SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM O.S.E.K.
Well, The Cleveland Kite Festival is over and everyone who came said it was wonderful. Good sky, good wind, Nice temperature, what else could you ask for. So, here are the rankings for the “Games”
In the Rokkaku battle we had 4 contestants here where it fell.
- Keven Kilgore got 3 points
- Mike Dentien and Sara Torok got 8 points each
- Christopher Martin got 9 points
So, congratulations to Christopher for the win!
We use “North Coast Rules” here. 5 minutes per heat. 5 minutes of rest and repair. None of those “Ticking” a line or kite. We ask that no line cutting as we are flying next to a freeway and don’t want to drop a kite on the road. We play King of the hill. Knock down the kite. First one down 1 point, second one down 2 points and so on. If at the end of the 5 minutes who ever is still up each get the same points. You can not “hang out” at the edges and not fight as that will cause you to lose points.
In the Mystery Ballet “Solo”, we had 9 contestants and here is how it went down.
- Ben Frustos had 29 points and ended up in 6th place
- Jim Gibson flying a Fighter Kite had 30 point and ended up in 5th place
- Jim Gibson flying a Stunt Kite had 33 point and ended up in 4th place
- Rodger Tompkins had 36 points and ended up in 3rd place
- Second place was a 4 way tie at 38 points between:
- John T
- Jason Ridgel
- Sara Torok
- Phil Salzstein
- Donn Nottage came in 1st with 40 points.
So, congratulations to Donn for the win!
You might need a little background as to what Mystery Ballet is. We came up with the idea back in late 80’s up at the North Coast Stunt Kite Games. A wonderful place to try anything new. What it is that the sport kite flier has to “Dance” his kite to music he has not heard before. A lot like a figure skater but without the benefit of having the music beforehand. You also have 4 to 5 Judges who have not flown sport kites before to give an Olympic style score. Over the years I have searched for any obscure music to play that I can picture in my mind to fly to. This has led to some memorable demonstrations. This led to people requesting to do “Pairs or Teams” so.
In the Mystery Ballet “Pairs-Pairs” we had 2 sets of contestants and here is how it went down.
- In 2nd place we had Chicago Kite Shop with 27 points
- In 1st place we had Skyjesters with 35 points
So, congratulations to Dean and Vickie for the win!
We also had Wind Sprints for everybody in 3 age groups 1 to 6, 7 to 12 and 13 and up. What this is a way to teach kids and some adults that you do not have to run with your kite to get it to fly. We put out a line on the ground perpendicular to the wind and have the contestants stand on the side where the wind is coming. Then we yell or blow a whistle to start the game. We have club members standing back to see who get their kite to them for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd spot. We get what looks like little Olympic medals from Oriental trading company to give out to everybody, so no one goes home without something from the festival.
If you want to use any of these feel free to use them. The big thing is to teach everyone the correct way to fly and have fun with it.
We can be contacted at kiteinfo@osekcleveland.org