SnapDash

East Coast Kite Festival 2023

While this was only my second time attending the East Coast Kite Festival, it is quickly becoming one of my favourite weekends in the year! There's something otherworldly about a sky full of kites. Flying is a relaxing way to enjoy the world, though occasionally there's the drama of a fouled line. It's engaging, yet approachable. Plus, kites are just so very colourful! They are designed to maximise joy, and they do a very good job of it.

All of these photos are from Sunday, July 16, 2023; I foolishly forgot to bring my camera on Saturday! That's unfortunate, because my parents, sister, and nephew were in town that day and came along. This year, the Saturday had cloudier weather, and not much wind. Things picked up nicely for Sunday!

There is plenty of variety in the kite world, and many different types could be found at the festival. High on the list of crowd-pleasers are bols, known colloquially as beach spinners. They rarely do any flying, but catch the wind in their giant hoops, like parachutes with no centres. There were a few Rokkaku kites with really, really long black and yellow tails. Personally, I always find those impressive. A Rokakku has a distinct hexagon shape. The kite I fly most is a delta. Deltas have a triangular leading edge. A foil kite has no frame, and catches the wind in a cloth chamber. Diamond "kite-shaped" kites seem less popular these days than deltas and foils.

 Kite festivals are a chance to see giant foil kites that are powerful enough to lift colourful items called "line laundry". Big foils can also be flown on their own. I saw a giant ladybird one without line laundry. The largest kite I saw was a big rectangular foil with a Nova Scotian tartan-tail. It had animals for laundry. 

There are kite flying traditions all over the world. The East Coast Kite Festival has an Indian flavour to it; last year I had some tasty curry chicken from one of the food vendors parked at the bottom of the hill, and it makes me smile when the DJ lets loose with a song in Hindi. One of my coworkers from the Caribbean, however, mentioned to me that she goes every year and it reminds her of home - though where she's from, Easter is the best time for flying kites. The Rokkaku design comes from Japan, there are Chinese texts that reference kiting from 2200 years ago, and the trend was spread to Europe by the 1300s. In the 1820s a British inventor, George Pocock, used his children in experiments to design kites for lifting people; his work was a precursor of the sport of kite buggying. Nowadays, kitesurfing and snowkiting are popular (among adults, who do it voluntarily).

I really enjoyed the East Coast Kite Festival this year, and look forward to returning next year. My last photo is a shot looking straight up at the (slightly) less popular spot, behind Citadel High School, which is separated from the main venue at the Garrison Grounds by a ridge and some trees. My delta is on the left of the photo, between two streaks of blue sky patching through the fluffy clouds.

Olympus Pen-F, 12-200mm telephoto lens
f11, 1/800 sec, ISO 200
IrfanView: Crop, Colour