AKA Convention - Tuesday October 2

One word. RAIN. :(

Tuesday in Ocean Shores was a great day for indoor activities. I began my day with seminar hosts, Ciff Quinn and Debbie VonBokern. They reviewed the four criteria of comprehensive kitebuilding competitions: 1) Flight & Handling, 2) Visual Appeal, 3)Structural Design, 4)Craftsmanship. Most of this information is described in Chapter 6 of the AKA Rules and Guidelines for Kitemakers' Competitions, but Cliff and Deb expanded the four page outline into a two hour presentation. From a judges eye, they discussed how and why a kite gets a score. Standing room only, the seminar generated many questions and answers.

Later in the afternoon, Cliff and I did an impromptu round table discussion on kite materials and and how they relate to kite design.

At 5:00, about twenty kitebuilder.com forum members gathered in the lounge and were treated to a free round of drinks - except for me. Mine was rather expensive :)
We all exchanged introductions and spent about an hour learning things about one another and putting faces to the written words we see on the forum. Some group pictures were taken, but I have yet to get a copy so I will have to post at a later time. As another treat, I unveiled the new kitebuilder.com forum feather flag!



I designed flag with some input from Cliff Quinn. Then Cliff found time to create this sample. We have to make a few adjustments to the panels, which won't take long, then the plan will be available for download. I'll supply the parts in kit form that will include the pole, fabric, and pre-cut insignia letters for "kitebuilder.com". Forum members can put their name on the bottom section and the blank white section is for your imagination. Make the banner your own with any graphic you come up with. This should be a great little flag to display your forum membership. But there's more! The coolest part of this flag is this: Each banner is a single piece to a puzzle. Take a close look and the shape. Imagine two (or more) of these banners side by side. They fit together! Included in the kit will be pieces of Velcro. When forum members get together at a festival, the feather flags can also be "put together" to form one large display. The flag represents the forum coming together just like the forum joins kitebuilder's around the world. I wonder what the record will be for the most number of pieces we can get together?

Wednesday we begin the Comprehensive Kitemakers' Competition. The forecast is a 90% chance of rain, so there is a good chance we will take "Ground Scoring" portion of the competition indoors. I am hopeful that Thursday will be dry and windy so we can get the kites up and score Flight and Visual Appeal.

Still no photos, but Wednesday will bring great camera opportunities.

Stay tuned for more info.....

--Steve