04/02: SPI Kite Festival
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
Today is a day we look forward to each year, the SPI kite festival. The weatherman wasn't being co-operative and was predicting thunder storms in the afternoon. We crossed our fingers and headed for South Padre Island.
Zaph and Cait were ready to go ... think Cait was elected to drive.
Overcast but dry . Think that's the widest load I've seen on a highway .... he took two full lanes.
Sunny and warm on the island .... the weatherman was wrong again. As the day progressed a line of clouds came towards us but didn't cross the bay. We found out later that areas we had driven through received quite a bit of rain and there were some funnel cloud sitings. About 6 drops of rain did fall on me but the sun was shining at the time.
Ed shot about 650 photos .... took a while to choose the photos I wanted to post. The photos don't do the day justice as you don't see any movement and can't hear the music that the routines are choreographed to. One set was a scene from jaws where the fish were flying happily in the sky and the black sharks appear and attack. In other sets the kites danced to the music. Awesome to watch.
The sky was filled with large kites.
Lots of animals and birds were represented. Ed talked to some of kite owners and was told that these huge kites could cost up to five thousand dollars. The second photo gives you an idea of the size of the duck .... he was one of the smaller kites.
A number of individuals and groups flew their kites but the group I enjoyed the most was Team IQuad. They are professional kite flyers .... bet you didn't know there are professional kite flyers. The team consists of six members and two alternates from the US and Canada. They fly in competitions and exhibitions in Canada, the US, England, Japan and Columbia. They all have day jobs but most of them are kite related.
Ed found a good vantage point where he would see both the kite flyer and the kite. This was smart as it was sometimes hard to decide if you wanted to watch the kite or the flyer.
If you just watch the kites you miss all moving the team is doing.
Looks easy but it's very hard to get the kites in this position and hold it.
Humor is also included ... the kites are all standing on end and the last kite flies by and knocks them all down.
One fellow from the team did a solo routine. He was absolutely amazing. The kite just danced for him and then when you looked at him you realized he was pretty much dancing too.
Hope Ed and John picked up a lot of pointers. They'll need to practice more often if they want to impress Carol and I.
Zaph and Cait were ready to go ... think Cait was elected to drive.
Overcast but dry . Think that's the widest load I've seen on a highway .... he took two full lanes.
Sunny and warm on the island .... the weatherman was wrong again. As the day progressed a line of clouds came towards us but didn't cross the bay. We found out later that areas we had driven through received quite a bit of rain and there were some funnel cloud sitings. About 6 drops of rain did fall on me but the sun was shining at the time.
Ed shot about 650 photos .... took a while to choose the photos I wanted to post. The photos don't do the day justice as you don't see any movement and can't hear the music that the routines are choreographed to. One set was a scene from jaws where the fish were flying happily in the sky and the black sharks appear and attack. In other sets the kites danced to the music. Awesome to watch.
The sky was filled with large kites.
Lots of animals and birds were represented. Ed talked to some of kite owners and was told that these huge kites could cost up to five thousand dollars. The second photo gives you an idea of the size of the duck .... he was one of the smaller kites.
A number of individuals and groups flew their kites but the group I enjoyed the most was Team IQuad. They are professional kite flyers .... bet you didn't know there are professional kite flyers. The team consists of six members and two alternates from the US and Canada. They fly in competitions and exhibitions in Canada, the US, England, Japan and Columbia. They all have day jobs but most of them are kite related.
Ed found a good vantage point where he would see both the kite flyer and the kite. This was smart as it was sometimes hard to decide if you wanted to watch the kite or the flyer.
If you just watch the kites you miss all moving the team is doing.
Looks easy but it's very hard to get the kites in this position and hold it.
Humor is also included ... the kites are all standing on end and the last kite flies by and knocks them all down.
One fellow from the team did a solo routine. He was absolutely amazing. The kite just danced for him and then when you looked at him you realized he was pretty much dancing too.
Hope Ed and John picked up a lot of pointers. They'll need to practice more often if they want to impress Carol and I.