Chris and Alan and I did some scudding with a Firebee 3sqm. Chris left perfect slalom Trails up the beach. It must be something to do with his skiing but all the trails went the same way each time. I even got to play my guitar quietly on the beach (not a good idea). Every day we tried new music Flew ate drank flew again ate some more and went to bed saying Ahh this is the life. If anybody was to ask me I think these weeks away are my favourite time with the Team. It's all so much fun. Dave
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Alan Poxon bought along a white Tyvek protection suit and bridled
it up. It didn't fly but it looked like the invisible man when you held
onto the bridles and inflated it. Graham added sunglasses to complete
the effect.
July 10th Harthill Carnival
We always say "The Teams needs a square area of 75metres to perform in".
But every now and then someone doesn't listen. So we turn up and the
arena is 50metres by 30metres but with luck most of the wind was going
towards in the longest direction. We set up Chris's Gazebo and put our
kites together and tried out the area and found we could manage three
kites on very restricted lines. Graham informed the organiser and they
seemed fine about it. So we flew our first display quite well on strange
equipment. For the second show the wind had shifted. We wound up flying
over the top of a telegraph pole on every cross pass. But we kept going
and produced a good display. You know next year, they ask for us
to display again so we say "Can you guarantee an arena of 75x75metres"
and they say "yes no problem." at first then they think a bit,, and say
well no actually we can't so we have to tell them we can't perform for
them. It's only the second show we have ever turned down and we did it
with great reluctance.
August 1st
Pickering's Pastures Wigan
What a wonderful place to fly when the wind comes straight off the river
Mersey as it did all day we marked out and staked our arena. We flew
two complete routines and did some trick stuff between just for fun. The
routines were accurate and the wind allowed us to do everything we
wanted. The he ain't heavy pairs routine actually only had one glaring
error caused by the slope up of the ground down wind of us. We had to stay
higher in a cross pass than normal and the wrap was a bit tight. But
it's coming on.
August 15th Coventry Kite
Festival
Wallace n Grommit won the Coventry cup beating the opposition with lot's
of refuels including a refuel landing. I have never been so pleased than
being able to send Alan Bill home with the Giant Trophy. The team
flew really well in next to no wind, but we where all concentrating on
just flying everything we could all day. I spent less time on the PA
this year but I still like to be heavily involved, as Sue is quite ill
and I can't get out very often.
August 29th 30th Moor Green Show.
We arrived at the show after battling through the massive traffic jam
that led up to it. Set up on a corner of the arena with Chris's gazebo
and our chairs. We got a chance to check the arena wind and, well it was
nasty. It was Fairly Strong and being chopped up by some trees upwind so
the middle of the arena was very difficult to fly in and the rest was
not much better. We managed to put on a show despite this and even did a
mini trick out in the second show. My multi fly was a little rough but I
kept it in the air and landed on time. The Team flying was a test of
nerve as you could hit a hole in the wind at any time but there were no
crashes and we landed one at a time to make sure we were safe.
October 2nd Beacon
Park Lichfield
We were asked to put on a show using only 18th century music so we
scoured our collections and came up with a few pieces we could fly to.
we already new we would be in the middle of the park and when we got
there the guys were ready to set up the arena so we two of us helped
while the other two set up the Chris's gazebo we added the walls, as
were certain of rain, I set up the generator and pa system and tested it
out. It started to rain so we retreated under shelter. Luckily it Dried
up just in Time for our first performance. We improvised well to the
unfamiliar pieces and I particularly liked flying to the Cello prelude
that my brother used to play when I was younger. The second display was
delayed because of the rain but we flew well again the crowd increased
every time we displayed. At the 3pm one, we had a whole side of the
arena crowded with people, who gave us generous applause. Despite the
weather it was a good days flying.