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The 2009 Smithsonian Kite Festival is 2 weeks from today, on Saturday, March 28!
This year’s theme is Green Environmentalism. As usual, there will be lots of fun kiting and kid-centric events for all of you spawners.
Our Rokkaku Fighting Team will be on the field seeking a fourth (? I’ve lost count) 1st place trophy. The combat is at 3pm!
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MIKE was a good bit of fun, and Complex won the individual Rok battle! Saw a lot of fantastic kites and learned some kite-making (and dyeing) tips.
Also, will start tracking kite combat scores from battles everywhere, so fighters can keep track of what’s going on in the comunity and their relative standings. I’m planning out the online systems now. In the meanwhile, you can view the scores from the 2008 MIKE individual rok battle, kindly provided by Mike van Meers.
Complex’s MIKE notes from the field:
Newly scheduled: An April Fullish-Moon Fly and a May Second-Saturday Kite Fly!
Also, let’s go to two more kite festivals: the Maryland International Kite Expo (MIKE) at the end of April and The Wildwoods International Kite Festival at the end of May.
The 2008 Smithsonian Kite Festival saw Complex and Kalika Chris flying and Bruce and Cheryl cheering, along with a host of Washingtonian co-workers. Thanks for coming out, guys!
The rokkaku battle was a beautiful melee of around 14 teams! That many teams left less than six feet between kites when we were setting up, and made it near impossible to avoid tangles in the air. It was a beautiful bar-fight of a battle. Sadly, it’s not a battle we won or placed in; the Midnight Squadron team couldn’t move beyond Thunderdome. We did earn two kills, however, and we were last up in the third heat.
A sudden-death heat had to decide the battle. The Smithsonian Associates lost to The Bike Shop, which was flying the “Fixed Gears” kite, one of the three black-and-white kites made by the same guy.
The Midnight Squadron Rokkaku team, Complex & Chris (Kalika), won this year’s Smithsonian Rokkaku Challenge!
Like last year, we faced a tough crowd: Harold Ames and his Eagle Eyes team, Charlie Don’t Run, the Rainbow Warriors, and others. We used the lessons they’ve taught us in the past and started cutting people down. We won with 23 points, followed by Charlie Don’t Run (20 points) and Eagle Eyes.
The next full moon is April 13th, so join us for Fullish Moon Kite Flying on that Saturday! Check it out on our events page.
Our Rokkaku fighting team, piloted by the club Commandant, Chrooke, tied for third place in a tough field!
We won the first heat, taking nine points for kills and being the last kite flying. We followed that up by going toe-to-toe with last year’s champion and master fighter, Harold Ames, in crowd-thrilling low-down dirty fighting. The wind picked up in the third heat, and the already-dangerous Rainbow Warrior became a deadly juggernaut with their eight-foot Shannon rokkaku. They cut us down and proceeded to tie for first and then quickly win the sudden-death contest! Charlie Don’t Run took second, and we tied for third with Team MIKE.
Your lowly scribe, Complex, was the spoolman for this year’s team, and so didn’t see enough of the battle — only the deft fighting technique of Commandant Cooke. We’ll be adding additional details and photos shortly. In the meanwhile, we’d like to thank the crowd for cheering us on!
