The Dieppe Kite Festival is LEGEN – wait for it – DARY!

The Flying Squad have been visitors to the festival for a number of years and look forward to returning with eager anticipation.  This year was no different.  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.

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On the same weekend that the politics of the continent were being fought out in the annual Eurovision competition, Rev flyers from across Europe demonstrated their ability to cooperate in a truly international mega-team at the Ostend International Kite Festival.  Representatives from England, Wales, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Spain braved strong winds and stinging sand to show off their skills to the even braver audience.  Not only did we need excellent flying skills we also needed to be able to quickly process calls being given in at least 4 languages!  Congratulations to Stephen (The Flying Squad) and Marc (Air4ce) for keeping us in order.

The wind was not kind to the festival, showing that you can have too much of a good thing; blasting us with wind speeds of more than 40 kph through out the weekend and gusts of around 100 kph!   We were all “blown away” by more than the wind and must thank Lien and her team of hardworking volunteers, including the ever-smiling field director who weathered all that the weather threw at him.

While sheltering from some of the worst of the weather, Gee and Ryan decided to make up a kite more suited to the wind we were experiencing.  It flew really well too (Ryan even got a axle out of it!).

Ostend is a fabulous kite festival in a stunning location and we are already looking forward to next year’s 30th Ostend LOTTO International Kite Festival.

Well that was the week that was!  And what a week.

Berck has become an annual pilgrimage for “The Squad” with this year being our 14th visit to the festival.   Arriving at the Office du Tourisme is the start of another year’s adventure.  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.  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.  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.  After that we kinda got carried away.  From the esplanade the spectators were treated to giant cars, bicycles, The Eiffel Tower and Bob & Gianette – giant stick characters constructed from Revs.  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.

Big Bols and Beer

What a fantastic weekend!  Robert Kirsch and his team certainly know how to throw a kite party.  Everyone worked hard and played hard to put on some stunning displays for the 40,000 who came to see the kites and the circus and stayed into the evening for an amazing night fly (including aliens).

Special thanks to everyone who made us so welcome and gave freely of their food, drink and good humour – we hope to see and fly with you again soon.

PS: The bol is, at 26m, the biggest in Europe and pulls enough to drag a fire truck!