Larry & Karen Green's 'Conn' foil comes under attack from Ron Rounding's single line fighter plane!

Frank O'Neil's delta looked really sharp against the overcast sky.

 

Tim Hunter FINALLY managed to fly his Larry & Karen Green built 4.8 M^2 NPW5. His step-father (Rick) asked us to build it as a Christmas present and he hasn't been out with us to fly it until now.

Shame on you Tim! Let's hope we see more of you at the regular fly's during the summer. It flew straight out of the bag too with no adjusments required! Another winner!!

 

Rick Longhurst put up his 'Venus' Rok with a couple of pieces of line laundry. The only kite to fly with laundry that day so an easy choice for the best laundry award!

 

When the winds abated in the afternoon Ron Rounding put up his small quad foil.

Adrian Conn flew this beautiful, large, parafoil and really dominated the sky...........until disaster struck!

He moved the kite further down the field to avoid a line of trees and on re-launch the kite caught a massive gust of wind as it was right in the centre of the wind window and his Kevlar line parted company with the sound of a rifle shot!

A huge field for the 'runaway' kite to come down in, but where does it pick.........the roof of the antique tractor museum that shares the flying site! 

Thankfully someone had a cell phone on site and a quick call by one of the members to a buddy had a long ladder on site within 15 minutes.

(Thanks for making the call Frank!)

 

Adrian makes his way back with his 'baby' safely bundled up. Unbelievably there was absolutely no damage to the kite or bridles and it will live to fly another day! PHEW!!

Ziggy Racek from Cambridge came down after finishing work. Three hours each way for 1.5 hours flying in winds that were next to zero! At least he managed to fly some of his light/zero wind kites.

Thanks for coming Ziggy and we look forward to seeing you later in the year (with more wind we hope!)

Larry & Karen Green managed to get all three of their 'Vulture' family (2.5 M^2 NPW9b, Dual Line Stunter and 15 ft wingspan Genki) in the air at one time for a group photo.

These kites are based around an idea for a whole range of kites using the same head parts and different wing assemblies.

They certainly turn heads whenever they take to the air!

 

Three members of the Windjammers stunt kite team made the trip over from Detroit, Michigan.

 

They put on several spectacular demonstrations throughout the day to the delight of those present.

These photos do not do them justice and if you ever get a chance to see them perform live they are a 'MUST SEE' event!

Larry Green persuaded a couple of the Windjammers to test fly his new Vulture stunter design and to evaluate it's performance. Gary and Mike really put the kite through it's paces with Gary performing tricks all over the window and Mike pulling off some amazing tight turns and testing the kites tracking ability.

Both fliers really liked the experience and had glowing comments on its performance!

 

Judging from the 'ear-to-ear' smiles I'd say they were having a blast with the Vulture!

As the day came to a close it was time to hand out the trophies painstakingly created by Club Secretary Doug Rounding.......thanks for all the hard work Doug!

(note the purposely broken kite 3rd in on the right......the infamous 'Charlie Brown' Award!)

 Adrian Conn took the lion's share with three trophies:

Lifetime membership to the Club for services to kiting worldwide (and a plaque to hang on the wall).

Trophy for the Largest Kite.

Trophy for the 'Charlie Brown' Award......the award for the most spectacular crash!

Louis Letwin picked up two awards:

Trophy for Most Improved Flyer

Trophy for the Oldest Flyer

 Brock Ledden from Collingwood picked up one award:

Trophy for the Furthest Travelled Flyer

Brock drove five hours each way to fly for three hours. He insisted on driving back (he was offered accomodation for the night) so that he could be with his wife on Mother's Day! Way to go Brock, now that's dedication!

(I don't remember Doug being dragged through a bush backwards but it appears he still has some branches stuck in the back of his hat!)

 

The Windjammers picked up one award:

The Most Unusual Kite or Kites

Awarded for their patriotic stacks of 'Dyna-kites'

(Gary's only comment on receiving the award........."But I liked the birds!!!!".......thanks for the compliment Gary!)

 

Larry & Karen Green picked up one award:

Trophy for Best Home Made Kites

For their 'Vulture' family of kites.

(even Brandi, the dog, looks pleased!!)

 Rick Longhurst picked up one award for himself and accepted one on behalf of the Essex Kite Flyers:

Trophy for Best Ground Display - Essex Kite Flyers (only ground display)

Trophy for Best Line Laundry - Rick Longhurst (only line laundry display)

Nicholas O'Neil picked up one award:

Late in the afternoon Rick Longhurst put up his new stack of three Trilby's.

Hey Rick, I noticed that these didn't go up until AFTER the Windjammers left. What's this all about?

Scared you would show them up with your magnificent routines!? ):-p