October 26th, 2020 Kite Newsletter

I don't know about you, but the weather took a sharp turn to the cold around here, and my sandals went into the closet and out came the warm jackets and gloves. It has me thinking about how to keep kite flying through the cold days while the sun is up, and how to engage with more of you folks in the dark hours. Do you have an idea? Like perhaps a regularly scheduled Video chat? Fortuna Found is a hosting a few 'private' and 'unlisted' group chats and working on making them more open to the community. Do you have a suggestion? Let me know at info@fortunafound.comTIP OF THE WEEK

This week the tip comes from Ron Gibian and it is about your general approach to kites:

"Keep your mind and your heart open, and if you are person that has been around for a long time, share your knowledge. Bring new people into this way of life and watch the hobby grow "

It is up to you how this applies to you.

BUILD A KITE - Part 2

Join the folks at On The Line Kiting as they continue their build a long of the popular and well flying single line glider kite called the Urban Ninja.

Check them out there: https://youtu.be/7u5IiNFJR6s

While there, why not subscribe to their channel and check out a few of the other build a longs they have done!

ELEVATING THE SPORT

There are some cool things going on where people are pushing themselves, challenging themselves, or competing against a few friends. These micro competitions or micro challenges help us push the boundaries, help us to perhaps try new things. Below are two examples of this.

The 5th round of 'PILOT' features Bram, André, Ronald, Lucas and Lars who all perform the Comete trick at the Zandmotor beach. See description and how to vote below: Comete The COMETE is a tumbling trick in which the kite rotates in a single direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise). In each rotation, the kite passes through roughly four positions: in a clockwise rotation the Comete starts with a Half Axel which flares the kite belly down, nose away. Followed by a pop causing the nose pointing down and slightly to one side. The next pull brings the kite into almost a turtle position (belly up, nose away). The last pull turns the nose pointing right. This series of four positions constitutes one rotation.

Check out the video!

Do you have what it takes to take off on a kiting expedition for two weeks across Lake Baikal on the ice, threw the snow, and avoiding the snow-tornados?

Check out this video showing an adventure that was taken earlier this year by Andrewy Atamamonv and Alexey Stepanov.

STORIES FROM THE KITE WORLD

There are some incredible stories happening out there and we aim to share them with you. Whether it is a personal account, an interview, or something that has happened that is worth noting, you might find it here! If you have a story you would like to share, let us know!

Future Up in the Air for Kite Collector

ISTANBUL－Egyptian student Ibrahim, who recently moved to Istanbul to study medicine, entered the kite museum out of sheer curiosity and apparent excitement.

Turkey's single kite museum in the Uskudar district on the Asian side of Istanbul has been trying to stay afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

"I wouldn't think that I would find a museum in the city dedicated to kites," Ibrahim says, while gazing at the colorful, differently shaped kites in admiration.

Mehmet Naci Akoz, president of the Istanbul Kite Association and founder of the museum, says that he created the 3,000-piece collection over the course of 40 years and opened this museum in 2005.

He visited over 35 countries to gather kites to be displayed in the museum.

Link to the full story: READ ME

THIS STORY IS SHARED CARE OF ANDREW BEATTIE

"This piece was mentioned in yesterday's thread. This is the only photo that I can find of it. An absolutely enormous condom, built by PLK, designed by Phil McConnachie, decades ago, maybe in the late 1980's. I'll tell as much of the story as I can remember, maybe others can chip in or correct me where my memory fails.

It was commissioned to publicise World AIDS Day. It was exhibited in a number of places (I think the photo shows it at Scheveningen) and attracted quite a lot of TV coverage. The sponsor was delighted when one of the major TV channels included it in their news program and showed in their bulletin right across Europe, every 30 minutes for 24 hours.

Phil McConnachie, who designed it, had managed to faithfully represent the 2D characters in the comic in 3D fabric but the sponsor was not really prepared for the reality of inflating fabric in the wind. As the two characters sat astride their steed, the wind would move the condom in a slow, rhythmic motion, and the two characters would RIDE the motion, in a magnificently animated fashion. The sponsor implored: “Can you not make them, sit still?” But Phil could do nothing, even if he had wanted to.

To support the event, they published a comic book featuring the two characters riding the condom, preaching the gospel of protected sex and and containing a real condom within the pages.

At first the volunteers were quite shy about handing them out, but after they had given away a few hundred, they became more relaxed and blaze’ about it and would hand them to everyone, young and old without a second thought.

Apparently, they gave one to a frail little old lady in a wheelchair. This did not go down well – she open the booklet, saw the condom, then fuelled by offence, she stood upright and physically punched the volunteer who had handed it to her.

Another noteable incident occurred in a city centre. The plan had been to loft the condom under a kite but they were presented with a site that had a barrier round a plot that was only barely big enough for the condom alone – nowhere near enough space for a kite to work as a sky anchor. But the live TV crews were there, expecting a show, so the volunteers held the opening and they used fans to inflate it. All went well to start with, but it was a sunny day and it was not long before the air trapped in the condom began to warm up and since it was held only by one end, the tip soon started to venture skywards, creating the most phallic of images. The live TV cameras quickly turned away to broadcast pictures of the crowd, of the town centre, of ANYTHING rather than the 100 foot erection in front of them.

I understand that the piece no longer exists – that it was destroyed while in storage in some way"

The first We Fly Global Kite Conference was hosted in September of 2020, and was a wonderful success. Thank you to everyone that attended and participated. We are looking at hosting the next one in January of 2021. Stay tuned for announcements in this newsletter, on the website, and via the other Fortuna Found Channels for more information. If you would like to present, moderate, or have questions about the WFGK-C do not hesitate to reach out at info@fortunafound.com