13th Weymouth International Beach Kite Festival
Saturday 3rd- Monday 5th May 2003
Location: The
Beach, Weymouth, Dorset
Organised by: The
Kite Society of Great Britain
Page 1: Club Kites | Guest
kites from the USA | Traction | Airbow
Page 2: International Kites and Flyers
The 13th Weymouth International Beach Kite Festival was
held on the traditional May Bank Holiday weekend, with Saturday being
a free-flying day, and Sunday & Monday packed with a programme of
events covering many different aspects of kiting. These included displays
of box kites, Rokkaku kite fights, creatures of the sea in the 'Seascape',
kite display teams Matrix Management and The Flying Squad, displays by
the Brighton Kite Flyers, Avon Kite Flyers and White Horse Kite Flyers,
and also guest flyers from all over the world: USA, France, Italy, Germany
and Holland - not to mention the numerous UK kite flyers who attended!
The weather was fantastic on Sunday and Monday - warm and
sunny with mostly clear blue skies. As a result, thousands of public flocked
to the Promenade to watch the kites flying. The kite traders reported
good business and the event was certainly a great success.
Notable occurrences during the weekend:
- Andy Wardley was previewing his new design quad line trickable kite,
the Airbow. See the photos below!
- Watching David Gomberg wading quite far into the (very cold) sea
on Monday morning to retrieve two kites which had become entangled -
"Beyond the call of duty". He was later rewarded for his bravery
in the Awards Ceremony. (He did say his pants were still wet, at 4pm!).
- Also on Monday, the Avon Kite Flyers were flying Roly the Mega Whale,
when he lurched over to one side and caught around a metal post, causing
a large rip down one side of him. Oops!
Beach Control were much stricter this year about keeping
members of the public out of the kite flying arenas, and it was well enforced
- anyone without an official badge was quickly ushered out by the stewards
on patrol. We would like to thank the Kite Society and Weymouth Tourism
for organising this great event once again and ensuring the safety of
all involved.
Enjoy the two pages of photographs!
Club Kites
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| Brighton Kite Flyers |
Happy Lobster! |
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| Avon Kite Flyers (AKF) flying Roly the mega whale |
AKF club delta |
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| AKF's "Albert Ross" by Martin Lester |
The Boop Troop (all their kites have Betty Boop on them) |
Guest kites from the USA
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| Spiky bols ('Madonnas') by Gomberg Kite Productions |
Bol Race |
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| David Gomberg |
Bary Crites |
Peter Lynn Geckos |
Traction
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| Mike Shaw from Flexifoil flying the Storm water-relaunchable
kitesurfing kite |
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| Flexifoil's new Blade 3 (blue) flying alongside two Blade II's |
Dan Eaton of Powerkiteshop |
Mark Lycett |
Airbow
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| The new quad-line Airbow, designed by Andy Wardley and
soon to be in production by Benson Kites |
Airbow Update (22/10/2003):
Check out the Flying
Techniques webpage for video clips and other images.
More photos on Page 2 of Weymouth
International Beach Kite Festival 2003
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