Rosebud Wrap Up:Well, 4 seasons in one day seemed an apt description of events
Everyone was there, loaded up with kites, great spirits, and trailer loads of enthusiasm (also a good quick way to measure how many kite were there, about 4-5
). A big hi to Alison, Kevin and Lynda (OzFeathers), Adrian, Barry, Pete, Tony, Margret (AKA), Robert (Brassington), and the many others who made the effort to put on such a display and show.
When I arrived at 11:30am the sky was awash with kites of all sizes and colours. As I went looking for my carpark i was struck by the looks of anticipation on both children and adults as hey wandered into the space, they were excited
, and as I wandered through the quite substantial crowd with a bag of kites over my shoulder, the word 'kite' could be heard every half dozen steps, baubling randomly from the general pubic
The theme of the day was lost on no one.
Warm greetings and intro's in the marquee followed, and the conversation quickly turned to the forecast for the afternoons weather, and the impending wind 'change'. What followed over the next 3 hours, through the eye’s of the general public, would have simply been a very active and ever changing display of kites...
To those inside the barrier every 5 mins was introducing a new set of conditions both in wind strength and direction. At one point one lonely Indian paper fighter kite, being expertly piloted by Kevin Sanders, was the only kite able to use the breeze to entertain. Soon though a light wind Cody’ish’ (I think) kite soon joined in, also being piloted with quiet skill.
The clouds on the horizon promised that this ‘lull’ wouldn’t last long….
For about the next 30-60 mins kites progressively went up and down (and sometimes even sideways) as conditions shifted in all directions, Adrian was able to put a Mohawk up for a quick spin, demonstrating once again that in his hands, regardless of very trying conditions kites just do what he wants them to do. On the ‘Doggy Quad’ and then later a Vented of his own design, Kevin entertained the spectators with his 4 line skills.
(I know 2 kids who went home with eyes wide open as to how big a big kite can be, a quite monstrous Purple Octopus was half up and half not, (possibly the most interactive period ) and one 7 y/o asked if he could have a fly on it lol, and if flying it home was possible
Both were reported to have been wearing smiles still firmly in place that evening J
Also seen flying was Pete on his ‘robust
Benson Deepspace UL, yours truly with the Q Pro SUL, Airwave Zero and later on the Talon got a run in what would be better described as ‘grade 3 rapids’ if we were talking water.
Then the weather really changed
The rain came sneaking up from behind the hills, we were watching another front, ahead and to the right of us….
The way it came in, you could have imagined that it had waited there, behind the hills, till all it’s mates had caught up. And only then, it jumped up and over in one big wall of ’
weather', over and inevitably… right on top of us, BANG!
Big SLK’s are not toys, and experts need to be on the lines, watching this crew manage this mass of kites from the grips of a storm front was impressive, I watched some fancy foot and rope work by many of the team and they brought it all in with minimum issue. Well there was a little case of the marquee being more a congregation point more so than shelter. Horizontal rain has the ability to do that sometimes…
The Rosebud Kite Festival was officially called ‘rained out’ at about 3.45pm.
Hope to see you all next year!
TH
Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:40 am »
, Great to hear you're making the journey across!!
