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We’re a little late but we’re gonna fly kites this Saturday night!
Meet us at Capitol College at 9 PM to fly on the old racetrack field.
As usual, be quiet & polite b/c they’re letting us fly there, and we don’t want to disturb the students housed nearby.
We’ve got an earlier event, too — a Rokkaku duel demo with the Bam’s Kung Fu of Laurel!
Chrooke and Complex will be demo’ing Low Down Dirty Kite Fighting this Saturday at noon for the Bam’s Kung Fu of Laurel, MD. Note the update: time and place is noon Saturday 4/18 at the Bam’s (8750 Cherry Lane #C15 Laurel, MD 20707)
Obviously, if you’re interested in Kung Fu, this is probably a good chance for you to talk to the Bams about that, too. I’ve found they’re very approachable. I’m interested in what a champion sport karate & kung fu master has to say about our dueling (besides “train regularly, already!”).
That’s two events this Saturday — there’s a Fullish Moon Kite Fly on Saturday night.
Just a quick note — the Midnight Squadron team won a very tough Smithsonian Rokkaku Challenge!
The field was great, tough, and fierce. The weather was friendly to us — the ugly dampness soaked our line, protecting us from Harold Ames & Charlie Don’t Run’s skilled slicings, and the light wind was familiar from our usual low-wind Low-Down Dirty Kite Fights.
Iron Kite spooled and Complex piloted, while Kalika Chris coached. We lapped the field 3 times, and finished last in the air in the first and third heats.
More later!
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!
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not looking good for the weather, but rain permitting, let’s try to get together tomorrow and fly!
Update: Never mind, the rain won. There isn’t even any wind to speak of.
Stay warm inside and make a kite!
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.
If you saw us in today’s Washington Post, welcome to the world of kites!
We hope you’ll join is on the field come Spring. Kids, feel free to bring your parents — kids of all ages can fly. We generally have spare kites you can borrow if you don’t have your own.
If you find it hard to catch up with us, or if you are too far away, check our links page for other area clubs. The American Kitefliers Association can help you find a club in your area if you are not in DC.
Squadron @ MIKE