The 23rd international kite flyers
meeting Fanø was held from June 14th - 17th, 2007.
Here are some pictures I took at the event.
Fanø is a small island (56 square km) off the west coast of Denmark. Fanø Bad is a small village at the north end of the event's kite flying area. The Danish "Bad" translates to "Bath" in English.
The island is made completely of sand. There is a steady build up of sand on Fanø's
western shore. The sand banks inside the island are covered with grass. Amber is known to wash up on the shores during storms.
The main road connects directly to the beach. Cars can drive on the beach all the way
to the south end of the island. Brilliant - a maintenance free road. Each storm that
comes in washes all the potholes away and gives you a fresh flat surface.
This is the view when I looked down the beach from the north end of the flying area
on the first day of the event. A daunting number of kites streching for kilometers down the
beach. Good excercise for the legs!
Cute bouncy ladybugs doing their thing on the beach.
An nice set of Cody kites preparing for launch.
Did I get a chance to fly my own kites at Fanø? You bet! Here is my oldest daughter flying the NPWC v7
as I was tuning to fly it on a two line bridle. Information about configuring a NPWC for a two line bridle is found
here. The wind was blowing hard on Friday, so I could only
snap a couple of pictures as she was being pulled twards the water.
Soft sled kites were the most common lifters at the event.
I believe these are kites, not line laundry. I have never seen this type before, but then
again, this is my first festival. Help me out with an email if you know what these are called.
There were many types of line laundry on display. I liked the fish and parrots.
There is no reference in the picture to judge the size of these Flowforms, but trust me, they were rather large.
Without sticks, kites can grow to dangerous proportions.
This was the most impressive thing I saw this year's event. A huge crab! The picture of the man
standing under the last leg puts things into perspective. This thing is much bigger than my living room.
Presentation was pretty good too. I was puzzling over how this thing could possibly fly, until I
noticed the lifter kite flying far above.
The sign says the buggy and windsurf area is 4km down the beach. No wonder my legs were so tired.
The beach is also very wide.
Lost a brass ferrule? My youngest daughter found it! Send me a picture of the monster
kite which needs to connect spars this thick and we will mail the ferrule to you.
This was my first kite flyers
meeting Fanø. I plan on going next year. For the next trip:
- The train, bus, and ferry connections between Copenhagen and Fanø are great. There was no problem getting here without a car.
- The beach itself was much larger than I had imagined. Next time I will bring our bikes along so we can see more. The price to rent bikes for one day is about the same as the charge to bring bikes on the train.
- The "Tropical water land" at the place we stayed was too much fun. The kids would rather be there than be on the beach looking at kites with me! We spent many more hours swimming than looking at and flying kites. Next year I hope my wife can come so that she can do some swimming while I do some kiting (in addition to the great company she provides :-).
- Some form of transportation is necessary if you want to see everything on the beach. I did not even make it to the buggy area, and I really wanted to check out what was flying over there.
- There are also some meetings and a charity auction associated with the kite flyers meeting that I should attend. Bookmark
www.kitefliersmeetingfanoe.de and
www.classic-kites.org, and visit these sites to get particulars on meeting locations and time.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to notify me with more information if you know more about the kites photographed above, or any other issues.
