WSIKF 2011

The Washington State International Kite Festival, called "Wiskif" by the regulars, runs for a full week in August every year.  This year's event was about as good as it gets from a weather standpoint.  We had six near-perfect sunny days out seven with good wind and no rain.

 

We set up "camp" on the beach each day with other kiters.  Ours is at the far end, marked by my large American flag banner.  We were joined by several other couples from our home town and elsewhere.

There were the usual displays of giant kites but not as many as in past years, perhaps due to the slow economy.

This huge clown-motif kite was one of the blue ribbon winners in the hand-crafted kite competition.  The design is created by an applique technique using colored fabric.  The fabric is coated rip-stop nylon, the same type used to make sails. 

The design on this prize-winner was inspired by a Beetles song titled "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window".  The kite, a traditional Japanese design called Rokkaku, is popular with kite builders because it is simple, flies well, and makes a good canvas for graphics.

The Edo is another traditional Japanese design.  Edo is the old name for Tokyo.

I used my KAP rig to capture these images.  KAP stands for Kite Aerial Photography.  It uses a radio-controlled camera suspended below a kite.  In the upper photo our camp is under the two blue shelters on the right.

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