1999 WORLDWIDE
KITE RENDEZ-VOUS
"Click" on the pictures below to make them larger
Verdun, Quebec, Canada - June 23-27
By: Vaino Raun
Verdun was back again for 1999. The "Rendez-vous Mondial Du Cerf-Volant" or "Worldwide Kite Rendez-vous" was back after a one year hiatus for the sixth "edition".
This festival was started in 1993 in Verdun, a suburb of Montreal with quite an international cast of kite-fliers from around the world. Ville de Verdun was looking for something to attract people to their corner of the world and came up with a kite festival to compete with hot-air balloons, comedy, and jazz festivals. The festival has usually had quite a good budget and was still trying to develop it's own unique style. However it appears there were some budget cutbacks and the 1998 "edition" was cancelled. The budget was also reduced for 1999.
The festival was on again from Wednesday June 23rd to
Sunday June 27th. Kathie, Allan and I arrived in Montreal late Wednesday night. It didn't sound like we missed much as the winds had been light and very fluky and the first day tends to be slow. We arrived at the field on Thursday at noon and were pleased to see a lot of kites of all sizes, kitefliers from around the world as well as the familiar people from the Toronto Kitefliers club . We set up our cabana and started walking around. The site is a large park and sports complex on the bank of the St. Lawrence River just upstream from the Lachine Rapids. The flying field is completely fenced off and in order to gain access you have to register for $30. The field is quite large as all the light poles have been removed from the flying area (this was learned after the first festival).
Due to the budget restraints I noticed a lack of any participants from the east. Stafford Wallace was representing India (he lives in England) and put on some impressive displays with his Indian fighters. In one demonstration he uses manja (glass coated line) to cut down another fighter then uses his kite to retrieve the cut one by spinning and twisting his line around the remnant line of the cut fighter. He flies all day and spins his fighter just above the heads of spectators.
Another flier was Ray Bethell from Vancouver. He was always flying when we arrived and flew late into the evening. He flies three kites at once from individual lines; one pair in each hand and one pair attached to his waist. What is amazing is that he is in his 80's. He flies like a team of three masters with spins inches off of the ground and even docks all three in the air a la refuelling.
Peter Lynn 
was there from New Zealand with his inflatables and buggies. He was using his new C-Quads, which had amazing pull even in the light winds. He didn't have the real big kites but did have a stork with a wing-span of approximately 15 metres.
There was a group from France with some beautiful one-liners. One of the most impressive was a large bird that was able to glide. In very light winds the flier was able to control it by gliding and tugging on the line to control it. I was invited to fly one of their unusual three-sided feathers. They flew three of these which had to be worked a bit to keep them from crashing.
The stars of the festival were Carpe Diem from Switzerland. They consisted of a team of 5 or more who flew all types of kites. The beautiful thing was that all the kites were similar but different with patterns or colours that complemented each other. They had about 6 roks which formed a picture of a beetle when fitted together. They were unable to achieve it but I understand that the roks would attach together with velcro if manoeuvred into proper position. They also had beautiful butterflies which they flew together.
Stunt kite fliers were represented by team fliers Chicago Fire, S.T.A.F.F.; pairs fliers Lance and Dorothy Wagner from New York; and Aerial Assault, Mike Lin and Drew Davidson from Toronto. Single fliers were Lam Hoac of Toronto flying both 2 and 4 line, Dennis Smith from New Jersey, Jason Benedict from New York and Robo Spitters from the Netherlands. Jason also is an expert with his yo-yo's and provided informal instruction in his Bronx accent.
Team No Limit from Germany were there with some beautiful
huge kites including Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch in his garbage can, and a huge sumo wrestler. Michael Alvares from Australia was another flier always working and always had his interesting and colourful kites in the air.
Weather wise the winds were on the light side on Thursday but the sun 
was hot. On Friday it rained most of the day but cleared up in the late afternoon. A highlight of the Verdun festival is the night-fly on Friday night. Some years spectators have numbered over 100,000 but this year the rain kept people away. The weather was perfect for the night fly as the sky had cleared and there was a good wind. Hundreds of kites rose into the sky with lights and shiny mylar tails. There were many spotlights on the ground which lit up the kites in the sky. Art Ross from Vancouver had his monstrous Wind Friends foil up but it came down a few times taking others with it.
Saturday was another hot and sunny day with good winds. The Toronto group did some parabear drops and one poor teddy drifted into the river because of a large parachute and good wind. Luckily he was rescued by the fire department who was standing by in case any kites ended up in the river.
The wind allowed a lot of beautiful kites to be shown including winners from the AKA kitemaking competitions as flown
by Tanna and Glen Haynes with her eastern traditional designs and his Cody; Sharon Musto from Winnipeg with her Roks including the "Northern Dancer" Loon; and Charlie Dunton with his Indian designs which include Buffalo and Wolves.
Later the wind was good enough that I was able to fly my 12 stack of dynakites as well.
Sunday was real hot with temperatures over 35 degrees and very light winds which died completely in the afternoon. A Rok battle was held in those conditions and the winner was Irving Reid from the Toronto club.
Overall the festival was a good one. It is the closest one to our area that is modelled on the large European festivals which are designed to entertain the crowds. The Verdun festival has been growing with some setbacks but is a good festival to attend. It has also developed as a festival for the residents with music concerts and many other activities other than kite flying. Just make sure you buy a pin as the 1993 pin was on sale this year with a price of $300.
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Verdun was back again for 1999. The "Rendez-vous Mondial Du Cerf-Volant" or "Worldwide Kite Rendez-vous" was back after a one year hiatus for the sixth "edition".
Sunday June 27th. Kathie, Allan and I arrived in Montreal late Wednesday night. It didn't sound like we missed much as the winds had been light and very fluky and the first day tends to be slow. We arrived at the field on Thursday at noon and were pleased to see a lot of kites of all sizes, kitefliers from around the world as well as the familiar people from the Toronto Kitefliers club . We set up our cabana and started walking around. The site is a large park and sports complex on the bank of the St. Lawrence River just upstream from the Lachine Rapids. The flying field is completely fenced off and in order to gain access you have to register for $30. The field is quite large as all the light poles have been removed from the flying area (this was learned after the first festival).
was there from New Zealand with his inflatables and buggies. He was using his new C-Quads, which had amazing pull even in the light winds. He didn't have the real big kites but did have a stork with a wing-span of approximately 15 metres.
huge kites including Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch in his garbage can, and a huge sumo wrestler. Michael Alvares from Australia was another flier always working and always had his interesting and colourful kites in the air.
was hot. On Friday it rained most of the day but cleared up in the late afternoon. A highlight of the Verdun festival is the night-fly on Friday night. Some years spectators have numbered over 100,000 but this year the rain kept people away. The weather was perfect for the night fly as the sky had cleared and there was a good wind. Hundreds of kites rose into the sky with lights and shiny mylar tails. There were many spotlights on the ground which lit up the kites in the sky. Art Ross from Vancouver had his monstrous Wind Friends foil up but it came down a few times taking others with it.
by Tanna and Glen Haynes with her eastern traditional designs and his Cody; Sharon Musto from Winnipeg with her Roks including the "Northern Dancer" Loon; and Charlie Dunton with his Indian designs which include Buffalo and Wolves.