Region 11

With all the kite events in region 11 l sometimes wonder how I find time to work? I started the year thinking I was going to cut back on kite travel, instead I added three more events to the usual nearly every weekend ritual!

The Merced event was a good time and this year It brought Ron and Sandy Gibian out to play . Ron flew his kites as well as worked the mic.

Near Monterey , the Marina fest was a blast. I attended the baskl event in Chrissy field and drove to Marina afterwards , the fun started as soon as I got there . The folks of this small costal community love our kites and really appreciate our efforts!

The San Ramon wind festival , in my opinion was the best year ever (but I may be partial J ) The winds were the best we have had in years, the weather was perfect and the crowds of spectators was huge……and the three smoked turkeys and other delightful food was enjoyed by some 5o or 60 happy people…just keeps getting better!

The Bay Area Sport Kite League ended another successful season having presented 4 competition events and even saw NEW fliers this season! Don’t forget to attend the BASKL awards ceremony and pick nick August 14^th at Berkeley, last year BBQ’d tri tip was served to all comers!

New on the Schedule was the event put together by the Northern California Kite Club and Squaw Valley High Camp.

This happened at 82 hundred feet up the Squaw Valley mountain with incredible panoramic views. We had to ride up and up and up again in a huge tram. There was even still snow up there! Kiters had a real science lesson up there in the thin atmosphere! Kites that float nicely at sea level drop like rocks up there! Or you can catch a thermal and the kites go straight up 4 or 5 hundred feet or even fly over and beyond the flyer…way cool! All in all the winds were "challenging " up there but I’m signing up for next year now! It was a fun and interesting weekend

The Berkeley Kite Festival was another one getting better and better. Even tho the winds were quite high all weekend the skies over Cesar Chavez Park were alive with kites! There were 17 huge Peter Lynn kites and literally hundreds of kites of all kinds. This year a cocktail party was added, this was a nice affair with good food and a room full of kiters from all over the country.

The awards banquet was again on the Horn Blower yacht, Which toured the San Francisco Bay for several hours on a beautiful Bay area night. This year the auction was moved upstairs on the boat and made even this part of the banquet better! This really is the nicest kite banquet around…and the food was even good! And guess who took home the masters ballet trophy?

Im looking forward to the convention in Ocean City, got my hotel booked ,airline tickets in hand and hopes high for a great time ! I hope to see you all there…come on, no excuses , be there!