MIKE
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by Mike Gillard
The Mid-Atlantic Stunt Kite Championships was founded in
1990 at Ocean City, Maryland. Over its first five years, it experienced solid growth and
became one of the most highly-regarded sportkite events in the US. During this time,
numerous local kite clubs became much more active and filled the sky with great
single-line art kites to complement the sportkite competitions.
 Roger
Chewning, the driving force behind Sky
Festivals Productions took full advantage of this growth trend and renamed the event in
1995, calling it the "Maryland Kite Exposition". In the three years since, the
growth in the event’s focus has seen MIKE blossom into one of the premier
general-interest kite festivals in the country. This year’s event ranks as the best
yet. For three solid days, the long stretch of beach at Ocean City was jam-packed with
every type of kiting activity imaginable. Kite artists from all over the world displayed
their creations for the thousands of tourists staying in this resort town. Numerous
manufacturers hosted "learn to fly" lessons all weekend, introducing hundreds of
people to the excitement of sportkiting. As always, the event featured closely-fought
sportkite tournament action. Outside of gusty, swirling winds on Saturday, the weather was
flawless for the entire event. All the ingredients were present for a fantastic kiting
weekend.
The event faced what could have been a major obstacle to success when, one week
before the event, Roger Chewning had to have emergency surgery. With the capable guidance
of Roger’s wife Kathy, and sister, Karen, the event came off without a hitch. Sky
Festival’s expertise, as well as the professionalism of the dozens of volunteers
involved with Eastern League events is to be commended. It is said that the mark of a good
manager is the abillity to not be directly involved with the final steps of a project, if
so, Roger passed this test with flying colors. Our kudos go out to all involved with this
event. After spending a week in the hospital, Roger appeared at the event on Saturday to
everyone’s delight.
DISPLAY KITES
The local kite clubs went all-out to make this an event to remember. Beautiful
ground displays and special activities complemented the aerial displays
allthree days of the event. The Lehigh Valley Kite Society, Wings Over Washington,
Keystone Kiters, Maryland Kite Society, Sky Pilots, and the South Jersey Kite Fliers
combined efforts to make this event truly a memorable one.
Adding to the club efforts were the exhibition of kites from the guest fliers
that Sky Festivals assembled for this event. The guest kitemakers were:
Anne Harris- UK
Tony and Steve Ferrel- PA
Frank Schweimann- Germany
Robert Trepanier- Canada
Kevin and Cinda Shannon- PA
Reza Ragheb- CO
Ron and Sandy Gibian- CA
Pete Dolphin- PA
Joel Scholz- TX
Richard Gareau- Canada
FUN STUFF/SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
All three days of the event featured non-stop fun on the designated activities
field. Children’s kitemaking workshops were conducted by the Lehigh Valley Kite
Society, Mass Ascensions of various types of kites were held at regular intervals, and
Shanti, Prism, Dodd’s Kite Company, and Go Fly A Kite gave free sportkite flying
lessons. There was constant action from the opening parade to the awards ceremony.
ROKKAKU BATTLES
 This aerial combat, fought with large six-sided
kites is always a crowd pleaser. The object of a rokkaku battle is to down your opponents'
kites by either cutting their line or by using your kite to tip other kites out of the
sky.
Ground contact between fliers is not allowed, but this does not prevent the
combatants from madly scrambling around the field in their attempts to outmanuever
opponents.
To no one’s surprise, Scott Spencer won the individual rokkaku contest,
besting a large field. The eye-opener was the third-place finisher, 13 year old Nick
Imdorf. From here on, he will be known as "Nick the Knife" for his skill in
cutting old masters' kites out of the sky. Many competitors were seen wheezing and gasping
after running down the beach retrieving their free-flying kites that "Nick the
Knife" slew.
The team rokkaku battle featured five sets of contestants. After three
hard-fought heats, the "Past Presidents", David Gomberg and Pete Dolphin were
the last ones standing.
FIGHTER KITES
Fighters are small single-line kites with great speed and maneuverability.
Contestants compete against each other one-on-one, attempting to make their line contact
their opponent’s line, alternating between touching from above, then from below.
After several hours of heats, Kitelife Contributing Editor Richard Gareau claimed victory,
with his wonderful Patang fighter. Second place was taken by Richard Seltzer.
SPORTKITE COMPETITION
An event within an event, the Mid-Atlantic Stunt Kite Championships has always
featured close battle between many of the nation’s top sportkite fliers, and this
year was no exception.
TEAMS
This event marked the debut of two new teams. Valli Girlz, a trio of lovely
young ladies, did a great job in taking second and third places in the two experienced
class events. Will they have exotic nicknames like "Sporty Valli", Scary
Valli", and "Baby Valli" by Wildwood? Also making their first competition
appearance was team Shanti Air. They posted a win in Masters Team Precision and suffered a
disqualification in Ballet when they incurred a boundary violation from the smallish
competition arena.
PAIRS
The surprise of the weekend in sportkite competition had to be Sudden Flight
taking the win in Masters Pairs Ballet. Lance and Dorothy Wagner haven't flown much since
the birth of their son this January, and made a last minute (really!) decision to enter.
They certainly haven't lost their touch. In Experienced Pairs, "Q" won handily.
INDIVIDUALS
In the dual-line events, best-placed Novice was Lisa Stambaugh with First
and Second placings. Intermediate class was dominated by Phil Napier (a Kitelife
Contributing Editor). Top Experienced pilot was Phil Broder.
Quadline events saw Gerry Reidel winning Experienced, and Scott Weider taking
the Masters honors.
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HERE for Complete Sportkite Scores
This event ranks as one of the best that we have ever attended. If you
get a chance to go to Ocean City next year, we highly recommend it. Organization was
excellent, the crowds were large and appreciative, the beach is great....You get the idea!
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