WSIKF 2005

If it is August it must be Long Beach Washington.

Once again we made the trek to Long Beach for the week-long Washington State International Kite Festival (WSIKF). This was our fifth year. Long Beach is on Highway 101 about 20 miles north of the Oregon border. The public and kiters alike are drawn to Long Beach by the spectacle of beautiful kites and flying demonstrations and by the handcrafted kite-making competition, the only event of its kind on the West coast.

The weather on the Oregon coast is often a bit on the damp side. It was overcast and misty for much of the week but cleared up to deliver a spectacular closing weekend.

The approach to the beach is along Bolstead Avenue, which bisects the town center. Normally you can drive right onto the beach here but the approach is closed for the festival and filled with vendors.

Since about 1958 has been a large concrete arch marking the beach entrance, but not this year. It was knocked down by a Pepsi delivery truck on the first day of the festival.

These big rainbow-colored kites are called Sutton Flowforms. They are about 120 feet long including the streamer tails. If you have $1,000 to spend for toys you can have your very own.

The giant inflatable figure kites like these Geckos look spectacular in the air. They are by Peter Lynn of Australia.

These beautiful big foils were all made by hand. Each contains 100 to 150 yards of fabric and many hours of labor.

A special feature this year was a large wind sculpture that was constructed on site during the festival by guest artist Robert Valenburgh from Holland. It was make of bamboo and plastic sheeting and strung with taut ribbon that vibrated in the wind, making a haunting moan.

Another guest was the Edo-Kite Preservation Society from Japan. Edo is the name of a traditional Japanese kite made of rice paper and bamboo.

Joani and I are part of an informal kite club called the Goat Hill Gang. The name comes form the historic name of our local flying field in Costa Mesa California that is on a hill where goats were once grazed. Joani and I are wearing the black tee-shirts with the Native American style birds.

Our de-facto leader is Rod Milburn, a Master kite builder that has been entering hand-built kites at WSIKF for many years. He made this Rokkaku as our club kite.

We had a treat this year when Dave Gomberg arranged a special mass ascension of nine giant inflatable rings called Crowns or Bols. Each is about 30 feet in diameter. When inflated in a good wind they bounce and roll across the ground in spectacular fashion. There is no official world record but I doubt that there has been any other event like this.