Untitled - KiteLife

THE VALENTINE'S DAYFeb . 10, 11,&12By Spectrum Flight: Lee Sedgwick,Sue Taft, Gary Counts,and Sue GindlespergerKITE AND SLED SKI RACESMother Nature came throughfor the fourth annual weekend onthe ice of Presque Isle bay in Erie,Pa. We had not had a fullweekend of good ice and snowconditions since January .This has been a very mild winteralong the shores of Lake Erie .Saturday's event found sunny skiesand good conditions. More thanenough ice on the 2 square milesof bay . Ice fishermen had arrivedvery early to take all the best parkingand we made a last minutedecision to change flying areas .Lee's new van was appropriately"Bannerized" to let everyoneknow where we were .Low winds made for a hard timegetting any power runs, in fact,long lines were in order to get anypower at all . The poor winds didn'tdeter fliers from coming from asfar as Toronto, New York, and Pittsburghto try their hand (andkites) in the springlike weather .As the hosts of the event, wehelped get people started makingsure that they had the proper e-quipment, such as a good helmet(for safety's sake) .Saturday night is reserved for theparty at Mugg's pub (a localeatery) where we decorate thetraditional souvenir mugs from theevent . Along with talk about kites,returning of lost gear (People alwaysseem to forget somethingout on the bay when they packup!) and the pleasant surprise ofviewing a very professional donevideo by John Compton ofToronto, Canada .Sunday started as even a moreperfect day than Saturday . . . 30degrees and a promise of morewind. After Gary Counts stockedup on his mandatory breakfastsweet rolls and coffee (Gary maybe called the "Man in Motion" butyou should see him without his coffee!)"The Encampment" at Presque Isle bay . SKQ photo - by Gary CountsThe bay was more crowdedthan we had ever seen it . Icefishermen, skaters, ice boaters,and just thousands of people comingout to enjoy the spring-likeweather. The "Ice fliers" were outin force as well . Fred "the sled"Bell, Mike "Where's Dad?" Keatingand "Flyin" Bryan Keating of Ohiowere on the ice . As well as soon tobe "Daddy" Dan Buxton accompaniedby Brian Fyfe of Cleveland,Ohio; John and Maryann Harveyof Buffalo ; Tom Dogery and BrianVanDerSlice of N .Y. rounded outmost of the serious fliers .Spectrum Flight decided thatthey should provide some kind ofan award for this event . After lastyear's ice and sail contraptionswe decided on the "Best IceDevice" award which was to be acustom banner that would rotatefrom winner to winner, year toyear.What? no ice devices, that'sO .K. we changed the contest andawarded the banner for the "Enduranceon the Ice" taken handsdown by "Flyin' Bryan" Keatingwho went out on the ice poweredby a single ten foot Flexifoil forhours at a time . The only time wewould see Bryan was once in agreat while when he would cruiseinto shore, holler "Where's Dad?"then cruise out for another couplehours . Now that's hard-core flying,folks!The Erie Valentine's Day fly ismore companionship and funthen a serious effort to put on a"Big" event . Fun, friends, kites andice, all make for a great weekend .Conspicuous in his was the"Wizard" AI Hargus, who is the onlyout-of-town flier to have attendedall first three flies . Al's recent moveto Manistee, Mi ., from Chicago,had him all tied up and unable toattend this year's event . "It wasn'tthe same without you, Al," but Leeadds, "But it was a heck of a lotquieter!!"Plans are in the works for nextyear's ice fly . "This is the biggestevent in the country in February,"says Sue Taft . (Besides, it's theONLY event in February!) GaryCounts says, "I wish that the baywould stay frozen until June, andthen get to be 80 degrees in oneday?")All of us at Spectrum Flight wantto thank all of you that came outand braved the cold, and hopeto see you all (and everyone else)next February .