This was way more fun than we had expected!
Giant Penguin!
Giant Teddy Bear trailing a Honey Bucket.
Giant Gecko.
This kite has a Mt Hood scene on it. The next few photos are unusual kites, what can I say?
This is a traditional "Japanese Fighting Kite". They had about 20 of these is the air at one time. The object is to be the last kite flying. It is possible to get a wrap around someone's line and then "saw" it in two causing the kite to fall; or hit the leading or trailing edge hard enough to cause the opponents kite to fly into the ground. We watched the 1st of two heats of this...it was slow and boring. But as you can see on this one, several of the kites were sponsored.
The man flying this Delta shaped kite had amazing control and did complex tricks. He was using a sort of flattened "U" shaped handle as a control. It is a two line kite and one line was attached to each end of the control handle. Dick talked with him for quite awhile. He said "No, it is not easier to fly with this control handle". He also told us that the really large "kites" cost $4,000 to $6,000 each. He explained that they all have "scuppers" somewhere on the head. When they are fully inflated the "scuppers" close and as they lose air they open and they take in a gulp or two of air. Pretty neat. He said that the Snail kite was very intricate and very expensive!
The "Cat-in-the-Hat" had a wonderful routine, which included a cast of about 15 youngsters.
Mary Poppins was incredible. She also was flying a Rev. Her routine was choreographed to the music from the movie. All of the Revs in the following photos were flown with music.
These 4 Revs are connected together and are being flown by one man.
This is the "Revolution" kite (Dick's will look very similar, just different color). These 4 are handled by different fliers. They did some awesome coordinated maneuvers, too hard to show in photos. This was the highlight of the show.
