Hello, dear kite lovers!
The end of the year is coming, and it’s an appropriate time to look back and reflect on our kite and KAP adventures of 2023. This year was crazy and fun, we got some beautiful kite aerial photos and found some very interesting stories.
We took part in 6 big kite festivals, and put together one small and one micro festival. We had 25 KAP outings, of which 24 were successful. We published 41 articles here (including this one). We put our kites in the air 58 times – more than once per week, every week of the year!
Our kites were roaming around India, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. We welcomed our friends from the Netherlands, Croatia, and Poland. We participated in kite festivals in Gujarat, Spotorno, Jesolo, O., Urbino and on the island of Prvić. We did a small IKF with Zmajoljupci in Zajčja dobrava near Ljubljana, and a cute little IKF Stožice with Peter, Cisca, and Boris the kite flying dog of Colors in the Sky.
We took kite aerial photos of Rajkot, of the cold Bloke plateau, of lake Cerknica and Planina karst polje, of nature reserves and landscape parks and Adriatic islands and kite festivals and crow nests and prehistoric pile-dwellings and Renaissance towns and marshalling yards and …
But all the fun and the stories of 2023 would mean nothing if it weren’t for you, our friends. It is plainly impossible to name you all, old friends and new friends we’ve made this year, great people and great kiters from all over the world. Big thanks to everyone – it was a pleasure and an honour to fly with you!
Anyway, one of those classical end-of-year tricks is to publish a 10 Most Popular Articles, and this is exactly what we shall do. So please – enjoy our kite and KAP stories you have liked the most in 2023!
Number 10: Into the Great White Yonder
There was barely any wind on the high Bloke plateau on that late January day, but there was way too much snow and it was cold as hell. A nice change after coming back from hot Gujarat 🙂
Number 9: Of Monsters and Marshes
A story about the dragon in the Coat of Arms of Ljubljana, with modern day dragons flying again over Ljubljana Marshes landscape park.
Number 8: Where the Mountains Meet the Sea
An amazing kite festival in Spotorno, Italy. We are forever indebted to our great friend Sandro Macchi – SMAC and the members of 30 kite club for the invitation and the opportunity to fly kites on the beautiful coast of Liguria.
Number 7: Soaring through the Crowd
A superb kite aerial photography session during the fantastic Jesolo Beach and Kite festival in Jesolo, Italy. Chapeau, Fillippo Gallina!
Yet another kite festival in Italy – but what an overwhelming experience. The Medieval town of Urbino and its contradas created a show that we will remember forever. With special thanks to Luca Ovarelli, contrada Lavagine!
Number 5: Where the Summer Ends
For us, Summer ends on an island – Prvić Island, Croatia, and its phenomenal Creative Days of Faust Vrančić festival. Antonia and all the friends there, Žuža and Žare of Zmajoljupci – Croatian Kite Association, the blue Adriatic sea, the scents and sights … it was perfect yet again!
Number 4: Flying Over a Renaissance Wonder
Urbino is a true Renaissance wonder – and flying a kite with a camera from the imposing Fortezza Albornoz over this amazing pile of bricks that changed the history of art was an unforgettable experience.
Number 3: The One That Must Not Be Named
A crazy festival in a crazy town of O., full of crazy people, crazy sports and crazy murals. Among all the crazy things we did there, setting a new Slovenian record in throwing a cup of coffee into the river as far as possible was not the craziest … Ana, Ivan, Giovanni, Josip, Stanko, Ivica, David and all the good people of O. – you are all completely crazy.
Number 2: The Glorious Sky of Jesolo
A huge and impeccably organised kite festival. Filippo and his team outdid pretty much every other festival with 250 kiters coming from all over the world, creating a fantastic event on a mile and a half of the immense sandy beach of Lido di Jesolo.
And the winner article, the one you enjoyed the most in 2023, was actually …
… a series of articles about a incredible adventure far away from home.
The Best of 2023: Kite Adventures in Gujarat!
The things we saw and did there … the friends we’ve met and made, the kites we flew, the sites we explored, the wild animals we’ve encountered, the roads we travelled … it was simply amazing. A trip of a lifetime that couldn’t be described in one take – so we did seven of them:
Chapter 1: about skis, smoking lounges, and ambassadors
Chapter 2: about Batmans, world records, and mutinies
Chapter 3: about deadly obstacles, camels, and corridas
Chapter 4: about birthdays, bidis, and boars
Chapter 5: about rock stars, kite aerial photography, and entanglements
Chapter 6: about broken rules, salt, and trilobites
Chapter 7: about crime, food, and the most incredible sight in the world
Well, that about concludes this year. The new one will have a power start, as we are going back to India for the IKF Gujarat 2024 on the very first week of January, and we surely wish that 2024 will turn out to be as cool as 2023!
We hope you enjoyed 2023 it as much as we did, and we wish you all a great year 2024. May the winds be with you!
Ivor, Janez, Gregor, Sergeja, Jerneja, Saša;
KAP Jasa – kite team Slovenia.
Just found it, and thank you for sharing your nice and lovely pictures and KAP.
Thank you, Gadis! 🙂
Thanks for the kind words… the pleasure for your coming in Spotorno was ours side… hope to meet you in 2024
I’m quite happy of a story started long time ago and I’m super happy to see how much you have grown up in this activity… quality & quantity
Thank you, Sandro – and we will surely meet in 2024 … probably in Spotorno! 😉
All the best in 2024, always a delight to read you… looking forward meeting you somewhere on a kite field…
Thanks, Pierre – hopefully in Ahmedabad in less than 14 days! 😉
Thank you for sharing always great pictures.
Bob Turicik
Plymouth Wisconsin USA
Kite Eye View Photography
Thank you, Bob – have a happy 2024!