Germany Adventure 1999, Part One
The 10th Syke Kite Festival

by Ray Bethell

  This was my third time being sponsored to Germany and each time I tell myself it can't be get any better than it was last time, but it does. The festivals are bigger, better organized and the number of spectators seems to have doubled. Kite flyers attend from all over Germany. I have had the pleasure of sharing kite arenas with some of the best kite designers and flyers in Germany and beyond, including Thomas Roth, 2nd place winner in the 1997 German single line championships, and first place winner in 1998 - 1999 with his beautiful kites "Time for Emotions" and "Nature Time", Rolf Zimmermann with his unique giant Lobster, Seahorse, Sea Star, Centipede, etc., and the infamous Willi Koch, just to name a few. Not only does Willi make exceptional single line kites, but his appliqué work is pure art. I have had the pleasure of spending many happy hours at his home with his wife Erika and family. To sit beside Willi, watching him work on yet another masterpiece, makes it well worth the trip to Europe... and there are so many more wonderful experiences to even begin to mention at this time.

This was my first time to the town of Syke (which means "valley of many waters"), a beautiful town about 25 kilometers from the south of the city of Bremen. My hosts were Matthias and Monika Cordes. Matthias is a fourth generation master baker, whose home is above the bakery. To wake up each morning to the smell of fresh baked bread is something else, a great incentive to get up and head for breakfast. I am not a big early morning eater, but I could not resist the fresh baked rolls, and the many different kinds of cheeses and meats, coffee, milk, and variety of fruit juices.

Matthias is also the organizer of the 10th Syke kite festival. The flying field is 2 miles from Syke in a suburb called Heiligenfeld, a huge open grass area. Their kite club rents this field throughout the year from a local farmer who keeps the grass nice and short , ideal for kite flying. European kite festivals are so different from North American ones, very family oriented with something for every one - no matter what age. It was also very well organized, not only offering kite flying at its very best, but so much more to entertain the hundreds of spectators.

I officially opened the festival with a 3 kite ballet using my Black Knight Pro Dancers to the music of "You are the Wind Beneath my Wings" played on Thomas Getheroefer's "Disc Jockey", a huge mobile music system from Hamburg. Then single line kites of every discription and awesome colors began filling the clear blue sky. This was a great start for the town of Syke to celebrate their 10th kite festival anniversary and deserved every bit of media coverage, video and news, that it received. It looked like the whole town had turned out for this long awaited event, and as I mentioned there was some thing for everyone: North Germany 1999 Boomerang Champions, Dieter Franke and Otto showing their skills with boomerangs ...that I am sure would make many Australian Aboriginals envious, Bremer Sprintierfreunde who put on a Boomerang workshop which was a huge success with both children and adults, Wilhelm Clausing and his 11 man Ultra Light Flying Team put on a spectacular show with their Ultra Light Air Craft thrilling the crowds, plus the spectacular Hot Air Balloon Teams, Horst Sieners, Klaus Sarinsky and the Syker Balloon Team, who would be doing their thing right after the night fly when the wind was calm. The children were thrilled to the eye balls with Bremer and his group entertaining all day with Parachuting Teddy Bears, candy drops, and something that I have not seen before, Skydiving Dolls.

The wind was a constant 8-10mph throughout the first day. I had my own flying area and I flew all day (which got rid of all the cob webs off my bum after the long flight :-)). The night fly was great! the Skylines Lightshow from Hamburg did an outstanding job, making the night fly a super success.

Another great thing in Europe is that you can drink beer at festivals, parks and beaches without having to be fenced in, and believe me, there was a lot consumed throughout the two day festival. I can vouch for that! :) Sunday was another awesome day except the wind was only 4-5 mph. It was enough for most of us to fly all day. Word must have traveled far and wide as there were twice as many spectators as the previous day, the festival ended at 5 p.m. and I was very surprised at the number of people who joined in to help pack up ... by 7 p.m. there was hardly a trace that a festival had just taken place. The organizer, Syke club members and sponsors were over the moon, celebrating the super success of their 10th anniversary, and making plans already for this coming September.

Balloonz and Titz

The next day Matthias said, "Ray, we have arranged a big surprise for you. I hope you will like it." As he drove me out to the countryside I wondered what surprise they had planned. After about 30 minutes Matthias turned off the main road into a field where they were just finishing off inflating a huge Hot Air Balloon. The next thing I knew, I was being hoisted up into the Balloon basket. Up, up and away I went on a fantastic two hour flight across the North German countryside. The weather was perfect and the view awesome. I kept thinking, "I wonder if I could fly multiple kites from up here!! :-)) it was strange to see the balloon team and members of the kite club following the path of the balloon by road, while I was flying hundreds of feet above them. The flight was so beautiful and peaceful. Half way through the flight the pilot, Horst Siemers, broke out the schnapps... which went down very well! Nearing the end of the flight he said, "Ray please hang on." I wondered why but I soon found out, as he was looking for a field to land in. Now I know how a kite feels when it crashes into the ground. I asked Horst, "Do balloons always land this way?!!" He replied, "It depends on the schnapps!" :) Five minutes after landing (I am not sure if that is the right word :)), Mathias and other friends arrived. Now the fun started. I did not know that after one's first balloon flight one has to be initiated into the club. I I was asked to kneel down, then they spoke a lot of mumbo jumbo...which sounded German to me! :) Then they took a wad of my hair -- which is just about all I have! :(   Next they poured a little lighter fuel on it and set it on fire, then doused it with champagne. What a waste! :)  So I guess I am now classified as an official balloon man. Last year it was skydiving. It makes me wonder what's in store for me next time around! :) The balloon was packed up -- I cannot believe something so huge can be put into such a small bag!! We headed out for our last supper together. What a terrific adventure, with this special treat at the conclusion of an awesome kite festival. The next morning Matthias drove me 400 Km to Titz where I had also been sponsored, my third time to perform at the Grisu Familiendrachenfest... but that is another story.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my sponsors to the 10th Syke Kite festival... The local newspaper Weser-Kurier and the Meals on Wheels company Menke-Menu, for without your support this would never have been another wonderful adventure.

Many thanks to all the members of the Syke Kite Club, the Balloon Team: Horst Siemers and Klaus Sarinsky who made my balloon flight possible, all the kite flyers that attended from across Germany, who made me feel so welcome. To my new friends Briditta Pigsa, the official festival photographer and her husband: thanks for the great photos; Detlev Marquardt and his family: thank you for all your help but most of all for your friendship; and last but not least, my friend of many years, Matthias Cordes: thank you and your wife Monika for your hospitality and for letting me share not only your home but also your family who treated me like a long lost uncle.

Thank you for listening,

Ray

Man, What Did I Start!!!!

The article I wrote in the last issue of Kitelife was just my humorous retaliation to the joke that my friends Brian and Sharon Champie tried to pull on me last August at the WSIKF. I was amazed that so many readers took me seriously! I have received a lot of fan mail and love letters with assurances that they are not joking. Readers have asked many questions about the little blue pills (which I can honestly say, I do not need, but if by chance I did, I would not be shy about trying them). ;-) I am receiving so much mail that I am seriously thinking of asking the editor Mike Gillard if I can add a "Dear Big Daddy" column in Kitelife :-).

Over the years I have been given many great opportunities to travel this big wonderful kiting planet of ours... Lesley, my wife, has also been invited numerous times to accompany me on many of my sponsored trips, but she is a stay home girl, besides she has no interest in kiting whatsoever. In fact, she has yet to see me fly, other than on TV or video, but never has she stopped me from traveling the world. I mean -- just the opposite -- she encourages me to go! (One day I am going to pretend I am off on a sponsored trip... and then sneak back and see why she can't wait to get me and my kite bag into the cab fast enough. :)... But it goes without saying that she is very proud of all my achievements. We have been together 50 years in February and I can truthfully state ...on a stack of old AKA Kiting magazines...that I have..."Never fooled around"...Well!! I mean...no more... than ... a couple of hundred times. ;-)

By the way, I would like to add that my wife and family, including my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, thought my love note article was hilarious -- a real scream to say the least, and I had to make copies for them to give to their friends. And you probably won't believe this, but my great-grandson bugged me for days to make him a copy to take to school for "Show and Tell" -- bless him. (He will be just 23 come April). :)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that has taken the time to drop me a line, very much appreciated. Here's one letter that really made me smile because it could happen to any of us.... and I quote:

"Dear Big Daddy:

I have met the most beautiful and the most perfect lady of my life and I desperately want to ask her to marry me...but I have a big problem...you see I have just been released from prison after serving 15 years for numerous offences which I will not go in to right now,... my father died in prison after serving 30 years of his life sentence,... my brother goes on trial next week for manslaughter,... my problem is... should I tell my girlfriend before asking her to become my wife..."that my very best friend is a kite flyer"? :) Signed, Worried"

Man, what did I start?!

Thank you for listening.

Ray.

My second Adventure on Ice
Kites on Ice Kite Festival 
Madison, Wisconsin

I was invited again to participate in the second Kites on Ice festival but I had to turn their offer down as it clashed with my sponsored Malaysia trip at that time. However, as many of you know, the Malaysia event was suspended temporarily due to the change in Government. I was able to participate after all and so very glad I did, because that beautiful lady, Linda Underwood, and her sidekick Kristi did it again. It is very hard to believe that it was even better than last year because last year was great!! But this year was SUPER from start to finish and I will bet my last dollar that next year it will be even better. I am sure you are going to read a lot about this festival in many kite magazines, but I just want to put my own two cents worth in, as I am still on a high from the sport kite end of it.

This year there was no problem getting to Madison from Chicago O'Hare airport, like there was last year where I spent 18 hours along with other flyers who were also stranded (pilots on a labor slow down), before getting to Madison which is just a half hour flight from Chicago airport. I was looking forward to spending some more prime time with Scott Skinner again, but I heard through the kite grapevine that he had made sure that I had flown out of the Chicago airport before he arrived. I arrived late on Thursday evening in Madison along with Torrey Lindemann, and driven to our hotel by my last year's anchor man Jody McCann who was the sport Kite Flyers’ Ice Boss again. And once again, he did a super job of babysitting all the sport kite Flyers. I arrived at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center 9 a.m. Friday morning and things were well underway. I headed for the ice to set up, ready to meet the day. This year I was given some "real" ice climbing spurs; they worked great and gave me full confidence flying on the ice.

Friday and Saturday the wind was a little up and down but flyable, that's for sure. As always, it was a great pleasure for me to share the sport kite arena with Chicago Fire, Team S.T.A.F.F., and the infamous Rev 6 man Team, the Decorators from the UK. Together we had the thousands of spectators shouting for more and we did just that from early morning until dark, each day. There was no shortage of spectators: 20,000 plus! It is really heartwarming to see so many local people show up to patronize this event. The night fly was another huge success with thousands of spectators braving the cold, the fire works display was short but very spectacular. Then it was a matter of packing up and making a quick change for the Banquet. The food was, I think, among the best of any banquets I have ever attended. This banquet was much less formal than last year which I thought made it more of a big party. It allowed for plenty of socializing, a great way to get to know the flyers from all over, including Holland, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, and all over the US. During the event we were are all too busy doing what we were sponsored to do, that is, entertaining the thousands of spectators and helping to make the festival the best ever. We earned a ten out of ten for doing just that.

Sunday evening’s farewell dinner was held as last year at the Essen Haus, a German restaurant. It served up great food with all kinds of different beers to choose from. The Boot drinking that was so popular last year was a smash hit again, especially with the ladies. :-) This year, unbeknown to the Decorators, the word was out to drink the Dec's under the table. Man, what an impossibility! I must admit none of us were feeling any pain by the time we headed for the hotel.

I had a super time and I was once again honored to have been sponsored to such a great festival and to have shared prime time with some of the best kite designers and flyers from around the world.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors of Kites on Ice, the City of Madison for making us feel so welcome, and many thanks to all the thousands of spectators who showed up everyday to show us their appreciation. Thank you Jody McCann, for without your help I would be hard pressed to find anyone as capable and big enough to pick Big Daddy up off the ice every time I fell down. :-) And last, but by far not least, to the organizer Linda Underwood, her sidekick, Kristy and all those great volunteers; congratulations for another super-organized festival, you did it again with flying colors!

Thank you for listening,

Ray.