The Carolina Kite Club joined Fort Macon State Park in celebrating Earth Day. Local groups and organizations set up demonstrations and exhibits concerning ecology, conservation, animals and nature in the visitor center. The club put up a display of kites and banners on the nearby beach, all of which were easily visible while driving into the park and walking about the Fort. Quite a few people walked down to the beach to see the kites close up and talk to the fliers.
Large flowforms, power sleds and deltas dotted the sky. Many of which had long tails which added to the display. Because it was a special occasion, the park ranger brought one of his trucks onto the beach to be used as an anchor for some extremely large inflatable kites. We were able to launch a large gecko, a smaller trilobite and a large crab.
All of this was a major feat as the wind was not in our favor. The weather predictions were for 10 to 15 mile per hour winds. What we got were 5 to 7 with periods of no wind at all. I gave up trying to fly my collection of Xelons and flew a couple of Skates, a Dunston-Taylor box and a Fled. All low wind kites. Some stunt kites were up for a while but no one flew anything for long.
The sky remained cloudy all day and toward the end of the event, it tried to rain a little. Just enough to make us all take the kites down and pack them away. As the last of the large kites were being stuffed into their bags, the wind jumped up to around 25 miles per hour. The sand was swept across the beach with such force it looked like clouds skimming the surface. We were thankful that there were no kites up, especially the very large ones, as they could have easily broken loose and been lost.
All in all, it was a good event. Kites were up and we got to visit and catch up with some of our out-of-town club members who came to add to the “color in the sky”.
Fair Winds All
Freedom In The Sky - A Kiter's Blog 