We took a trip down to Portsmouth to see the annual kite festival that they hold. It is actually on Southsea Common and attracts both a lot of spectators but also participants from across the continent. I saw performers from Belgium and Switzerland, and I believe there were others. It is a free event on the common, so you are able to walk around and see the different elements at your leisure.
We had gone to a kite festival in San Ramon when we lived in California and I was interested to see how they compared. This was a larger event with more to see but the San Ramon event was in a more enclosed area which made it feel more involving. Both had their pluses and minuses. There were two areas enclosed for performers. One was for large shapes that were tethered to a spot and floated above the event. The other was sometimes used for free flying but also was used for performers.
The performers are always worth a watch. Whether it is an individual with a routine or a group of flyers in coordinated displays, the skill and controllability is impressive. I used to do a lot of kite flying and did once fly a Revolution kite a friend of mine had. It was incredibly agile and could be manoeuvred in multiple ways, but it was also super twitchy which made it quite a handful. I see that design is still in use but there are now even more advanced shapes in use. The skill of the teams as they move around each other and overlap their lines to make all sorts of manoeuvres work is so impressive.
The free flying shapes were so varied in both concept and size. It took me a while to realise that they often had a separate kite flying above them that was used to support them rather than being fully self-supporting. There might be more than one shape on each line. A great white shark and a blue whale were competing for space. Betty Boop was with Felix the Cat. Other creatures that were the result of the imagination of the designers were also up there.
Our favourite was a dragon. It was designed in such a way that the lines to the head were separate from those for the body. Consequently, as it moved back and forth in the breeze, the head would respond to any changes before the body. This made it look more like it was deliberately changing direction. Such a clever piece of design.
The wind was pretty steady on the day (and the conditions rather overcast which had not been the forecast), but it did sometimes drop and also change direction. This meant that some of the shapes would drift out of the arena and over the spectators. This was not an issue until the wind dropped and there were a few occasions when they came down on the people outside the arena. Not a big deal but still rather amusing to watch as the size of these constructions become apparent when next to people. Probably got their attention too.
It was an interesting event and I’m glad we went. It was certainly popular with a ton of people there and a lot of the kids there had acquired their own kites. I bet the kite sellers did good business. I wonder how long they will be played with.
Epic E1000s have shown up on the blog before and in less than ideal conditions. Sometimes you just have to work with what is available. It doesn’t stop me trying, of course, and when another one was due in to Boeing Field and the conditions looked promising, I headed out. When I was in place and they were getting closer, the sun was playing games with me. I would have some nice light for a while and then the clouds would drift back in again. They wouldn’t stay long and then sun would be back but the question was, what would it be like at the critical moment. At Boeing Field, I have often had good light further up the approach (and too far away), cloud over the ideal location and then sun again as they get to very short final but again too far for a decent shot. Would this be one of those days?
No! On this occasion, the conditions played ball and, as the E1000 came zipping down the approach, the sun was out in all the right places. I grabbed some shots and the blues in the paint really did seem to pop. I was quite satisfied. I did get one more Epic encounter at BFI before we moved away which was from the other end providing a different type of shot in good light but, after that, while there were lots of movements to BFI before we left, I didn’t have the chance to see them.
