As those of you up north are putting your kites away for the winter, we in the south start getting all our kites out to start playing. November usually marks the beginning of our season in the extreme south. The first competition of this season was held November 4-5, 2006, on South Padre Island. Windchasers Kite Shop, owned by Guy Blatnik, sponsored the event. This year we started with the best weather we could have ever asked for. We had two beautiful days of sunshine, wind, and perfect temperature.

La Quinta, one of the Island's newest hotels on the beach, was the host hotel. It's perfectly located near the "flats" where the competition is held. Friday afternoon, Gayle Woodul, Region Director, and some of the Austin Gang -- Ron Schultz, Central Conference Commissioner, and Ben Gray -- arrived to the hotel. They decided they needed to check out the Island winds, so we headed to the flats for a little test flying. Gayle then began proving that if you ever need some new music to fly to, just check with her. She probably has it in her music library. She has great music for mystery flys. We packed up the kites and returned to the hotel in time for La Quinta's happy hour. We got our two complimentary drinks and took some photo ops with the surf, then it was time to head to the get-together held at the Padre Island Brewing Company. We had a great turnout at the get-together. We met some new faces and reconnected with some old friends. It's always like a big family reunion.

Saturday morning we took advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the hotel and tanked up on coffee before heading out to the flats, then the work began. Everyone began putting out banners, setting up canopies, chairs, single-line kite displays. The wind was already blowing 10-20 by 9 a.m. As usual, we were setting out the vented kites to be ready for the day. The Austin fliers were excited to have all the wind; where we, on the other hand, would like to see some lighter wind at times. We kite fliers are never satisfied with what we get

On the south side of the flats on the single-line field, Barry & Karen Ogletree from Lufkin, Texas, impressed everyone with their big single-line display along with Charles & Diana from Houston. All the way from Lubbock, Walt and Dorothy Mitchell brought their trailer full of kites, one of which was the beautiful Peter Lynn fish. On the north side of the flats, Bill Doan from B & S Kites on the Island, had a great kite display up along with Roger Horne's assortment of kites. Bev and Mike Barnard drove all the way from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to fly kites with us. It was great to add them to our extended kite family. Gayle proudly displayed her beautiful new banners she picked up at the AKA Nationals' Auction.

We are so lucky at SPI to have Geoff Clifton, sound guy, and Tom Chaffee, announcer. They are the greatest. They have been doing the kite festivals on the Island longer than I've been flying at kite festivals. They do a super job. Leslie Blasing joined us to sing the National Anthem, then it was time for the games to begin. Gayle and Guy led the pilots' meeting getting everything organized. We started the morning with the individuals. There were three of us: one novice and two masters. Ben, Donna & Jeff McCown. Then Windjunkies, Jeff and Donna, premiered their new routine for this season in the masters pairs division.

Thanks to Woody's Beach Shack, we had some food to reenergize us through the day. They had great hot dogs and bratwurst ready for us at all times. Throughout the day, the New Tech Kites representatives, Chris Shultz and Cassie Shook, were on hand to give demos and teach kite flying to anyone that asked. The next competition was the teams. Team SPI -- Jeff, Claudia Steen, Donna, and Guy -- took the field first and debuted their new routine for the season in the masters team division. Then Austin EOL took the field with Michael Boswell making the calls for Ben and Ron.

Next it was time for an event that hasn't been seen on SPI for a few years. Of course, we kept calling it the old name, but it was the individual outdoor unlimited. I convinced Jeff that we should do this just so the audience could see there was another style of competition out there, plus give us a chance to experiment. It also gave us a chance to use our Crystal rose kites that Guy had made for us for previous performances. Roger Horne, who resides in Rockport, joined us in the event. Roger came out and flew his stacks and did a beautiful job. Then I took the field and opened with a fighter kite to "Kiss from a Rose," a song that we always love performing for Gayle. Then I went to the rose dual-line kite and ended with the rose delta kite with a rose sliding down the line at the end. Jeff, in cape and mask, opened his routine to Phantom of the Opera by bringing Gayle onto the field for a little improvisation. If I didn't know better, they had practiced all this beforehand. Then he began with his dual-line rose kite and ended with Thor's Hammer, which is a 13 ft. dual-line stunt kite.

After the unlimited, it was time to pack away all our toys and start heading to the hotel to clean up for the banquet. Of course, we made time to make it to the happy hour for our two complimentary drinks first. We do have our priorities. Chris took advantage of the Gulf breeze and deck area at the hotel to get out a kite he had made and flew it fo us, which made a great picture with the full moon and surf behind him.

After breakfast at the hotel the next morning, it was time to head to the flats and do it all over again; but since we had finished the competition on Saturday, we were going to be able to have some fun and fly demos all day. Deontae Boswell, got on the field and impressed us all with his flying skills. All cameras were on him throughout his performance. Then his dad, Michael, had to jump in and try something new. We got to see Dad and son fly pairs for the first time ever. What a treat that was. Deontae followed his dad through manuevers like a pro. Way to go, Deontae.

Jeff and I got out our 10-ft. Vortex kites with the long tails Bill made for us and performed a routine, and then the teams got out and performed their ballets for the audience. Then it was time for something a little different. We decided to put the two teams together along with Chris and fly mega team. I know it was only eight of us, but anything more than the four of us we call Mega!!! We did a stick practice in front of the audience to show them how we put routines together before flying them, plus it helped us make sure we all understood Jeff's calls. Then we went out for the trial run. Gayle supplied some music, and off we went. Even though the two sets of kites flew at completely different speeds, we managed to fly for quite awhile before there was a mid-air collision. The audience loved it.

Chris impressed everyone with his performance with the Mirage Warbirds three-stack kite. It's so amazing what he can do with those kites. Roger got out and demonstrated his ability of flying two kites at a time. He really does a great job. We have given Roger the nickname of the Stack King. Roger has the habit of having at least two or three of every kite he has so that he can stack them and fly them. Audiences love it. Jeff put on a microphone and gave a trick demonstration for the audience giving them the names of the tricks and describing what he was doing during each one of them.

Guy decided it was time for a Rok battle, so he talked Ben and I into giving it a try. Neither one of us had ever participated in a Rok battle before. Little did I realize that that was Guy's plan all along. I was flying the Eagle Rok. It wasn't too long into the battle that I felt my line cut and watched the Eagle drift out to the bay and slowly touch down on the shore. Tom was quick on the cue to announce that "The Eagle has landed." Then shortly after that, much to Guy's surprise, Ben cut his line and actually had both kites on his line flying, so Ben was declared the winner. Way to go, Ben.

Due to the full moon, the tide was higher than usual, so the single-line field stayed too wet all day to fly on, but that didn't stop them. They just moved and found empty spaces around the flats and had their displays back up and going. Walt impressed everyone with another Peter Lynn creation, the caterpillar. Roger drew a crowd with his beautiful dragon kite.

As the day drew to a close, it was time to pack the toys away and head home. As everyone hugged and waved goodbye, the field became empty and desolate, except for us locals, Guy, Claudia, Jeff and I. As we sat there and caught our breath, a car pulled up with a mom and three little kids that had just missed the event. Guy quickly got some kites out to give the kids, and we sat and watched the smiles on their faces as they flew their kites. That's what it's all about, bringing smiles to everyone's faces, young and old. We then finished packing our things and headed back to the Padre Island Brewing Company to unwind and discuss plans for next year's festival. Hope to see y'all here.

     Donna McCown