It’s ok to brag, they say, if you have something to brag about. And we do! 🙂 When we were striving to get KAP Jasa – kite team Slovenia recognised as a NGO working in public interest, people who were to approve our status were a bit baffled. What are kites? To which category should … Read more
It was a rare moment, a perfect alignment that almost never happens. Three wind apps; the illustrious Országos Meteorológiai Szolgálat, Hungarian meteo service; EMFCW and EUMETSAT, and even the Slovenian ARSO, plus all good and bad weather sites across the internets were all saying the exact same thing: Wind is from the south-southeast, 13 km/h. … Read more
“I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.”– Pippi Longstocking Marjan Marinšek was the managing director of the Cultural Centre in Velenje, Slovenia. Astrid Lingren was … well, Astrid Lindgren. Marjan and Astrid were friends. In the late eighties Astrid brought Pippi Longstocking to Velenje – … Read more
A great Calvin and Hobbes strip (almost all of them are great, but this one is really exceptional) shows the main characters chilling on a meadow under an intense blue summer sky, with Hobbes commenting that the sky looks really pretty, when Calvin suddenly declares that it “is too blue” and that it “needs some … Read more
There were two kites lying on the grass. Abandoned, almost done; the edges were reinforced correctly, the spars were taped down in place, the cover art just a couple of strokes from perfection – but the tails were missing, the bridle was not set yet, and they were both a bit crumpled. Say they were … Read more
“¡A lo mejor!”– Javi We were a couple of pints deep in Guadalquivir – well, in a discussion about Guadalquivir, having re-ignited the ancient debate of riverine salinity. It was late (or early); we were kinda loud while Javier was, as a proud sevillano, trying to keep a low profile, since we were closer to … Read more
“I will BURY your kites!” – the bora wind, on Sunday Jesolo Kite & Beach festival is huge. Enormous. The largest in Italy, one of the largest in Europe and in the world. It’s an incredible aerial show with huge crowds, thousands of kites, fantastic flying monsters, awesome aerial masterpieces … … and we chose … Read more
As we told you in the previous article, IKF Mangalore 2025 was organised by kite flyers – the illustrious TeamMangalore India. Organising a kite festival is hard … Once a budget is set, the balancing begins. On one hand you have the kite flyers, on the other the sponsors and the crowds. If the sponsors’ … Read more
Why us? The Mangalore kite team invited a truckload of kite legends to their festival. Kosta. Bob. Andreas. Andres. Antonio. Axel. Jan. Claire and Dave. Sandra and Guilherme. Team Magnetik from Greece. Raymond, who drove his bike all the way down from Mumbai. The trio of fantastic Indonesians. And the Indian masters: Hanna, Rauf, Ashok, … Read more
A huge problem the author had with this piece: how to write it without veering into pathos? When it became clear it is impossible, it was a bit easier. How could one write about friends and not get emotional? On the first night people from all over the world were dropping in one by one … Read more