Tough flying at Kite Day 2020, New Brighton beach, Christchurch, NZ

[@kiteflyingdownunder....car6272]

What a contrast from the day before. You worked hard to make the best show of it but the wind and weather was not on our side. Of course the public didn't appreciate our frustrations and still seemed to enjoy the day. I think the clip of Mickey lying face down expressed it well. Like so often happens the last hour of flying turns out to be the best.

[@JimNicholls]

Yes, the last hour was the best, Carl, and the next day as well. Sad that you couldn't have stayed longer on Sunday, but it's a long way back to Dunedin (especially when you stop so long on the way!)

[@derricksrandomviews]

I know how it is, fickle wind can very frustrating and disappointing. I once drove 90 miles to a kite festival, stayed there 30 minutes and drove home. No wind but we did have lightning. So the folks running the show shut it down. I am glad to say that the Treasure Island KIte Festival this past Saturday week (the 19th) was a great success. I had a number of HQ kites and my GP Moth up at the same time. It was loads of fun. A mile of beach had fliers with all kinds of kites, both single and stunt. More kites than I cared to count! The Moth Flew with its 75 foot tail and two 20 footers on the tips for six hours, like it was painted on the sky.

[@JimNicholls]

Did you make a video of the event, Derrick?

[@derricksrandomviews]

@@JimNicholls No, but I should have. Diane took pictures with her malfunctioning cell phone. I managed to edit one well enough to see what things looked like. My video camera was back home in a container of rice, as a result of falling out of a Kayak while hanging around my neck.

[@MichaelKSherman]

Well I certainly enjoyed that. Would have been great to fly more, but it's really all about capturing the day... kites and all. Great video Jim.

[@JimNicholls]

Thanks, Michael. I'd planned on five lifters, each with multiple line laundry, so only achieved a small fraction of that. But you know well that we can only do what the wind allows.

[@raymonddimock6838]

A tip of the Hat for all NZ Kite Flyers in difficult near 0 wind conditions. Patience is an ointment for every every Kite Runner.

[@JimNicholls]

Thanks, Raymond. It was frustrating, and some people's patience was somewhat exhausted, but most of us just kept trying until the end of the event (and after the end!)

[@danokitemanotoo1791]

I really like the Spiderman laundry item. The last I looked, they were sold out (for now), but hopefully they'll make more!

[@JimNicholls]

I would hope so, but maybe copyright issues are part of the supply problem.

[@danokitemanotoo1791]

@@JimNicholls Maybe, but I really don't see China one to follow a strict code of ethics when it comes to this type of infringement.

[@JimNicholls]

@@danokitemanotoo1791 Individual sellers don't pay much heed to copyright, but AliExpress will take down listings if they receive a complaint about copyright infringements.

[@PanyingPilot]

Food and beer are the gods consolation when Aeolus does not show up for the party. A video clip of the inner circle at a buffet table with a lazy Susan full of things to eat would be a right proper thumbing the nose at slack conditions. In the end, it is all about people anyway.

[@JimNicholls]

It would have been nice, Glenn, if the so-called "sponsor", an ice cream company, had provided free product to the fliers to help their efforts, but as usual, no such luck. I ate nothing and drank only water in the six and a half hours on the beach.

[@PanyingPilot]

@@JimNicholls That, my friend is hard duty.

[@fotonmom]

I saw that lizard featured on Aliexpress last night ..Looks really nice! So sorry the wind was lacking..but it sure looked like a good turnout of watchers. Always seems like the best time is the day before?

[@JimNicholls]

Or the day after, Priscilla! I still owe you an email, I think. I'll try to get onto it soon.

[@fotonmom]

Jim Nicholls whenever the spirit moves you .Jim. Spent some time working on my kite tail ..today to break the monotony if the weather. Coming along nicely. Watching others fly theirs is always inspiring;)

[@kitecrewireland]

Great video Jim even with the weather not turning out the best. Frustrating when you have a full display sitting and ready to go You can pick the dates but not the weather unfortunately, still look like a good crowd of people

[@JimNicholls]

Indeed, an excellent turn-out of spectators (and some with their own kites), but sadly they never come on all the other occasions when conditions allow us to put on a good show. For most people here, kites are a "one day a year" item. At least packing up was easier than if I'd flown everything I'd planned to include!

[@DOLEWDREW]

Hi Jim. I see you got the new gecko, how do you like it so far? I am trying to decide which colour scheme to buy. Is there also going to be a 55M snake on the way to rival Peter's? ;-)

[@JimNicholls]

I uploaded a video giving more detail about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2i8mHupmpaBjZI . I'm happy with it. I won't be buying that big snake. I'm no longer working, so have very little money to buy kites, but the Gecko was different enough to tempt me anyway.

[@scibbluver]

I hate day like that😪 all ready to go and nothing to do but wait

[@JimNicholls]

We put a lot of physical effort into trying to keep things aloft in insufficient wind, Scott, but most of it was wasted, unfortunately. Kite-lines have seldom been tugged so vigorously for so little reward!

[@mrlionel1965]

Jim, we feel your frustrations here in Wisconsin. As I am sure Michael will attest to, lack of wind and fog is certain to kill an event like this, and we have seen enough of that here in recent years. Why can Mother Nature just cooperate sometimes! It still looks like you managed to get a few things in the air.

[@JimNicholls]

There were lots of people there, Ken, and I guess 90% of them didn't really understand the problems we all had in getting anything into the air. But an interesting, if tiring , day, anyway.

[@CirrusRC]

:( What rotten luck Jim. I looked at 3 forecasts and they were all different!! Such a shame to have all that ripstop on the ground and not in the air. A shame for you kiters and the public. I wonder if Sunday was better? The new kite looks interesting.

[@JimNicholls]

Yes, Sunday was better, David, as you'll see. Just a very unlucky choice of day for the event, sadly. More on the new kite in a later video.

[@MooCowBlueKites]

Sorry the winds and gloomy skies hampered the Kite Day but it looks like it was well attended just the same.

[@JimNicholls]

There were certainly a lot of people, Mark. I hope they weren't too disappointed by the lack of kites in the air much of the time.

[@MooCowBlueKites]

@@JimNicholls it looked like alot of the little kites were flying though for the kids, except Carl's seagull. Kids love to run with kites anyway. My daughter gets her kite up just fine and still tries to run with it everywhere and she is 9. I am sure they all enjoyed it regardless.

[@JimNicholls]

Really cheap kites from the $2 store, often made of very light (and flimsy) materials, will fly in almost no wind, and respond well to being pulled along by children running with them. I have sticked kites that are designed for very light wind, but they are not the kind of thing I usually fly at a gathering like Kite Day, and even they would often be out-performed by the $2 kites. I think most of the children had fun, and it's a great pity that 99% of them are never seen flying kites except on this one day each year.

[@meiumi9456]

Oh that lizard kite though, I really like that, where did you get that one from, I'd really like to get one too!

[@JimNicholls]

I bought it here, Meiumi: www.aliexpress.com/item/4000552473342.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.732e2e0ejgakF0 . I'll do a video review of it soon, but I'm quite happy with it.

[@flyingfish1849]

Looked like great wind the day before....sigh....

[@JimNicholls]

And the day after, Steve. Really bad luck, but that's kite-flying.

[@deweygravesjr.122]

Tough day! And for it to be a fistival made it worse. Thanks Jim.

[@JimNicholls]

If it hadn't been Kite Day, we wouldn't have been bothering at all, Dewey, as it was just not worth the effort. But with thousands of people turning up expecting a spectacle, we had to keep trying.

[@DOLEWDREW]

@@JimNicholls Has the event ever been rescheduled due to poor weather ?

[@JimNicholls]

No. The worst one I've seen was about 10 years ago when there were very strong, gusty, off-shore winds, and almost nothing flew all day. But it didn't rain, and that's the only thing the council seem to think is a reason for rescheduling.

[@halaasen3416]

Mother Nature can certainly be a fickle "partner" sometimes Jim.

[@JimNicholls]

True, Hal, and she seems to be getting more fickle than ever these days. At least we flew something, some of the time!