Marijn
05/12/2011Peter Lynn teamrider Adam Bedinghaus thought it time for a kite party in the Mid-West.
After a year of riding for Peter Lynn I have been able to travel all across the United States to fly on many different locations. One thing that I have noticed was a lack of events in the middle portion of the country. After talking to lots of other riders I decided to start a Midwest Kite Jam. I mainly organized the gathering for those riders who didn’t have the time to get to the coast. With lots of people having to work long hours this three day gathering of many kite disciplines fell upon our Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend.
Riders came out from several different states to meet on a large soccer field complex in Illinois. The weather was in the lower 60s and the wind was blowing from 15-24mph all weekend. There were buggiers, landboarders, and even kite blades rolling across the field all weekend.
After a successful turnout to my last Peter Lynn Arc setup in New Jersey I decided to teach it again. I got some good responses and they guys were out and riding in no time at all. Its great to see so many twinskin kites in the sky in a small town at once. I was even able to teach kite redirect while I was flying through the air above the locals.
There were even some families that came out to try powerkiting. Dad’s teaching their sons how to kite blade, guys taking speed runs in buggies, and others catching big air on landboards. One rider even brought 16 PL arcs with them! Its great to see people happy with their kites.
Since the wind was so good, we didn’t even spend a lot of time talking, everybody was taking advantage of good winds and a great spot. Crashes were soft due to the carpet like groomed grass on the soccer field. I had a great time with everybody, especially watching 16 year old Eric get the stoke for kite sports. He’s got a great dad to drive him so far just to ride with some kite bums.
It was a great weekend, after many early morning sessions, sunshine, big airs, and lots of turkey I was exhausted. It was hard going back to teaching physics at my school after a weekend of teaching physics with my favorite 19m charger. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for all of you guys making it out to the kite jam, it was a blast.
Passion makes us fly………..above the rest!
PL team Adam Bedinghaus
It was an awesome time!!! Both my son and I got a an education from the seasoned flyers that were there…..
Next time I need to bring the whole family!!!
Adam B.
sounds like the midwest kite jam was a success !! Congrats on putting together a fun event !! it is great to hear about both the middle of the country AND peter lynn getting their due !! i’ve kited in michigan for about
ten years and have now been kiting in oklahoma for the past 2 years. it is refreshing to hear of other peter lynn kiters !! FYI : check out a neat little site / web app http://www.sessionalert.com it will give you info / map references
for LOTS of kiting spots even in the midwest !! enjoy !!
Andrew T. ( aka foilkiter )