It was a cloudy humid day in Connecticut as we began our seven hour trek to the “Shore”. We were on our way to Wildwoods, New Jersey to attend our first competitive Kite Festival.  We were prepared with a color coded festival schedule, red, white, and blue kites, and David’s Prophecy, for his Novice Precision Competition. The conditions of the trip were entangled with tolls, rain, humidity and inconsiderate drivers.  Despite all we encountered our spirits remained high; our adventure included excitement of a festival accented with the company of my sister and our friends who now live in Pennsylvania.

Friday, May 26 we literally ran from the Convention center attendant to the outdoor walkway leading to the beach.  The attendant hollered to us “The event unlocks the ocean”.  We almost tripped over each other confirming what we heard and nod our heads in disbelieve. “Unlock the Ocean”?  How could that be?  It wasn’t until the next day did we understand.  We are so spoiled here in San Diego.  I don’t believe I have ever seen an unoccupied beach here. Evidently the Wildwoods International Kite Festival opens the summer shore activities. 

 Walking parallel to us in the convention center was a mass of school children.  They were eagerly carrying their sled kites to the rear doors of the convention center.  We were in route of a collision, which didn’t happen because we became part of the existing throng of people watching the big kites.  As we scurried onto the beach I noticed some bleachers that soon became occupied with the mass of school children and their kites.  A man was flying a twelve stack of Revs over the bleachers.  The children were thoroughly entertained and so was I, until we spied Ben (D'Antonio)!  Yes we felt at home upon seeing a friendly face and an entertaining Rev. 

Our waiting for the Ocean to be unlocked was interrupted with a SUV driving by and parking near us. A crew proceeded to unload a huge yellow object. Our curiosity of the huge kite was threaded with sporadic hellos to Jose Sainz, Ron Gibian, Phillip McConnaclie and Brian Champie, as a “Rubber Ducky” arose onto the sand. My sister had never seen such a huge kite.  She anxiously waited for it to fly as the crew worked fervently with the duck.

Today was disappointment for Sharon and the “Rubber Ducky”. The laughter shrills and pure joy of children faded as we headed down to the tide. We explored a Horseshoe Crab, found a razor clam shell and a few other souvenirs and then headed back to our kites on an empty beach once full of clamor.

We headed back to our motel and discovered our dear friends, the Millers, had arrived safely.  Our friends uprooted last year to Marysville, PA leaving a hole in our life.  We loved watching their daughter Alexandra, who we fondly call Alex, grow. 

That night we enjoyed a welcome dinner hosted by South Jersey Kite Flyers (SJKF), on the Oceanic Hotel patio.   We met a few more people, Dodd Gross, Roger Chewning, Beatrix Pelton, Wildwoods coordinator.    We left the social stuffed and walked across Rio Grande Avenue to watch the Nite Kite Show.  Our expectations soon faded to disappointment.  We were contemplating leaving when the sky lit up from lighting.  The thunder storm that was anticipated for the weekend lingered out at sea and brightened our faces with glee. 

Saturday, May 27, we leisurely woke up with the highlight of the day being David’s competition.  It wasn’t to happen until 1 P.M.  Suddenly, David announced that he was late to the briefing and his greatest fear was being eliminated for lack of attendance.  In high gear Sharon, David and I rushed to the convention center parking lot, grabbed our gear and sped to the competition tent.  Scott Weider informed David that he didn’t miss a thing.  “The winds were uncooperative and the competitions were delayed.” Scott calmly reported.   “As soon as the winds are manageable the competition will begin”. He continued.   “The first event will be Novice Individual Precision and you, Mr. Corning, are second person up”. 

We gasped.   David’s first competition was to commence soon and we were screwed!  Its eleven o’clock and our friends thought the event would be at one, so now we didn’t know if they could be there in time because we didn’t have a definite time to tell them.  Phem!  

We went to the practice field and watched David, and two other fellows yank, push and pull their kites through maneuvers.   I was growing more anxious as the competition grew closer.   I couldn’t discern what was being said on the audio system and I didn’t want David to miss his show.  Also, I was designated to be David’s field crew.  All this gnawed on my psyche.    I hadn’t seen his routine enough to know if and when he would need my help.  My anxieties heightened as I watched the other two people leave the practice field and lingered near the competitive field.  David was still warming up!   Finally we headed to the competition field.  I was unable to get hold of Michelle to brief her of the change in plans.  Soon we were instructed to enter the field and stretch out our lines along the perimeter of the field. 

Andy, one of the competitors, introduced himself to me.  I told him I was nervous with my duties as field crew.   He continued to inform me that he was supposed to move on to the next level, but he did not win this event last year at Wildwoods. Well I guess that is the mark of a true competitor, choosing milestones and conquering them before moving on.  Or was it a psychological tactic I was to relay to David. As a sanction league bowler I know the head games that competitors play, therefore I decided to relay the information after the competition.

Laura Stonestreet was first.  Andy filled my head with the entire scoop on Laura.  Again my suspicions of Andy’s motivation were in high alert.  David was next and he signals me to run with him onto the field. Just before I took off, Andy offered to field assist for me with another person.   I happily agreed, and ran David’s kite to the field.  I knew David was confused by my exit, so I pointed to Andy.  By then David had Patty Tinkham, Field Director, consoling him with words of wisdom.  David performed his three precision figures, and was waiting for the wind to decrease in speed when the Millers showed up.  They video taped him as he performed his precision free form fly.  Everything was going great and all of a sudden David fell!  Andy ran to David’s kite and set it up for flight.  “What happen?  I can’t believe he fell.”  Andy quizzed me.  I shrugged my shoulders and continued watching David.  Soon he was finished and I removed his kite to the field perimeter.  We stood and watched the rest of the competitors hoping David placed above last. 

We joined our family and friends.  Looked for the Rubber Ducky who was nowhere in sight.  It was our daily quest to see the duck.  We headed out to explore the Boardwalk unaware that David was supposed to return at four for the award presentation.  Perhaps he figured he didn’t do well enough to win a trophy. 

Sunday, May 28, was a day full of work shops.  We attended classes; mini kite making, sled kite making, kite building discussion, and much more.  David fully enjoyed the Kite Builders discussion.  He marveled with envy of Ron Gibian’s design inspirited from his observation of the Chicago skyline. Over all the workshops were informative and I think the pictures can tell the story better than me.    

After our workshops we went outside to take pictures.  To our surprise the Rubber Ducky was standing tall.  Later that night we read in Windwriters the troubles of ‘What”.  The Rubber Ducky, named “What the Duck!” was exposed to 15-30 mph winds in Ocean City.  The owner, Mike Dallmer heard what sounded like two shotgun blasts and came to discover that the sound turned out to be “What’s” beak bridle lines breaking¹.  So that is the story of the rubber ducky, “What”.

That night David and I attended the banquet.  The theme was Mexican Fiesta.  We enjoyed the videos that SJKF video photographer put together.  Another notable moment was Jose Sainz asking me to touch his maracas hanging from his ears. The mini maracas came in the “goodie” bags we were given as we entered the banquet. 

After the banquet we had a wonderful time teasing our friends and family with our Mexican souvenir hats.   We entered the living room chanting “We came all the way from San Diego to New Jersey to celebrate Mexican night! Eeee Chihuahua.”

We woke up Monday, May 29 to sounds of people vacating our motel.  Check out time was 10 AM.  And to our surprise North Wildwoods was quickly becoming a ghost town.  First my sister left and then we said goodbye to our friends.  It was a shame to see the town grow empty as the celebration of Memorial Day was in the making with bunting on many of the porches. 

A service for the veterans was re-routing traffic as we headed to the convention center for the last time.  David and I were looking forward to the Mass Ascension of red, white, and blue kites. But first we had to get a photo of David for his second place plaque trophy!  Yes he did well despite his fall.    We were proud of the San Diego Kite Club banner presence at the festival; we felt a picture beside it was appropriate for the occasion.  All through the photo shoot we heard announcements of the Mass Ascension.  I finally captured a photo that David approved and then we headed in the direction of where we thought the event was to take place.  Since we didn’t see a large gathering of people with patriotic kites we ask Scott where the event would happen.  He didn’t know.  He was busy with the announcement of demos of a sparsely watching public. 

 It was now a couple of minutes after 12 o’clock and no mass ascension.  We saw a few red, white and blues in the sky so we launched our kites near them to the sound of nothing in particular.  Our spirits were let down by the anti climatic build up.   We brought our kites down and wrapped them up and headed to the car.  We were grumpy and hungry.  

Over all Wildwoods International Kite Festival was relaxing, exciting, and satisfying.  I suppose one can only appreciate an event when the adventure brings joy as well as disappointment.  We are looking forward to our next kite festival, and our next, and our….well you get the point.

1. South Jersey Kite Flyers “SJKF  WindWriters, Number 62 Volume #3 2006”