The Flying Squad have been visitors to the festival for a number of years and look forward to returning with eager anticipation. Â This year was no different. Â The festival is on an epic scale and too big to cover all of it here so we will just tell you about the sport kite flying at the the Chateau end of the field.
Well that was the week that was! Â And what a week.
Berck has become an annual pilgrimage for “The Squad” with this year being our 14th visit to the festival. Â Arriving at the Office du Tourisme is the start of another year’s adventure. Â The ever efficient organising team are always smiling and helpful, no matter how bad the French we use!
This year the festival was host to The World Sport Kite Championships, so along with the usual array of spectacular single line kites, we were treated to displays by the best sport kite teams in the world.
The beginning of the week saw fabulous weather with clean smooth winds blowing in off the sea. Â We flew our ballets in the sunshine and clean winds and had a real blast.
11am every morning saw us on the beach behind the arena practicing for the Rev mega team each afternoon. Â This year we were joined by teams FLIC, Loustik, Now’Air, Decorators and Air4ce and fliers from France, Germany, Russia, Belgium and USA.
Things started out normally with threads, and bursts and contra rotating circles. Â After that we kinda got carried away. Â From the esplanade the spectators were treated to giant cars, bicycles, The Eiffel Tower and Bob & Gianette – giant stick characters constructed from Revs. Â We really were having too much fun!
So, many thanks to all you mad, crazy, creative and trusting Rev fliers out there who helped us make such wonderful shapes in the sky and such great memories in our hearts.
The first festival of the season for The Flying Squad, RICV Berck is one of the biggest kite events you will see.  Whether you count the size of the flying space, the number of spectators, the number of invited guests or the different kinds of kites flying, RICV Berck is big. This year’s festival was no exception.
During this 10 day event we enjoyed the best of winds and the worst of winds. Â Every kite combination came out of the bag and quite often all one day! Â To the credit of Revolution Kites and the teams that fly them, no matter what the weather threw at us, the show went on.
So, if you’re planning the schedule for next year and you have not yet been to Berck, do yourself a favour and add it to the list.
Take a look at some of these reports of the event.
The Official Web site of the Festival
This year The Flying Squad were delighted to be able to host Belgian kite designer Jos Valcke and his wonderful kites at the festival.  Jos’s kites added a real splash of colour and an international flavour to our favourite flying site.  Joined on Sunday by Sebastian Jüttemeier the sky was filled to bursting.
See our pictures here.
 What a great weekend we had at this years festival!  A very English affair, this event has been described by some of the international guests as a perfect English Garden Party with kites.
Saturday had the best of the weather with great displays by all the kite fliers. Â Basingstoke Kite Festival manages to have a great family feel with all the invited guests working as one team to create a great show.
This year was no exception with all the fliers helping each other meaning the sky was never empty. Â We were delighted to get the opportunity to fly the Sode kites by Janneke Groen; Kelvin Woods’ butterflies and Nick James’ beautiful angels.
The weather on Sunday was a little more challenging with very light winds in the more and the odd rain shower in the after noon. Â We managed to be the ones out flying when the rain came down in buckets. Â Still, we managed to keep the commentary team entertained even if everyone else had run for cover!
Can’t wait until next years event. Â Many thanks to the Loddon Valley Kite Fliers for their hard work in creating such a great event.
We have just got back from a fabulous weekend in Belgium at the Oostende International Kite Festival.
This beach festival is a great way to see some of the best kites and teams from across Europe. Boasting a guest list that most festivals would die for, there is always something to look at and this year was no exception.
With the addition of Steff Ferme to our ranks and with Daniel (aged 9) flying as well we were able to fly 8 person routines as well as our fully choreographed ballets.
We had a great time and can’t wait to go back again next year. Â Thanks to all those involved who made this possible.
It’s finally here! Â The first festival of the kite season is upon us and boy what a way to start.
Berck is probably the largest kite festival in the world, whether you go by number of spectators, kite fliers or countries represented and is something of a kiting Mecca. Â The Squad have been flying at this festival since our beginings back in 1999 and something that we really look forward to.
This year the event is also hosting the dual line sport kite World Championships. With 15 of the top teams from around the world it should be a great show. Â Fingers crossed for another British win by the legendary Scratch Bunnies.
Look out for photos of the event when we get back, but with ten days of solid kite flying, it might be a few days until we have recovered enough to upload the images!
(posted 05/04/2012)
We have had a great off-season with some fun flying days, but the cold days and long nights have meant that we have had time to up date our website.
So, here is the new site. Â We will update the site every now and then with updates on the year and maybe the odd report on some of the wonderful festivals we go to.
If you have any photos of us at an event and don’t mind sharing it then please email them in and we will add them to the gallery.
See you all soon.
